I've been to Meekatharra, Meekatharra, Meekatharra...

Welcome to Meekatharra.

After a rather miserable 13 hour bus ride from Perth I am officially in Meekatharra. Look it up...its pretty much the middle of no place Western Australia.

To backtrack, I did spend one day and two nights in Perth which was actually very nice. I decided not to be a bum and spend the whole day in bed after a ten hour trip, so I got out and went on one of those double decker bus tours. I can't say I saw a whole lot of Perth but what I did see I really liked, or maybe it was just the fact that the weather was so similar to Phoenix. No bloody humidity!

And now back to Meekatharra. I am working as a barmaid/hotel room cleaner at the Commercial Hotel. Apparently its the nicest of the three hotels in the town, mostly because its not frequented by aboriginals. Theres a very racist culture here against the aboriginal community but so far I can't see that the aboriginals are doing much to stop it. Its pretty similar to the Native American problem that we have in the states...too much alcohol and sugar. Its really quite sad but it seems that all the government does is throw money at them and send out to the far reaches of Australia so they don't have to bother with them.

Oh well...I worked my first night in the bar last night and it was definitely an eye opening experience. I have to learn all the different types of beers, how to pour a proper "middy", and where all the damn buttons are on the ancient cash register. The plastic over the buttons is so worn you can hardly read any of the descriptions so its sort of a hunt and peck and hope game. I think I did pretty well though considering. Got to chat to alot of the locals...they're a pretty rowdy bunch. Alot of miners and construction workers who are only in the area for a little while and some guys that just live off of the government and spend their money on alcohol. And they sure can drink!

In the mornings I get up and then Amy (the lovely Irish girl I work with) and I get to cleaning the rooms. Its not too bad, just chaning the bed linen if the people are checking out and cleaning the bathrooms and kitchens. Takes about 2 hours and then we're done until either 2 or 6. One of us starts at 2pm and works till 8:30, and the other starts at 6pm and works till close. Apparently close is usually around 10:30 but we're licensed to stay open until midnight and last night we did. It was good for me cause I got more time to learn where everything was and the later people stay the more they drink and the more they drink the more they tip!

Thats really it so far, I'm sure I'll have lots of stories to tell about the characters here in Meekatharra. I promise I'll get some pictures up soon but until then...



Thats the Commerical Hotel on the left hand side next to the grocery store.

Until next time!

Gloucester Show

This Saturday Jane let me skive off work and go with her friends Cheryl and Pete to the Gloucester Show. Gloucester is the nearest town to Jane and Anthony, about 30 minutes away, via very narrow and winding roads. I don't do very will with the hills and curves in cars so I've been dealing with a lot of feeling carsick, but I managed not to vomit so its all good.



Pete and Cheryl

The Gloucester Show is basically an agricultural show. They have all the cakes, jams, paintings, flower arraignments etc etc on display and then they are judged. They also have the kids with their show cows and chickens and goats. The most fun part was the horse shows they did, lots of show jumping and some barrels and polls. Reminded me of summer camp and makes me kind of wish they did Pony Club over by me when I was younger, it looks like a lot of fun. They also had a wood chopping competition where these giant men hack a log in half and obviously the fastest time wins.



Wood Chopping Competition
It was a very interesting atmosphere, busy and full of people but not at all like a city. Everyone was drinking and having a good time. There was a demolition derby which was definitely the highlight of the night what with the burning cars and all. There was also one of the most spectacular fireworks displays I've ever seen. It might have been because we were so close, literally across a football field the short way, but it was still pretty incredible for such a small town thing.

I haven't been up to much else except working at Jane and Anthony's, riding horses, vacuuming up spider webs, and playing with the cat. I'll be leaving here on Saturday and heading to Perth and then Meekatharra for the start of my next adventure.

Until Perth!

Comments!

As a side note, if you want me to update I want you to comment!

Found a Job!

Hello all

Sorry its been so long since I last updated, I've been transferring residences once again and am back at Jane and Anthony's for the next two weeks. The stay at Alistair's was a lot of fun, I certainly learned how to paint.

Now for the job update...as many of you know I was looking for country pub jobs out in Western Australia. I was trolling the internet and came across an add on gumtree.com.au advertising for pub jobs. The company is Professional Placements, found on Facebook at HipJobs, and the woman's name is Danielle Prowse. I wrote to her an expressed an interest and she wrote back saying she had a job opening in Meekatharra on March 30th. Not knowing if anyone else I wrote was going to get back to me I jumped on it. Good thing too since no one else has said anything.

I will be working at the Commerical Hotel in Meekatharra, WA for at least 6 weeks. Room and food is provided and I'll be making around $12 an hour. Not bad when you think that you wont be paying for much of anything while you're there. I will be working with an English girl which should be good, at least I'll have someone to talk to.

Getting everything set up to go to Perth and then Meekatharra was a bit of a nightmare. The flight ended up costing me about $240 from Sydney to Perth, with the train from Wingham to Sydney being another $40. Then I had to book a hostel for two nights for $50 a night and then the bus to Meekatharra is running about $120. So in the end I'll pretty much be working my first week or so for free to make up for all the costs, but oh well. At least after that first week I'll be earning, plus I think I want to stay in Western Australia so I wont have to pay for a flight back to Sydney until the very end. Actually, my dream would be to earn enough money to take the 3 day sleeper train from Perth to Sydney, but thats about $1100 so we'll see.

Aside from all that nonsense things are going well here. Gave the horses, the car, and the float (horse trailer) a bath today so I'm currently covered in a lovely mixture of mud and horse poo. We're planning on going riding later today, as long as it doesn't pour rain like it has been.

On a sadder note, my Papa (grandpa) died on Sunday morning (Monday night for me) so that's been a bit depressing. I wish I could be there to support my mom and go to the memorial but unfortunately Australia is a bit far away to just jet back for a weekend. Anyways...Grandma I love you and Papa Rest in Peace.

Until next time.

Wallabies and Beer!

Just a few pictures of what I've been up to lately.



Using an axe to get the bark off of an iron bark tree. And yes it's called an iron bark tree for a reason!



If you look closely there is a very adorable wallaby standing in the grass. If you look even closer you'll see that it has a joey in the pouch. It stood there for about 5 minutes just looking at us and swatting at its ears.



Gaby and I taking a break from all that hard work for a nice cold beer!



Alistair and Alan helping.

HelpX Stay Number 2

Well I said I would update when I got here...and I'm here. I'm staying with Alistair and his 6 year old son Alan. They also have another helpexer here but she will be leaving on Monday.

Alistair is a farrier so he's teaching me all kinds of interesting things about horses and shoeing them. I already went out on one job with him and it was fun, I just wish the roads here weren't so curvy. I Haven't really done much here yet as I just got in last night but Alistair seems really nice and his son is adorable. I don't have any photos yet since I haven't taken any and I'm not on my own computer but as soon as I've been here for a bit I'll post some pictures.

We went out to the pub last night with Jane and Ant and met up with Alistair and everyone else there. The food was good, I had chicken since both Alistair and Jane have just had some cows slaughtered and all we've been eating is beef. It was a bit expensive, $18.90 for chicken with garlic and lentils, but since that was the first time I had payed for anything in over a week I figured I could suck it up. There was a guy on a guitar in the pub and all but one of his songs was American, Jane and Alistair were joking that they told him I was coming so he should play American muscic.

Other than that not much is going on here. Just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know I was alright. Talk at you soon!

Welcome to Wingham

Sorry everyone...I know I've been slacking a bit on my updating but I've been busy relocating and settling in. I'm now in Wingham, sort of, it's actually a little village called Bundook but the closest town is Wingham or Gloucester. I haven't actually been to the village because I've been staying with my HelpX hosts on a 240 acre farm and there's plenty to do here to keep me occupied.


- The house -


My hosts are Jane and Ant and they are lovely. Ant is a plumber/all around handy man and Jane does web design from home. Jane is the horse enthusiast and she's already taken me out riding once. It felt so nice to get back on a horse after not having ridden in so long and the scenery is so gorgeous here that I could have stayed out all day.


- Jane -

As for what I'm doing: Well first off for those of you who don't know HelpX is a website, www.helpx.net, which connects people that are willing to work and need a place to stay with people that need help around the house or farm and have a spare room. So Jane and Ant let me stay at their place and eat their food and all I have to do is stay busy around the farm doing what needs to get done. So far that has been picking fruit and veggies out of the garden, feeding the horses and dogs, chipping thistles, and generally keeping the house clean. Nothing so far has been too difficult and Jane is home all day and willing to show me whatever I need and help me out.


- Ponies: Freddy, Tommy, Clyde -

Yesterday I cleaned out the fridge and came across some overripe bananas so I thought...banana bread. I've never made banana bread but I looked up a recipe and surprise surprise it turned out quite tasty. It was nice to do something for Jane and Ant to show them how much I appreciate them putting me up and now I've got delicious banana bread for breakfast.

I will be staying here until Friday and then I'll be going to Jane and Ant's friends place for a week. After that Ant is going out of town for about a week and a half so I'll probably come back here and keep Jane company. That's about as far ahead as I have thought, although I have been looking into a program called WorkStay.com over in Western Australia so we'll see if that comes through.

Promise I'll update after I switch places on Friday if not sooner. Hope everyone is doing well back home and I miss you all.