Quick update

Working. All the time. I have December 25th off, which is Christmas Eve for you guys, so if you wanna Skype me all day I am GAME! Otherwise, I'll go to the movies to see Les Miz or to the beach to work on my tan ;)
Working today at the restaurant (it's going surprisingly well, I like it there) and then tonight at Liquorland. That's what it's like most days, and on the few days where I just work Liquorland in the afternoons/evening I spend the days researching my three-month adventure with ryan! Details to come ;)
Love you all xoxoxo

Serveuse à 31

Oui, c'est vrai......je suis maintenant serveuse à l'âge de 31 ans.....JE SUIS TROP VIELLE POUR CETTE VIE-LÀ!!!!! But it's a steady way to raise (hopefully) $4000 by the time Ryan comes to visit.
NO, I did not get any sort of office-based job, DESPITE the 32 CVs sent out for various temp roles. The two interviews that I had went well, but because of my visa restrictions (I can only work for maximum 6 months for one employer) I was passed over.
I started a telemarketing job (UGH!!!!!! JE SAIS!!!!!!!!) calling people at home and convincing them to book an appointment with our consultant for roller shutters on their homes, but lasted two days until I got sick (fever for three days, loss of voice, extreme sore throat, extreme body aches) and eventually quit via email (and have heard nothing since, but received my final paycheck today so THANK YOU SUCKAS ;)
Now I work at Liquorland (either near my house or at the more laid-back Scarborough Beach location) and I am a server at a South-African meat-centric restaurant in Hillary's Boat Harbour (30min walk from my house) called Hippo Creek. Australians don't tip, so I have to get out of that mind-set. I receive a good hourly wage, and my first double shift was yesterday (I definitely need new shoes!!!!). Looks like I'll be working mostly double shifts Monday-Friday with the occasional weekend, since those are reserved for Liquorland, who I WISH would give me more hours, but our manager is back on Monday and I will address my concerns with her (she took a few weeks off to get married).
Basically that's all that's new with me. Speaking with Ryan every other day (every day if I can help it, but he is VERY busy at work--he's a contractor, if you didn't know) and getting excited for January. He got his tourist visa, so he just needs to book his flight and GET HERE ALREADY!!!!! hahahahaha
The event I'm looking forward to this weekend: Gav (guy who owns the house) and I are going to see The Beards on Saturday night. They are a very talented rock/pop group that sing about their love of beards, how you're less of a man if you DONT have a beard, and of course they all have beards ;) it should be great fun, and I've budgeted $100 for merch, since Ryan and I will be in a campervan for 45 days and it has a cd player....I'll probably buy their three (four?) CDs :)
Much love from this side of the world and no, I did not see the eclipse this morning because it happened in Perth at 5:15am. Too early for my blood, unless I HAVE to get up for work. Speaking of......I leave in 45min. Better get dressed ;)
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Interview #1

I've got a job interview with a temp agency today, so please wish me luck! Hopefully they can give me a long enough contract for full-time work into the new year :)
Interview tomorrow for an office all-rounder position at a landscaping company, and interview on Wednesday at a dental office.
I NEED ONE OF THESE JOBS!!!!
xo

BLARG!!!!!!!

I made a video, because I thought I could post it on my blog (LIKE THE VIDEO CAMERA ICON SUGGESTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and then I downloaded the google+ app because apparently it was the only way I could see the video I had just made, and then upload it, but the app is CRAP (yes dad, it rhymes) and now I have this brilliant video that I made in FRENCH and I can't even post it, cuz the BLOGGER app doesn't even give me that option, and the internet is STILL telling me to download the app!!!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Well I guess I'll just WRITE an updat, then. Je m'excuse mais ça va pas être en français. Je suis BIEN TROP fâchée en cet instant pour continuer en français :(
It's been too long since I posted. In the past four month I have:
- worked at the airport for the Absolut CherryKran promo (6 weeks: mid-June til end July)
- went to cairns for a week and drank a lot of goon (boxed wine) with Michelle (a girl I did fencing with)
- went home for 6 weeks (August to mid-September) and visited everyone (well, ALMOST everyone) and camped and went to a wedding and ate and drank my face off
- got back together with Ryan. This is it, folks! <3
- landed back in Australia, with a fresh new visa valid until September 2013
- worked the remaining 4 weeks of the Absolut Unique Edition promo, at the airport
- moved to PERTH!!!!!
......and that pretty much brings you up to speed. I am hoping for an office job, preferably a 2 or 3 month contract, and I have an interview at LiquorLand down the street, and hopefully will get that job for evenings and weekends. The goal is to save AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE before Ryan comes in mid-January, and then we will travel for the length of his 3-month tourist visa.

I will now take any and all questions, keeping in mind that my parents read this blog religiously ;)

Gros biz!!!!! xoxoxo

about to begin the longest bus journey of my life...

greetings from Hervey Bay! I am en route to Cairns, but at 8:55pm this evening (it is now 7pm) my bus leaves for Airlie Beach, a mere 12-hour journey away. It's an overnight bus, which means i bought sleeping pills! hopefully no-one will sit beside me *please God*
sooooo currently i am charging my computer at Noodle Box, and noticing that even though Noodle Box advertises itself as a 'healthy eatery\, a lot of the people coming in to order are fat, bordering on obese....hmm maybe it's a Hervey Bay thing.....

On Monday my journey began. my flight was half an hour late leaving roma, but i got a room at the Base Central backpackers in Brisbane and had a pretty mellow night watching 'the voice' and going to bed early.
On Tuesday i actually slept in a bit (SHOCKER!!!), had a nice $7 brekkie, and walked eight blocks with my assortment of bags in order to catch the 10:15am bus to Rainbow Beach. *just* as the bags were unloaded upon reaching our destination, it started raining. oh good, just what the forecast has predicted all week, which severely puts a dent in my 'just wanna lay on the beach for a week' plan ;)
All good I had a really great night with Jesse, a Vancouverite who sat across from me on the bus. We had nachos (i had made a melange of refried beans and avocado for my lunch and there was tons left) and beer for dinner; she's a cool chick :)
This morning the sun was shining and i woke at 8am, decided to get ready for the beach, and Jesse and i braved the wonky weather and actually got some sun! It was chilly and windy and drizzly when the clouds were upon us, but warm and wonderfully sunny when they went away. I got into Hervey Bay at 5:30pm and will no doubt hit Macca's (McDonald's) up for free wifi again before i go back to the bus station (thanks for holding my bags for $, greyhound!!). currently i am on my dongle, which is an internet stick. I have to charge my computer (GAH it's only at 51%!!!!!) before getting back on that bus. "Big Bang Theory" is the current watch, season 4.
I have my hostel booked for tomorrow at 9am when i get to Airlie Beach, but check-in is not until 2pm so they'll have a luggage storage area so that i can hopefully get some rays/walk around before checking in and no doubt drinking the night away with new friends LOL
on Friday (June 1st already???!!??) i leave at 9am and get into Mission Beach at 6pm. This day will be 'Dexter' day, or at least until my battery runs out. I can't believe they don't have power points (plugs) on the buses!!! :(
YOU ALL NEED TO PRAY FOR NICE, CLEAR, SUNNY WEATHER IN MISSION BEACH ON JUNE 2nd, PLEASE. this is the day i would like to jump 14 000kms out of a plane, with someone strapped to my back.
June 2nd (nighttime) i plan to be in Cairns, but that might change to June 3rd depending if the big JC actually listens to my pleas (and your prayers) for awesome skydiving weather ;)
My flight to Melbourne leaves Cairns at 12:30pm on June 4th. I start work on June 5th.

OH YAH I FORGOT TO TELL YOU!!!

I'll be the promo girl for Absolut CherryKran, working at Duty Free in the Melbourne airport again, but only from 7am-11am :) Annie is absolutely thrilled that i'm coming back (hahahaha see what i did there?), even though the contract was originally supposed to start on june 16. they pushed it up and i got a $1 raise! it's nice to have some work waiting for me in Melbs, and hopefully i can get a second job for a couple of days a week to get extra dough. I'll be living with Tony again, and his new roommate Erin Lambert! (you may remember Erin from my time in Ireland, when i met her and we were close friends when we both lived in Toronto. After a few years off the grid, she's back in my life!).

so that's about it for now.....Barb (the tiny kangaroo that the backpackers were given two months ago and that Izi looked after) died on Saturday. She lived two months longer than anyone thought she'd live, but also probably two months longer than she needed to.....she never really got heavier or looked like anything less than death, poor thing. :(

lots of love!!! i'll try writing more in a couple of days xoxo

done done DONE!!!!!

Finished my 88 days.

So exciting!!!

Never again do I have to strain wire, dig holes and crowbar wooden straining posts, dolly in metal pegs, or deal with shitty old barbed wire. It's a good day :)

La fête de ma marraine!

Joyeuse anniversaire, ma tante Patricia!!!

Que tous tes vœux soient réalisé cet année, et que beaucoup de bonheur continue à être présent dans ta vie :)

xxxoxoooxooxo

Oh WOW!!!!

The jillaroo that gave me the phone called me on Sunday. Apparently Ross called jonno (farm manager where we were working) on Thursday and said that he sacked me (fired me) and also the following:
- I drank 2 cases of his goon
- I never wanted to move the trailer
- I took an 8-hour nap and then went for a walk
- I had stolen a phone with loads of credit on it.
Now I was gonna leave what happened between us and not ring the farm to tell them, but shit just got real. I told Tam what really happened, up to believe it or not, but she told jonno that those things didn't really describe me. It's true that I didn't wanna drive with the trailer on because I had never done it before and he had me paranoid I was gonna jackknife and bust it. Also true that I took a nap on Wednesday, during our lunch hour when we were at the house, as did he in his room, because I had a headache. I went for a walk that night, after he had said there was no-one at the house. I only drank three beers, which he offered me, and quite frankly the stolen phone lie is just plain laughable. He also mentioned to jonno that we had done fencing on ross' property the Monday morning before driving to the farm (false) and during another conversation with jonno, Ross mentioned how backpackers were the best chicks to sleep with (creepy, even when I change the language!!).
Gross gross gross creepy gross.
We agreed he was a nutter, and my friend Steve was talking with his roommate from Mitchell and she asked if it was Ross Tully because he's crazy. Good to know! Still figuring out how to word my email to Gumtree....

What an adventure!

Ok I got a job!
I'm a fencing offsider, which means that I travel with Ross Tully, the guy I work for (contract fencer), and help build fences. $300 per week, less taxes, and it counts (please God! I'm 90% sure) towards my 2nd year visa, of which I only have 44 more days left to complete!!!! On the weekends we stay on Ross' farm, just outside of Mitchell, and I have my own house with a sweet double bed. He eventually wants to turn his property into a farmstay/tourist experience, for those poor saps who have never lived on a farm.
This week we are an hour and a half from his property in Mitchell, so we're staying on the property where we're working. It's huge; the guy who owns (who i will never meet!) it is a millionaire, apparently he has 300 employees (on all the properties he owns), and there's an airstrip on the property, cuz he flies his plane here when he visits.
Today I drove his tractor, his ute, cut a small piece of pipe with the cutter thing, and tied barbed wire on posts. Those will be my duties, including straining the barbed wire with the tractor, which I didn't do today since I was still getting used to it.
I saw my first wild dingo, a turtle, and my first snake!!! It was a brown snake slithering across the road. The are poisonous. We were in the ute. Apparently Ross has one living in his saddle shed, on his property. Oh goodie.
Overall a great first day, in my opinion, but I think it's something to get used to. I don't mind the work at all, it's the company that I'll have to endure.....Ross talks a lot. And repeats himself (not anything important!). And mumbles. And is a true bushman, since I can only understand 80% of what he actually says. He wants company, I think, since tonight he was talking to me the whole time I was doing the dishes, not shutting up, not saying anything important. I think he might have been a little insulted that I didn't eat all my dinner (I was full, and am saving the rest for tomorrow) and that I go to bed early (it's 8:23pm currently, and he turned all the lights off and went in his room :/) and would prefer to spend time in my room. Oh well he better get used to it! I wish I had brought my computer so I could watch an episode of something but I'm pretty tired and 5:30am comes tooooooo early.
My sleeping bag is only good til 10 degrees, but I have a swag to sleep in with 2 additional sleeping bags to use as doonas (comforters). It's starting to get cold at night, and in the mornings.

Oh yeah I was given a joey today. He is much healthier than Barb (the sickly ones the backpackers in Roma are still raising), and the jillaroo that works here reckons he's about 4 1/2 months. I hope he survives the night/the week/however long I can keep/put up with him. I shall name him Joey.
G'nite! xoxo

10:45pm, day one:
After dreaming that I had been bitten several times by a brown snake, I wake up and hear this cranking sound coming from outside, immediately outside my window. I sleep with earplugs on, and it sounds like a wheel is being turned using some sort of ungreased system.... Sounds like cranking! It is pretty regular for about twenty seconds, and then only comes a few more random times. I'm freaking out, trying to rack my brain to think of what the hell would make that noise, when I feel something move at the foot of my swag. HOLY CRAP now I'm really freaking!!!!!!!! I cautiously get my headlamp (placed strategically beside my bed) and turn it on only to find Joey hopping around, making that cranking noise. He had gotten out of his bag, which had him wrapped in a sweater, AND the bag was surrounded by 2 doonas. He was freaking but eventually I got him back in his enclosure and surrounded it with pillows. He is still alive, kicking and no doubt hungry, at 6:22am.

Day TWO:
Got a lot of fencing done today! Tractor driving, pipe cutting, being yelled at (not yelled per say, it's just that he's Australian and wants me to memorise everything he taught me yesterday.....I should have written it down and gone over it this morning but it's not like an office job where I'm in the environment to write things down!!!!!
Ross needs to control his dog, Evie. She needs to be trained. He lets her do whatever she wants but when she becomes a hassle (and she is on the job, especially since I brought Joey to work today) he yells at her and if she's in the front of the ute I have to shove her where my feet are.
Saw the jillaroo (Tamara) as we were coming back to the house and she took Joey (it was decided to give him to the vet when they went into roma the next day, since I don't know where I'll be a week or a month from now) and asked how my day was. I told her I needed a beer lol and she invited me up to the main house to have a few with her and the boys (jonno the farm manager and his brother Ben who's visiting from rockhampton) so I showered and went over. Tam told Ross she needed to talk to a girl ;) went back for dinner with Ross and then back to the main house to watch The Walking Dead. I am a slave to tv!!!!! I love it.
Day Three:
Today my boss was explaining to me how Thursday's are always good days because Monday he's hungover from the weekend, Tuesday is a little slow (still getting over it), Wednesday you start getting in the groove and Thursday is the last big day since you knock off early on Friday. I mentioned it was only Wednesday and he said 'yeah that's what I mean but we'll be leaving tomorrow cuz they cut the work we were supposed to do'. Sweeeeeet I get back to Mitchell a day earlier!!! Thinking of getting a new phone so that I can actually have service at the house :)
He was more agitated today, and since I've never driven a tractor before and don't wanna fuck up his stuff, I would always ask or tell him where I would be taking it (turning around, etc) and sometimes he would yell 'what are you taking it there for??' etc......basically he sucks at communication. He was refilling the oil and he asked me to hold this and I asked what and then he shoves a cap at me and yells this! this! as oil is spilling on his hands. Also, he asked me to get a tool out of the toolbox and pointed at the ute, where the generator is. There is only one large toolbox in the ute so I start to go around to it and he yells 'why are you going over there?' I say to get the tool and he says it's in the box right there and points to the generator. I'm confused, I know there's no box or tool there but I look around it and still can't find it so I ask what box and he yells 'the one at your knee you just walked past it' so I look down and the toolbox he as referring to was attached to the ute (which I knew was the case for some work Utes). Wouldn't it have been easier and more direct to ask me to get the tool out of the box under/attached to the ute, instead of assuming that I have any idea how to read minds??
I get let off a bit early so he can do a dump run and load more gear on the truck so I shower and decide to head off to the main house to see if they're back from Roma yet. Something was supposed to be poised for us today and it wasn't so as I'm leaving Ross is coming in and I ask if he found jonno and he said no there's no-one up there (I assume he means the main house, but he could mean the workyard). I say I'm going for a walk, see you at tea (supper). I walk up the hill a bit, then turn around and he's standing there, at the gate where we had the exchange, watching me. Creepy, so I start walking away from that path but still towards the main house. Ben is home so we have a few beers then I drive a four wheeler back to the place I'm staying (fun!!!!!) and feed the calves. I had asked Ben if Ross had been to the house cuz he was looking for jonno and Ben said no, Ross hadn't come up there.
Dinner with Ross, chat with Tam while he's taking with jonno, then back to the main house to play cards. Tam was going over there to set up her new cell phone and invited me to come. Ross was present for that exchange, but he was outside when Tam offered me her OLD phone, so I could get service in Mitchell. I happily agreed!! So off we went after dinner so she could transfer everything and I could get the phone :)
Day Four:
Lots of yelling from both sides today. I need to quit, not because I can't DO the work, but I'm not the kind of girl he's looking for. He told me to push a lever on the dolly (machinery on the back of the trailer that slams up and down in order to put large metal cylinders in the ground). I asked what it did and he said 'push it and find out'. I notice a sign on the side of the dolly warning to have proper ear, eye, and head protection while using it. I am wearing sunglasses and a straw hat. Not feeling too safe, so volunteering seems like a dream option compared to this.
At lunch, he asks me if we have many foreigners in Canada ("like Chinese or Muslims"). WOW.
We're finally finished and as we're leaving the property he cracks open a beer. While driving. Now, I know that rural Aussies take 'roadies' (road beers) with them if they're going dingo or roo hunting, or jetting next door for a minute, and I dont approve, but it's their way of life. I don't feel safe, however, when you're on your SECOND beer and driving 90km down a dirt road that still has huge damage (holes and craters) from the flood. He had asked me if I wanted to drive and I said I would wait for the paved road. When I did drive, he was on his third beer. I was telling him how I had never driven in fifth gear before and he wondered if I had driven in Australia. I said I had, but never on the highway and thus only a need for fourth gear. Driving went well, not too much talking on his part, and I asked if he needed to get beer in town, so that I could see if I had reception. He didn't have money, so he told me to check it and yah reception!!!! The following is not an exaggeration:
R- I thought your phone didnt get reception
G- it doesn't. This is a new phone
R- I didn't know you got a new phone
G- yah I got it yesterday
R- why didn't you tell me you bought a phone yesterday?
G- because I didn't. It was given to me.
R- why are you keeping secrets? Get a new phone and dont tell me about it. All you have to say is 'Ross I got a new phone do you think it'll have reception in Mitchell' and I'd say yah sure but your keeping secrets now
G- I'm not keeping secrets, I just got a new phone so now I have service. It was a gift. I don't understand the reaction your having.
.....and basically it continues from there, with him yelling at me about not telling him about the new phone and keeping secrets (he kept saying 'this is the third secret' but when I said I didn't understand and for him to explain and tell me the other two 'secrets' he refused and said 'you'll see; things have a way of coming out') WHILE I WAS DRIVING and it got to a point where he asked me why I didnt tell him and I replied "because you're not my father! I don't have to tell you when I get a gift because is has nothing to do with you!" and he replied with "well that's keeping secrets and if your gonna keep secrets I don't want you living on my property" and I said "fine I'll be out of there tonight" and proceeded to ring Luke. Izi picked up and I told her I was in a situation where I no longer felt safe and if there was someone that could pick me up in Mitchell I would really appreciate that. I am still driving at this point. He then says that he's not gonna kick me out, I can stay the night and he'll drive me to the bus tomorrow.
Um................no.
Basically this continues, where I politely decline his offer of staying the night because I no longer feel safe, and he keeps insisting and then talking about keeping secrets....god it was so insane!!!!!! I secretly taped a conversation that, if I ever see you in person, I will play for you. Complete nutter.
There is more that I can recount, like him not being able to find the forms that I needed to sign for him, him refusing to sign off on my week (for my 88 days): "no! You're the one that's leaving" and then saying that he never said that (15 minutes later), and on the way to town he told me that if someone called he would give me a good reference because I was a good worker, but I'm done writing now. Off to the office to post this blog entry!
I am safe now, I trusted my gut and I had people who came to pick me up. I stayed in the Amby camp last night, and the camp leader Jemma told me "I'd want someone to come get me if I needed to be picked up". That made me cry.
So I'm back to volunteering, and I have my first shift at a bar this evening, so wish me luck :)

I think he had emotional/mental issues, as well as being an alcoholic (drinks three beers every night and more on weekends), but it's not for me to judge. I'm just glad I got out of the situation and kept calm and rational the entire time. Only when he drove away, leaving me with my bags at the bus stop, did I start to cry. I'm considering filing a complaint on Gumtree......
Love you all xoxoxo

Got a job!!!

On my way to Mitchell to work as an offsider for a fencing company.

$300 per week, drive a tractor and tie wire on fences.

Will be in the middle of nowhere working, though....so no cell or Internet :(

Hopefully Internet on Saturdays!!!

Fingers crossed that it's good. I am halfway done, only 44 days left to complete in order to apply for visa extension!!!!

Love you all, update as soon as I can xoxoxoxo

Photo!!!

This is dad, mom and I at brunch at the Hilton yesterday. it was a wonderful visit with my parents, whose generousity knows no bounds!!!

I love them to death, and although it was too short a visit, it was great to see them and give them lots of hugs and kisses.

I would post more photos, but the Sofitel has a data limit to their free internet, so this is the only photo you get :/

Once I'm back in Roma tomorrow, I'll have more time to post more photos of my time in Australia so far. BUT WISH ME LUCK IN FINDING A PART-TIME/WEEKEND JOB!!!!!

love love love love xoxoxoxo

JOYEUSE PÂQUES!!!

Ça fait du bien revoir mes parents après 6 mois. Y sont trop cute!!!!

Ce matin on va à messe, ensuite dîner au Hilton.

Si j'ai l'Internet demain, je vais vous donner des photos, mais malheureusement je ne peux pas de mon iPhone :/

Gros câlins!!!!!! xxxoxoooxooxo

Almost the weekend.....!

So.....having a baby kangaroo is fun and all, until someone has to get up in the middle of the night to feed it, and clean it's bum.
Her name is Barb (as in, barbed wire) and she is looking much better now than she did last week. Izi is clearly the mum, since Barb was getting diarrhoea when we first got her, and Izi was the main person feeding her and cleaning her bum. Did you know that mother kangaroos lick the joey's anus to encourage them to poo after feeding? Well, we use cotton balls and warm water :P
Her skin started to peel, and she had something wrong with her left eye, so we brought her to the vet on Saturday and the EXTREMELY FIT (that's means verrrrrrrrrry good-looking) vet said she had an ulcer, so we got eye cream for her, and have been moisturising her shedding skin. What we thought was going to be a free visit cost Izi $75 (quick consultation = $45), so she's gonna try and get that money back from Glen, since we are poor backpackers that should not be expected to pay for something we didn't ask for.
Mainly it's Izi, Michelle, Kim and I that make sure she's fed every few hours. I took the midnight feeding last night and did not sleep well at all. There is a reason why I don't have children!!!!!!
Barb is super cute, though. She gets the hiccups sometimes and by next week I reckon she'll be 'walking'. I really hope she survives.....
The other exciting news is that the camp is moving back to Roma!!! Apparently we're moving next to a tennis club (?). Hopefully we're moving Thursday, since Friday is a holiday (the team's not working and I'll be in Brisbane!!!) and I doubt anyone wants to move on the weekend, since there are so many activities on this weekend (it's called Easter in the County and it's gonna be a fun time....which I will of course miss in order to see my parents!). Pis j'ai tellement hâte de voir mes parents en personne!!!!! Ça fait 6 mois que je les ai pas vu, pis on va parler le bon français québécois toute la fin de semaine!!!!! :D

In other news, we move back to Roma tomorrow, for three weeks. Apparently we're moving into a room at the tennis club?? I'm gonna try to get a job on the weekends at one of the pubs, since we'll actually be living in town, not at some remote farm ;) but then it's back to Surat after that :/

Joyeuse pâques à tous!!!!
xoxoxo

We've got a new pet!!!

aaaaaaaaand I can't post a photo cuz I'm on my phone :(

But it's a baby kangaroo (a joey). We've named her Barb, because of our daily involvement in barbed wire ;)

I'll post a photo this weekend, hopefully. She is so cute and tiny it's disgusting ;)

Xoxoxo

Surat is where it's at! (not)

Greetings from the thriving metropolis of Surat, Queensland! I now live in the Warroo Shire hall (google it) in the middle of a town of 436 people. I sleep right underneath the stage in my bunk bed, but it is Nat that rolls out onto the stage every morning when we wake, since I don't like the top bunk ;)
We have a huge kitchen, as it is next door at a little community centre-type building (where they could hold a dance, and where three-year olds come for daycare every Friday morning), but it's perfect for 12 people. The toilets and showers, however, are the public toilets.....much like the ones we searched for while living out of a van for a week travelling to Melbourne so we could have a free shower LOL.

There is no wireless in Surat (doesnt surprise me), but I am sad to report that I have NO CELL SERVICE in Surat. Good thing we're in Roma every other day, so I can txt people, but it would be nice to have some sort of way to reach the outside world. Only Luke's phone works (iPhone with Telstra coverage). I am also on Telstra, but since I have an oooooold Nokia, I'm SOL :(

I have been here four weeks and a day. Tomorrow I will have been here a month! Only 58 days left to go.....which brings me to my next dilemma:
I'm meeting my folks in Brisbane for Easter, and then I was gonna try to find farmwork/regional picking/packing work somewhere.....but if I come back here, my room and food is taken care of, whereas if I stay in Brisbane it might be a few days/week(s) til I find something, and then I'd have to travel to the area.....so I'd have to pay for a hostel and food in order to maybe eventually get a job. Plus, the backpacker business is pretty cut throat; everyone's trying to get their 88 days ASAP. I would love a packing job with an hourly wage and accommodation on site, but that's in a perfect world. I have 11 days to decide whether or not I'm coming back here to do more days.....IF I return, my 88 days will be complete on May 27th, but I will not have very much money left. If I don't come back, I could spend a couple hundred on hostels and travel before I find anything that pays me AND gives me my 88 days.
Thoughts?
I could always come back here for a bit and keep checking surrounding areas for work....but I have no transportation, so it might be difficult.....most of the harvest trail jobs require transport or accommodation (ie backpackers that have vans) and other job sites require a membership in order to provide you with people looking for workers....plus with my limited access to the Internet it'll be difficult to actively look for work.
IF I knew we were staying in a specific area for a while, I would get a serving job on the weekends, but I doubt we're staying in Surat for more than 2 weeks, so that's out. Anyway, that's definitely something that I need to think about.

Besides that, nothing much else going on....I'm an excellent fencer lol and I got to drive an automatic ute this weekend. We went to Roma for the races, which pale in comparison to the largest race in the country (Melbourne cup), which I attended in November, but it was still an alright time. Some of us had a better time than others, and those would be the slightly richer that could afford $5 beers for five hours straight. Not I, sadly.

Our 'NY style loft' has a projector screen, so we've been watching movies on it...pretty neat :)

And that's about it. I'll write another update in a few days, if there's anything interesting happening LOL

Much love xoxoxo

Fencing update!

Story of my life!! Delayed entry on blog....apologies :/

The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of fencing, eating, and going to bed early (save the weekends lol).

I now know how to cut wires, strain both barbed and regular wire, tie them to straining posts (large wooden posts at ends of fences), I'm a little hesitant on my figure-8s (a way of tying broken wire together so that, when strained, it holds), and my ties ROCK (tying wire to metal posts....one side up, one side down). I have also used a jackhammer! Now I have a trade which I can use anywhere in the world :)

AND I LEARNED HOW TO DRIVE MANUAL!!!!!!!! I've been driving the manual Utes (utility vehicles) around farms and dirt roads and I've rocked 4th gear. Nowhere on my Ontario drivers license does it say I am only registered to drive automatic, so with a few more lessons maybe they'll let me take one out for a test drive on a real road ;)

The people in the camp are ever-changing, but we've got a key group of young people that are pretty cool: Michelle and Luke (friends travelling together) and Izi (who they met in Sydney and have been travelling with since) and Nat (hairdresser living in Brisbane with her girlfriend) from England, Jonas from Germany and Kim from Alberta (the 2 newbies), and Rasmus from Sweden(the weird one). Taavi (Finnish) and Oscar (Swedish) left last Sunday, which left us all sad. Taavi went back home, and Oscar was lucky enough to get a job working on the richest farm in the Roma area. He and I got along well, mostly cuz we liked the same kind of music (a kid that likes foo fighters, killswitch engage AND Gavin DeGraw???? Winning) and they were both on my team so I lost 2 fun guys. But we power through and I have had a fine time since. The tough part is the heat and the sun, which can be intense when there is no breeze or clouds. The warmest day I've had to work was the second day at 38 degrees. It was a little much. Since then the days have been better and the nights have been cool. I see a lot of kangaroos daily, and I saw my first porcupine the other night!!! There is no Internet at the farm, so I have to go to the office to get online, which I don't do daily, unfortunately. That, along with all the frikken bugs, has been the hardest adjustment......since I'm addicted to technology :/

I watch 'big bang theory' (DVDs) a lot, since anytime I go outside I get accosted by anything with wings or legs (damn my sweet, sweet blood!!)....borrowed seasons one and two from someone in the office, and rented season three.

We get dirty working in the fields, with dirt and debris and dust and so the nightly shower is a daily occurrence. I'm used to working in long grass now, but I was sick a couple of days last week with a NASTY fever, so of course (being a hypochondriac) I thought it was malaria or west Nile or Lyme disease. I'm back to 100% now, but it was scary at the time, cuz I didn't wanna blow $80 to see the doctor, who would have told me to go home and rest and drink plenty of liquids.

It's raining right now, and we're not allowed to work when it's raining, so I'm in the Ute waiting for the men to dig two more holes and then I think we're calling it a day, since it's supposed to be heavy rains today and tomorrow.

I got a job as a mover that I had to turn down since it would not count for my 88 days (they were comfortable with saying that I was a farmhand on my form, since I was going to stay on their farm and do odd jobs on the property as well). They were going to pay $300 per week, cash in hand, and not only is that illegal, I think they were taking advantage of backpackers. That is NOT a lot of money for being a furniture mover, regardless of how many hours you work (which would have been varied). I've decided to stick with the volunteering until I meet my parents is Brisbane for Easter, and then either get a farm job for the remaining 49 days or go back to volunteering a bit more. My top priority at the moment is securing those 88 days, and the second priority is to make $600 before April 22nd so I can pay my Canadian taxes :P (without spending my Aussie savings!! LOL)

On a sadder note, Everett Carveth passed away last Monday at the age of 91. None of you ever met him, but I knew him for almost 6 years. He was Ryan's grandfather. He let us borrow his hunting cabin a couple of times, and came up with my 'Bienvenue' nickname (that none of you are allowed to use...it's reserved for Ryan's family only). I'm shedding tears even as I write this.......I wish I could have been there for Ryan and Betty (his mom) and Muriel (his grandmother) :(
I keep in contact with Ryan through emails, phone calls, and texts. He is never very far from my mind. His plan is to do some travelling in the future, so we may meet up one day, God willing.

Well it's really pissing rain now! Looks like it'll be a movie day back at camp (the farm). We're moving on Friday to a new camp, location yet unknown. This weekend the plan is to try and get comp or discounted tickets for the races, since Oscar will be there LOL

Much love, and I will try to keep you better updated xoxoxoxoxo

First flood volunteer cleanup update!

BRISBANE:
I arrive at 8:20am, my luggage is one of the first off the track (that NEVER happens!!!!), and I'm on the train going into the city at 8:45am. I bought my ticket online, so not only did I get to jump the queue, I got on an earlier train!! I had bought a ticket for the 10:30 train, but good thing I got the earlier one because there was an infrastructure problem and a huge backlog of trains so it took me an HOUR to get from Brisbane domestic terminal into the city (Roma station), which is usually a 20-30 minute trip, tops.
After walking to the bank with my two huge packs on, I effectively sweated through my clothing, thus preparing me for the work that lay ahead :/
Troy picked me up, along with a 22-year old Londoner named Nat, who was leaving her partner for the first time (usually she left Nat, but only for tops a week...so Nat has been on her phone (call or text) pretty much the whole time) in their three and a half year relationship. We got to Roma after a quick 4 hour drive, had our induction, and were at the camp (farm where we're staying) at 7:30. That's 8:30pm Melbourne time, which means I've been awake for 16.5 hours, after three and a half hours sleep. I went to bed shortly after dinner.
February 29th...happy leap year! (Day one):
Not too bad, actually. Although I had to wear long pants and a long-sleeved shirt (with sleeves rolled up), I was only insanely hot about three times. We worked from 8am til 3:15pm, with a bunch of breaks. I felt light-headed once during the morning, and I'm pretty sure it was low blood sugar. I drank about 4L of water, ate a bit every 1-2 hours, and wore my hat (wide-brimmed, attached to my head with a scarf). We drove to a farm and worked on a mile-long fence, removing debris and hammering fence posts back in. Some parts of the fence had literally been swept away during the flood, and flipped over, so it was fun trying to remove caked-on mud and sticks while trying to flip it over, then putting it back the 50 metres or so from whence it came. Let me just say: I am not emo, but my arms look like I'm a 15-year old cutter. I'm not a fan of barbed wire, but at least we wear workman gloves!
The worst part was the last 40 minutes or so, when I completely lost it and started yelling at the fence. I was SO over it. Luckily, when we were finished and got back to town, Nat and I had a cheeky schooner (in between a half-pint and a pint) while our team leader grabbed a coffee and made some calls. Truth be told I had NEVER wanted a beer so much in my LIFE!!!!!!!! After a much-needed shower (yes, I will now be one of those people that simply must shower every day, since I'm covered in dirt and sweat) there was dinner and then an early bedtime, after chatting with the parentals :)
March 1st (day two):
Up at 5:15am, leave camp at 6:30am, finish the work at Mount Abundance by 10am, arrive at second farm (to help out another team) and drive around for a bit but we did great work, were done early, and had a beer with the lady of the farm.
March 2nd (day two):
Yeah I'm not gonna keep updating you like this LOL. It was 37 degrees and therefore too hot to work! But....we worked anyway, rebuilding fences at mount abundance. I did not enjoy the heat. Tomorrow (day off!!) I'm gonna go look for a linen shirt and linen pants.
I've got blisters on my toes, due to dress socks and snug runners the first day, but they've gotten better since I loosened my runners all the way and started wearing thick socks (thanks, donation centre!).
Tonight the 8 of us left in camp are going into town for a few pints. Hopefully there will be someone cute there to buy a few more for me, since I'm trying to budget $20/week.....
Keep praying for my sanity xoxo

OH YEAH I forgot to mention that the camp is actually a goat farm. I milked my first goat yesterday :)

This might be the last update for a while...

Alright so in seven hours, I board a plane to take me to brisbane.

From there I will take a train and a bus to get me to Toowoomba.

Someone will pick me up and drive me and a girl named Charlotte to Roma, approximately 6 hours drive inland from Brisbane.

I will be doing volunteer work in the flood-affected areas of Roma, St.George, Mitchell, and Begonia. Although I will not be getting paid, my accommodation and meals will be provided, and I will be helping rebuild fences and clear debris around farms devastated by the floods from earlier this february. For some farmers, this was the fourth major flood in three years!!

As much as I want to help my fellow man, the main part of this new adventure is that it. Outs towards the 88 days regional work that I need in order to apply for a visa extension. I must apply for this extension while I'm still 30.

Good news #1:

I managed to move my flight home later by four weeks! I will be back on Canadian soil July 26th.

Good news #2:

I *just* booked my return flight to Melbourne!!! September 9, 2012- departing Vancouver, flying Air New Zealand (loveloveLOVE!!!!!!) with a short stop in Auckland, for the incredible seat sale price of $850 CDN. How could I say no to my favourite airline with a price like that??

So now I have 5 months in order to complete 3 months of regional work. I'm glad I could push my flight back (and all I had to pay was the change fee, which I'll make in double by staying here an extra month....hopefully) so that I wont have to stress if I don't find farmwork right away after this volunteer gig.

Don't know how long I'll last as a volunteer, or how long they'll need me, but I'm banking on a month.

So, what with living in a rural area, I don't know the next time I'll get online.....wish me luck and I'll update this blog the next time I see Internet!!!

xoxoxo

Another day, another decision that I can't make :/

I've back in Melbourne for almost two weeks and I have only worked one day. The temp agency says that it's dead and anything they get will come to me but quite frankly I'm tired of constantly asking. Get a canvassing job for a week? Or leave melbs early, fly to brisbane and volunteer for flood clean-up in affected areas? No pay, but accommodation and meals are provided and it counts towards the 88 days regional work that I need in order to apply for a 2nd year on my visa.
Vous opinions, svp!! Le vol quittera le 29 février ou le 1 mars et ça coûtera $60. Moins cher que voyager en auto et partager la bouff et gaz avec deux autres personnes....
xoxoxo

The long journey from Perth to Melbourne

Day one:
After a fantastic dinner with the housemates (thanks for paying, Joe!) and several drinks, I wake early, already packed and ready to go. Steve picks me up in a tour bus; he wasn’t kidding!! I was thinking ‘tour bus’ as in the kind of bus that bands tour in. nope. This was a bus that people take tours on….specifically, through Katherine, etc. Lots of seats in the back, so I drop my stuff and hop in the front seat. FOURTH time being navigator! We pick up Dorothee and Sarah (German backpackers) in Perth and we are OFF! The bus is fully equipped with a small kitchenette area (food prep and dish storage), two fridges, tents, camp beds, mattresses (the same kind that you had in gym class), tables, chairs, and even a toilet (but it’s at the back of the bus….only accessible when we are stopped). All of these amenities are hidden from view, in a series of well-placed storage areas (cabinets? Drawers?) on the outside of the bus. Steve Turnball is a 37 year-old tour owner and operator, photographer, and he used to own a crocodile farm. He is affectionately known by his friends as ‘Croc Bait’. He is from Cairns, where he is driving the bus, the German girls staying with him until the final destination. I’m going as far as Port Augusta, and then I have to find a way to Melbourne.
The first leg of the journey is pretty uneventful….we start crossing the Outback and go through towns of Northam, Merredin, Coolgardie, and Kalgoorie. I originally wanted to visit Kalgoorie during my stay in WA, but was told that there was not much to see there, and to do the south coast instead. I’ll be touring the south coast (Margaret River, Bunburry, Esperance, Albany) next year when I return to the beautiful state I loved so much. Kalgoorie was THE gold rush town. Prostitution is still legal (in brothels), and there really isn’t a whole lot to see in town. On our way there, however, I noticed a huge pipeline traveling beside us on the highway. Steve explained that it brings water from Perth to Kalgoorie, since it is difficult to get water in the Outback. This pipeline was built by a Dutch guy and no-one thought it would work. When they turned it on, no water came out in Kalgoorie. Thinking he was a failure, the Dutch guy committed suicide. 5 days later, water came out of the pipeline in Kalgoorie. The pipeline worked, just as the guy thought it would, it just took time for the water to travel from Perth to Kalgoorie. Basically, the guy killed himself for no reason (and if you were an engineer, wouldn’t you factor in travel time in your pipeline calculations?). Our final stop was Kambalda, where we stopped at a tiny caravan park that was empty except for one guy that had been there for ten months. However, when Steve went in to ask if we could stay there for the night, the owner said that they were at capacity. Clearly he thought Steve was sketchy or something, so we parked the van on the side of the highway a little further down the road and stopped for the night. The plan was to sleep under the stars in our sleeping bags, on mattresses on top of camp beds, and that worked for a little while, until it started raining. We waited it out in the van while watching Pirates of the Caribbean (oh yeah the van has a DVD player!) until I started to fall asleep, so we turned it off halfway. Around 2am, the rain woke me. Steve and the girls opted to sleep under the bus (yeah, there’s room LOL) but I decided to sleep on the bus, in the backseat.
Day two:
In the morning we stopped at a truck stop in Norseman and as we were walking in to use the loo, there was a young guy standing outside. I made a mental note to ask him where he was from, as soon as I had used the facilities ;) Turns out Sarah beat me to it; his name was Luca, he was 21 and from Italy, hitchhiking his way to Melbourne so he could fly home on February 13th. We found him on February 3rd. We said that he could probably come with us, since I was going to Melbourne we could travel there together from Port Augusta. Luca said that we was going to ask us, since he had been asking every single truck driver since 4am but kept getting turned down, but he thought that we were on a tour. We asked Steve, it was all good, so now we had a new travel partner! We finished watching Pirates of the Caribbean, and started the second film, as we made our way across WA through Cocklebiddy, Madura, and ended up in Eucla, where we slept on a beach (well, the car park of a beach). Luca in his swag, Steve under the bus, the girls and I in 2 separate tents. Let me tell you, it was the windiest night EVER, and there ended up being more sand in my tent than there was outside. I woke up several times that night, had a horrible sleep, my tent half-collapsed, and the next morning it looked as though I had been sand-blasted.
Day three:
I needed a shower something FIERCE. We found showers at a truck stop for $2 (for 15 minutes) and afterwards I felt like a new woman 
As we drove along the Nullabor (it’s a BORE!), Steve pointed out that it is the longest golf course in the world, with a hole in every town, spanning 3000km. We watched the second and third Pirates movies, but the fourth wouldn’t work on the DVD player. I’ll need to watch it in order to have now seen all the Pirates movies. We ended up in Ceduna, in a caravan park, and after a swim in the sketchy lake, a dinner of kangaroo kabobs, sausages, onions, mashed potatoes, and several beers (and a brand-new drinking game!), I slept on the floor of the bus on a mattress and had the best sleep of the previous nights. Thank GOD cuz I probably would have killed someone if I didn’t sleep well again. It was really windy that night, and raining, and apparently some guy’s small boat (like a canoe but a little wider) blew off the roof of his truck so Steve had to help him secure it in the middle of the night. Good thing it just landed on the ground, and not on someone’s tent or car….
Day four:
Left the caravan park early cuz the wind was of typhoon proportions. Watched ‘Finding Nemo’ and passed Poochera, Wudinna and Kimba. I used Luca’s iphone to search for a lift from Port Augusta to Adelaide (since Luca didn’t wanna pay $50 for the bus) and I found someone on gumtree advertising a lift from Port Augusta to MELBOURNE in his fully-equiped van. CALL HIM ASAP!!! We finally got in touch with Valentin (Val), and we were to meet up with him in Port Augusta later that afternoon (he was driving there, dropping someone else off). Things were looking up for Luca and Geneviève!! We arrived in Port Augusta (2700km from Perth), had lunch, and watched our tour-mates drive off. Luca and I repacked our things, waited in the park near the river, and finally met up with Val, an 18 year-old German who had bought his van a few weeks earlier and was planning to drive as much of Australia as possible. He had a little fridge (which didn’t really work), a mattress, bowls and cutlery, which meant a ‘fully-equiped’ van. He was meeting up with parents of Kingsley, a guy he had met in Port Lincon, when Kingsley’s uncle had fixed Val’s van. The parents were setting Val up with roof racks, so that Val could eventually buy a surfboard to put up there. Val has never surfed before, btw ;) WELL the parents (David and Janet) ended up driving to the park to see if Val was still there, and after some small-talk, we decided to accompany Val to their house and while the guys were setting up the roof racks, Janet made me some tea. They invited us to stay for dinner (homemade butter chicken, followed by ice cream with chocolate sauce) and then they augmented their generosity by inviting us to stay the night!! David and Janet: class acts all the way 
Day five:
Up early, warm shower, hairdryer (!!!!), and breakfast and we’re on our way to Adelaide. I had debated whether or not to stay with the guys after Adelaide, since I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the road trip, and wanted to get to Melbourne sooner rather than later. Decided to stay with them since we didn’t spend a lot of time in Adelaide (I’ll get back there someday…..there isn’t a whole lot to see; the CBD can be done in a day) and we had the possibility of getting to Melbourne Thursday night or Friday morning. Turns out I wasn’t going to spend more than $150 so I decided to go along for the ride ;)
We found a nice little lookout spot in between Adelaide and Victor Harbour and stopped there for the night. As we were making dinner (at 8pm), it started raining! For those keeping track, it had rained every single night of my journey (even just for a little bit). We drank the beer that I had bought in Eucla, played ‘never have I ever’, and got to bed around 1:30am. It was a good night!
Day six:
Headache! Val was a little worse for wear, I think, so Luca and I let him sleep in. OH YAH I forgot to mention that we slept three people in the back of the van….it was a little cramped and I pushed Luca off the side a couple of times, I think :P
After breakfast with a view, it was just a short drive to Victor Harbour and free internet at the visitor centre! Skyped mom and dad (just lounging poolside in Hawaii….no big deal lol), then strapped on the runners for a nice walk along some cliffs, with promises of seals. No. Frikken. Seals. To. Be. Found. The weather was horrible (really windy, slightly drizzly, and cold) so why would the seals be out? I love seals. I wanna see them in the wild sometime before I leave this country!!!!! The boys took a cold shower near the beach while I made lunch, and then there was a lot of driving involved to get as close to Mount Gambier as possible. A nice ferry ride across the Murray River saved us 50kms, and by the time we got to Naracoorte Caves National Park it was closed (7:30pm), so we decided to spend the night there, as to be ready when they opened at 9am. As we drove into the day-use area (two areas with picnic tables and little cooking huts) there were a dozen or so kangaroos just chilling, eating grass. They promptly left us, but a few came back and I managed to get as close as I felt was safe and took a series of photos. It was an early night, with Val and I in the van and Luca in his swag outside, until the middle of the night when it was too cold for him and he came in the van. Geneviève sandwich part deux!
Day six:
Started the day with a guided tour of Alexandra cave to see some Stromotites (come down from the cave ceiling) and Stromolites (caused by calcium deposits from dripping water and the nice lady threw in the Wet Cave (self-guided) for free, saving us each $8. sweeeeeeeet. An hour later we were at Mount Gambier (used to be a volcano before it imploded) to see Blue Lake (such an awesome colour! Caused by a chemical reaction, Blue Lake was formed when the volcano blew a hole in the limestone. Oh yeah south-east South Australia is known as the Limestone Coast because it used to be the ocean 40 000 years ago. We also stopped at the Umpherstone Sinkhole and had lunch before crossing into Victoria!!!! At this point I am thinking that we can easily be in Melbourne Thursday evening, but Val had never seen the Great Ocean Road so he wanted to take some time to do it. We camped that night at theD beginning of the Great Ocean road, in a parking lot at bay of islands, and watched 'idiocracy'
Day seven:
The last day!/great ocean road!
Since Luca and I had already seen the GOR, we were taking our time for Val's benefit. We woke at 7am, since we wanted to be out of our parking spot before the tourists arrived, and went to Peterborough for breakfast and to shower. It was a cooooooold shower, even though I only ran the hot water, and let it run for a good 5 minutes before reluctantly standing beside the water flow and washing up LOL. On the road at 8:45am so hopefully at Tony's by nightfall!!! :)
The grotto
The arch
Thunder cave
Erskine Falls (places and things I had never seen)
And then YES we were at Tony's just as the sun was setting (8pm). Had a few beers with the boys, they slept in the van, and I had a warm bed to sleep in.
To answer your question: YES I am too old for this sh*t, but will most likely be doing it again in a few weeks en route to farmwork (fingers crossed that I get something cuz I really need it!!!!!)
First week back in Melbourne update to come later this evening. Promise.

the next leg of my journey!

Quit my job today. They didn't schedule me for a shift last week, and one shift this week (Saturday) and a shift next Monday, and I can't afford to stay here without money coming in. Plus, it was always my intention to leave Perth end of January/start of February so away we go!
I leave Thursday morning with Steve (35 year old photographer from cairns) and two German girls. Camping along the way in his 4WD bus, complete with kitchen and toilet, and i dont have to pay petrol!!! Doing it on the cheap and easy, budget-styles. I'm excited! Need to buy a sleeping bag but I'll be using those when I do my farmwork, so it's a good investment ;) wont be taking a lot stops in the cities I wanted to see, but I'll be saving money by not having to pay petrol. I get dropped off in Port Augusta and have to make my way to Melbourne, but I'm sure I can get a lift from Adelaide :)
So that's what's new! Should be in Melbourne on the 8th, and hopefully the temp agency will have something for me starting the 13th.
Wish me luck! Will keep you updated ;)

BROOME BROOME!

i love australia. even the heat. even the humidity. not the flies, though. y peut manger la merde. and they do!!! hahahaha
back when i decided to come to perth, i booked a ticket to broome, which is the farthest north i would get before getting to darwin (hopefully!) in the dry season.
well, although i had a FABULOUS time, the trip was right after i got hired and i should have really booked something a little later.....
it was wet season, so i expected a lot of rain, but it just rained three times! fortune smiles...
i got to broome on thursday (after a comical airport adventure! to follow) and thanks to gav had somewhere to stay (he has a lot of close mates in broome, so i stayed at scotty's house while he was in perth). todd (scotty's housemate) picked me up at the airport, i walked around downtown to a bit (so. humid.) until it was unbearable (less than two hours) and then todd and i went to the beach with the dogs. he left the next day for perth (his daughter's 18th bday, and he had to get scotty his ut (utility vehicle, basically a rugged hatch-back). i rented a bike to get around broome, got to the crocodile park just before it started pissing, saw a lot of feedings, had a sunset camel tour and a SKETCHY bikeride home (no lights (YES i was riding on the sidewalk with a helmet on!!!) and little dogs with no home barking and chasing me until i was genuinely frightened that one was going to attach), and a quiet night in. overnight was crazy! it rained like a MOFO and when it stopped there was a symphony of lightening!no thunder, just a BUNCH of crazy lightening in clouds that i should have taken photos of :( wasn't planning on sam (scotty's worker) getting in until saturday sometime, but he came in while i was gone. he was out til all hours, so we met the next day. he is a LEGEND. we drove around, went to matzo's brewery, and chilled at the house watching 'rent' and drinking jack's. like i said, this kid is a frikken LEGEND! after the massive rainfall sunday morning (we watched it from macca's (mcdonalds) so i could have the internet and sam could eat crap lol) we had a sunday session at the Diver's tavern with some new mates (that were at the croc park the same time as me, and then at matzo's the same time as sam and i!) and then beers back at the house. sam left the next day for derby (work) so i biked my backpack to a storage locker at the airport, then biked back to the house, locked up, brought the bike back, and walked to the airport (after having a McOZ at macca's (McD's)...ten minute walk :P
and then i was back in perth! post photos soon, but broome is gorgeous! RED SAND, humidity, gorgeous beaches that stretch for miles because of the changing tides, and a large indigenous population. i wanted to learn more about their land and culture, but the tour was
A) too expensive
B) only ran monday, wednesday, and friday during the wet season
so i'll have to wait until later in my travels.
took lots of great photos so i'll post them in a minute, once i transfer them onto my computer ;)

I am now a bartender/je suis maintenant une barmaid

Here/içi:
http://thebreakwater.com.au/

:)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

My Christmas holiday was wild. I went to Kev's in north fremantle and he rents a gorgeous house with 3 other Brit lads. Well, after three days of partying that house was the equivalent of a frat house....including lots of flies that destroyed my already mangled legs. Let me explain:
Went over Christmas eve, but Kev was super late because he 'passed out on someone's floor' (uh huh) so he didn't know if we were gonna go to The Left Bank. Well, I showed up and the lads are already drinking so i grab a beer. After a few we decide to go to the left bank and it's a right party! I had a good time. So good of a time, in fact, that I neglected to have dinner. Not the best idea. Well when we were leaving the club (after someone decided to take a cheeky nap and got caught by one of the bouncers) I fell, scraping both my knees to shit. Good! Kev met 2 randoms on the bridge (he and the lads live across from the bar, right on the swan river) and brought them back and the party continued (I heard one of them leave the next morning and I'm not going to repeat what Kev said but it was hilarious. Something about a white xmas....) while i slept it off.
Christmas day! I'm the only one not hungover, so we have a bit of breakfast and start again. Off to the beach, more beers, then back to the house for a BBQ. I took a cheeky nap before and after, so I was well prepared to stay up the rest of the night. Jez went to bed at 9pm and a few of us went swimming in the swan river. Skyped my parents and spoke briefly with ryan and went to bed.
Boxing day! All the lads are in a bad way, of course I'm not so they just lounge in their own filthy house all day (oh yah Xmas day there were some glasses/bottles broken but instead of them being cleaned up right away, a towel was put on top in order to warn/protect people, I guess.......frat house I tells ya). So im wearing my thongs (flip flops) everywhere in the house and decide to check out fremantle. GORGEOUS!!! I go back the next day to do museums and the Fremantle Jail, then I'm back in Padbury, thank God! Kev is in Sydney for new years with Graham, they left on the 27. Dunno how he's gonna deal with MORE drinking, since he didn't drink the 26 or 27, but whatever.
Stayed in all day on the 28th because it was 40 degrees, and when Gav came home from work we went to the beach. 6pm and it was 39 degrees. Damn that ocean was nice! Cooled up down and we had a lovely dinner (Jazz went to Europe to see his gf and won't be back til jan 28, so now Gav has his house to himself while I'm away. Joe is back the 8th, since he went home to london for the holidays). The 29th I packed, sent out some CVs, and went to a pub with Gav and his longtime friends. The 30th I left for my exmouth adventure!!!

Day 1 - We visited the Pinnacles, went sand-boarding, and had a wonderful BBQ the first day. I sat shotgun, since mike (tour guide AND driver!...that's important for later) had offered the front seat if anyone wanted it. Of course I waited to see if anyone else chomped at the bit, and when there were no takers I went for it. That is THREE consecutive tours in a row (all my tours) when I've been in the front. Woo hoo for travelling solo!! :D


So I was co-pilot. I think I was a very good one, too! I rarely slept in the van during the tour (three times tops) which is a pretty big deal because WA (Western Australia) is HUGE and there's not a lot in it. The biggest state, it's mostly desert (inland), but coast-wise the stops are few and far between. So I didn't drink as much water as I normally do, since there was no toilet on the bus (UGH small buses suck - there were only 20 of us) and I chatted with mike, played dj, and looked for wildlife...successfully! Spotted wild kangaroos, wallabies, emus  sheep, lizards, eagles and cockatoos. But a lot of road kill, too :(

Day 2 was new years eve. At Kalbarri National Park I did abseiling!!! Propelling yourself down the side of a cliff! I got two tries and a rope burn on my side. Fantastic! I would definitely do it again :) we saw z-bend gorg and nature's window before entering the Shark Bay World Heritage area. Then we went to shell beach (a beach of shells and shallow for a really long way out), and settled in to Monkey Mia for the (wild) night!


During the course of the day we were wondering how to celebrate new years eve, seeing as we were going to be in Monkey Mia for the night (it's basically a resort). Skye (Australian chick in the air force) suggested counting down for every time zone associated with our tour. Charlize (South African) did the planning and we started with New Zealand, the first country to ring in the new year, at 7pm. Then it was Victoria and New South Wales at 9pm, South Australia at 9:30pm, Northern Territory at 10:30pm, somewhere else at 11pm, Perth at midnight, Bangladesh at 2am, South Africa at 6am (we missed that one, LOL!), England/France/Switzerland/Holland at 8am new years day then Canada at 1pm and California at 4pm! It was a night. Bottles of $15 bubbly that we had bought and put in the fridge were stolen (stupid backpackers) and lots of shots and drinks were consumed. Good thing I have a natural body clock cuz I did not set any sort of alarm and I woke up 17 minutes before breakfast, where all our stuff is supposed to be packed and near the van already.....luckily our tour guide was out til 2 with Skye and I, so he was late. He also slept for a couple of hours while we frolicked on the beach, waiting for the dolphins to show up for a feeding that, in the last 20 years, they had only missed 6 days... All of which we directly before we got there. They isn't show up, so we just hung out. two hours later, I'm taking photos of dolphins close up. Didn't get to feed them (couldn't be arsed to stand there in the sun. Needed a beer) but I did feed the pelicans the night before, and that's much more exciting lol. I also saw a sea turtle!

Day 3 - besides the drinking, we went to the stromatolites (living rocks) and ended up in Coral Bay to sleep.

Day 4 - snorkelling in the Nigaloo Reef! This is argued to be better than the Great Barrier Reef, since pollution, climate change and dumb tourists touching corals (NO-NO!!) have deteriorated the East coast must-see. I paid to "swim with manta rays", as did other folks, including snorkelling and a buffet lunch. It *was* worth it, but here's the story:


It was the first time I had snorkelled!!!! The Nigaloo reef is absolutely gorgeous and seeing all those fish and coral was breathtaking :) the coral actually 'hiss' and you can hear them...I was wondering what that sound was LOL! saw a lot of different species of fish and coral and a turtle and dolphins from a distance. Then it was time for the swimming with the manta ray! the tour company usually has a plane that circles looking for them, but they have mechanical problems so when we finally found one (only one), it was feeding in a plankton-rich area, so the water was cloudy. I was in the third group to go into the water, so by that time the manta ray was still moving, and i was the last one into the water :( so i had to swim fast to try and keep up to the group. but being at the back, i didn't see the ray. i think *maybe* i *might* have seen it, but it was a murky shadow and it probably wasn't it. PLUS the water was VERY choppy. well i have always prided myself on being a competent swimmer (after all the lessons of my youth and the year of synchro that i did when i was 11), definitely a good swimmer, boardering on very good..... but that was the scariest moment that i have experienced in water:
i could not control my breathing. i had given up on trying to get to the middle of the group so i trailed behind a bit and tried to slow my breath. but since i couldn't, i started to freak out. told myself to calm down cuz freaking out would not be good. my mask was off, i was riding the waves on my back, my breathing was slowing, but i couldn't find the girl with the flotation help device. then i asked another girl in the water (loudly) where the girl with the thingy was and i let out an 'UGH!' but it was all good i was staying above water, working it out, then the boat pulled up to get me. i was upset, they said they would go back in the water with me so i could see it, but that was the first time in my life that i felt uncomfortable and unsafe in the water, so i declined.
during the final snorkel the water was calmer (we were in a different area) and i swam out quite a bit, but i missed another part of the reef because i was worried i couldn't get back to the boat. i DID make it back, but was tired, couldn't calm my breath (again), and was still freaked from the manta ray incident. so i called it a day! it was a good experience (snorkelling is AWESOME!!) and the food was to DIE FOR, so i guess it was worth the price. mom and dad you can stop freaking out now.

Day 5 - After a bit of a hike to a gorge somewhere (where I spotted a wild wallabie and mentioned it to Mike) we spent a few hours at Turquoise Bay (named for the gorgeous colour of the water, which unfortunately i did not take photos of BOOOOO) working on my tan and snorkelling, where I saw a sting ray, a starfish, lots of different fish and coral, and i swam with a school of fish that were each double the size of my head!! that night was the last for seven of the tour group, what with the different tour options, so we had a few drinks but the previous night was more rowdy (we went to the beach late at night cuz we couldn't make noise in the park after 10pm)

Day 6 - a lot of driving. Mike is a freaking PRO. he just drives around Australia when he's not working.....kinda lives out of his car, he was telling me. dunno if he was joking or not.....then we stayed on a farm that night, i was the ONLY one who took the $5 option of sleeping in a swag (sleeping bag with foam 'mattress' in a canvas sack covering you) under the stars. the coolest part was hearing the sheep BAAAAA to each other conversationally at 11:30pm ;)

Day 7 - on our trek back to Perth we stopped at the Principality of Hutt River Province, which is it's own country (got my passport stamped by Princess Shirley). Prince Leonard succeeded from Australia in 1970 after WA implemented some wheat sanctions. it's a fascinating story and Prince Leonard is a very, very smart man. We were unable to meet him, since he had not been well, but i got a picture with princess shirley (and you'll excuse my lack of HRHs, but the monarchy and anything resembling it does not butter my bread)


Then we went to a Rescue Wildlife Park where I held snakes and a joey!!! then there was more driving and i was home. Gav made a wonderful dinner, i had a great shower without thongs (remember: they're flip-flops!), and slept in a double bed. nice nice nice.


Friday I went to Hillary's boat harbour with CVs in tow and i have a trial at the Breakwater (awesome restaurant/bar where Gav and i had brunch today) on Tuesday night. Three-hour shift, unpaid, and I find out at the end of the night if i get the job! HERE'S HOPING I DO since the restaurant is only a half-hour walk from where I live. Plus if Joe ever gets new inner-tubes for his bike (he prolly won't cuz he's dumb lol) then I can use it for the next month. they already know i'm not available from the 19-23 (BROOME!), and said it was no worries. LET'S HOPE I GET THE JOB!!!!

yesterday Gav and i did some errands and just chilled. I met up with Shawna and Marty (bro and sis from Cali, she's been in sydney for a couple years, though) and Duncan (brit) for a few in Fremantle (the left bank then The Loft, since little creatures wouldn't let us in with our non-aussie IDs.....it a law in WA or something. sorry but it's not regularily enforced! I don't have an oz id and i do NOT walk around with my passport on me so i guess your establishment loses my beer money!) but it was reallllllly cold and i had not dressed for the weather and we missed the train by a minute and had to wait for the one 30 minutes later and then i missed my last bus from the station (i assume) so i went to the next station and took a taxi AND THEN i get in and Gav's still up! I had texted him an hour and a half earlier but when i got no response i figured he was sleeping, so i took a cab. turns out i could have called him and saved $15 (money added on for BOOKING the cab and also because it was 'after-hours' those greedy pricks) but i thought he was sleeping, so why would i call?! and then nothing much today except laundry.

that's it. longest update ever but now that you're all caught up i PROMISE to write a little bit each night. it'll be pretty mundane, most likely :P

joe gets back tonight at 2am. i have moved into jade's room while he's away. good thing these guys come and go as they do, i always have a spare bed to stay in!! :D

goodnight everyone. i hope you all enjoyed the first saturday of the year, because i certainly did :)

xoxoxoxo