Leaving Greenvale

Things started to tense up further at Mels. I  had asked one of the locals, magic,  Mels friend, standing outside of the pub, to get me some food since they were going to charters towers. When magic asked me why I needed food I explained i have a really big appetite and I can't limit my eating, i just can't function when I diet, neither can I live off peanut butter and the general stores stock can be expensive. It's not like I'm obese either, I just burn it all off. I also said I felt bad I was eating Mels food etc. so all of this got back to Mel, not because of magic but because of her colleagues overhearing at the bar, and perhaps got twisted because she asked if I could not talk to anybody about her.  

Mel decided she could no longer afford to pay me with the rate at which I was eating food.

Matt and Elliott were about to go in a few days and I'd heard they were getting a lift to Townsville so I'd asked them if I could join them but there was no space. Mel also got wind of this. I guess that's the down side to being in a small community. It can be like big brother. I trusted the guys hadn't said a word, one of the locals must have over heard again, not that I was just going to go without saying a word, just that I wasn't sure if Mel would continue to let me stay once she knew I wanted to go and I was just being cautious. Though I had a feeling that's not how Mel had seen it.

 So it was all drama and I had to get away. Mel arranged for me to go to Townsville with shalene, another local that Zoe was nannying for. I loved shae, she was another who helped me with scott. 

The last remaining days with Mel were icy cold, the nights she had drinks with friends I no longer cleaned up the bottles and cans all over the garden and generally stopped making any extra effort at all which Mel had noticed. i was spending most of my time outside of the house and going back just to eat peanut butter or rice. As childish as it may sound I made the lack of effort a conscious decision since I wasn't being paid, I'd spent the money shed given me on food over the 2 and a half weeks and it cost me over $200 just to get there which didn't seem to be appreciated. I'd said goodbye to Scott who didn't seem particularly fussed which i was gutted about and Mel, in her room just responded "bye"

I felt really bad about how things ended with Mel. I know that she is a good person with a big heart and there was probably a lot of things I could have done differently to have eased the drama. 

The journey back involved taking 2 separate cars as one was to be sold in townsville. zoe and i and the dog in the back in one, shalene and the kids In the other. We had radios to communicate with each other in the car too so it was fun to talk to shae. we passed a military base and she told me about that. We also spotted an emu too and Zoe told me all about her travels. She'd been to Africa before Australia and It sounded like she had an amazing time. Before we reached Townsville we sweeped around mountains that made me feel like we were making a journey to South Wales till I saw the view. Along the side of us was an incredible stretch of flat land surrounded by mountains, the landscape looked African. 

Finally we arrived in Townsville.

Lucky Downs Cattle station

I was really lucky to get the chance to go and stay over at Megan's. a local who had a cattle station, "lucky downs", 20 mins drive from Greenvale. Her place was beautiful, she lived right next to a fresh water river. It was so clean they pumped water from here directly to their home, you could drink from it! Megans girls, scott and i ran down that day as the sun was just starting to set and I carved a quote onto a tree stump. the area was beautiful, banks full of long grass, the trees in australia are so different, the bark an ash white on some. not as green and full as ours. One large hollow bark lay on the bank and one of the children ran over it while the other ran through inside, they spoke of games of hide and seek and swimming in the river. Scott started to madly slam sticks against one tree. "Go on Scott let it all out kid..." I don't know if it was him just being a boy or he had a bit of kept anger.  I was concerned but I thought it better to not think about too much.

Fruit trees and sunsets in their back garden, a baby cattle who's mother had died was being weened on a milk contraption attatched to the fence which the dog would also sneakily feed from.  We fed 3 other collie puppy's that were outside dogs. 1 smaller fuzzy white mop of a dog was their only inside dog. That night Megan let me use her Internet and it was such luxury, as was sitting in front of the TV and watching satellite TV. I helped with the meal while the kids played on the trampoline and Megan was so lovely giving me advice, telling me Scott enjoyed jigsaws and all the things I could do with him which she knew he enjoyed. This kind of information really helped and once she caught on that I was pretty confused at mels and the food issue she continued to give me some more, much appreciated  advice. She had also traveled her self and it was great to hear about that. Her husband was away a lot with work so I guess it was hard for her and times got lonely. she had a really incredible poem hanging up in her home about how woman struggled, how woman waited and how much work they had to do years ago, it was so inspiring. Pictures of generations of familys in "lucky downs" also hung up on the walls and she told me about how people lived in the outback in the days when cars were a luxury, biking for days for education, things like that. so interesting that they had all of these stories that had been passed on. 

Megan was inspiring, there was sadness there but she appreciated all that she had.  I guess living so far from it all for so long has its toll and doesn't mean a great social life, I would personally find that incredibly difficult, but like her, so many generations in the past lived a secluded life. It's luxury for some I guess and I guess the highlight is that she doesn't get involved in the drama that, sometimes, a small community can have.

When I left Megan's she gave Scott and I a "goody bag" haha. mine was filled with a container of tasty leftovers, potatoes and tomatoes she grew and some rice crackers. I was over the moon. FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD :D 

I was sad to leave Megan's she had been the nicest, most generous person and I will always be grateful to her for so much she did to try and help me and Scott.

Jervoise cattle station

It looked like an American ranch, a big wooden sign "jervoise" and flat, dry fenced off land as far as you could see with the typical ash white trees. it was far from what I was used to back home in Wales. Hills, mountains, soaking mud with a hint of grass (I'm kidding Wales is beautiful). I chased kangaroos one morning at sunrise to try and capture a good setting, jumping across the broken plain where floods in the wet season had caused banks to fall apart and left a bit of a playground for me to make my way across one piece of the crumbled puzzle to the next.

during the day I watched the family (I had the pleasure of staying with, round up the cattle) this was called mustering and It was such an experience to watch, they would use wips and shout to get them into a small fenced off area where they would later open a hatch that would lead to the vehicle that would transport them. Usually if you live on a cattle station, generations have owned the station before you and I guess every technique is passed on from parent to child. I watched as one of the girls trained her horse in the back of the house, simple side steps and cantering, kicks of the heels and voice commands. It was so relaxing to be sitting on the porch or laying on the trampoline over looking this and I wondered If the family appreciated their surroundings as much as I did. this family also had the same domestic kind of problems any average family does and of course no matter how beautiful your surroundings it doesn't make these problems go away. I appreciated that I could just run wild and free wherever the wind took me so I set off that evening to chase a sun set, which involved chasing more kangaroos and finally the best pictures and amazing scenery. The colours of the sky here are so different to back home. The clear sky was a rainbow of colours, oranges, deep purples and midnight blues that all graduated perfectly, darkening and changing as the sun set and the moon and the stars were so incredibly bright. I ran back before it was pitch black and realised I had been gone a lot longer than 20 minutes (which I'd planned to go without actually telling anybody) I had to attempt to high jump over a barbed wire fence - just about made it before arriving back at jervoise. Mel and Scott were riding a quad bike as they passed me they did a U-turn. Mel had had been worried something had happened and had wondered where I'd gone. Oops. It is  So like me to just wander off, I guess I got caught up in everything.

The morning before I left I was ecstatic to find an old piano. A couple of the keys were mute but it didn't matter, I had missed my piano back home so much and played appreciating every Minute. 

I got an applause once I'd finished and was embarrassed to see I'd had an audience but I was told that it was appreciated somebody was able to play it. 

Mel and I listened to country western music on the way back which is really popular over here, kind of a nice ending to the ranch-like experience I'd had, though I mus not say that and compare the way i do, It was a real Aussie experience!

The outback!

3 hours inland, we arrived in Greenvale, "the tropical outback" which consisted of around 10 streets of houses, 2 small general stores, a post office, a school, a communal pool, a pub/hotel Mel worked in, a trailor park where you could get the bare minimum phone signal and a water tower 20 mins walk away where you could get slightly better phone signal. it was around 7/8pm and i was hungry but I was put to nannying straight away. Scott was playing play station in a flat behind the pub but was still apart of the pub Mel worked in and I was to keep an eye on him. I met two Scottish guys Elliot and Matt It was going to be a bit of a big night in the pub and they offered me a drink, I said i probably shouldn't and they said since It was my first night I should ask Mel, Mel said of course and I should get to know everyone, I said I'd still keep an eye on Scott and that was fine. I made my self a drink with the boys rum in the flat and went to see everyone in the pub but I just didn't feel comfortable leaving Scott at all and I was really just sitting there while everyone else was conversing I was just the exhausted, hypoglycaemic stranger in the bar who probably looked the least social and the least approachable so I sat next to Scott and watched him play playstation. My eyes started to droop, I was just sitting there doing the most boring thing and eventually I fell asleep. 

Mel woke me up (I think Scott had gone to his mum to tell her he was tired so Scott was taken to  mels friends earlier when I was sleeping) and we picked Scott up and went to mels place. She couldn't get over how tired I was or why since I was young and what had happened to me after one drink and found it quite funny that one knocked me out. I guess the coach journeys getting there, lack of sleep and my previous night in a hostel not being in a quiet place at all (surrounded by Irish bars) and the fact that I hadn't eaten since the afternoon didn't help.

It was just so totally different to my first nannying position. Andrea made everything so clear, what I had to do, when I had to do it, how I had to do it and everything I needed to know about her child and her expectations etc. at least everything was clear so I knew where I stood. Little things like where the cleaning things are kept (I can't clean if the Hoover and mop - unknown to me -  is in a room I'm told i can't go In because its the owners storage room?!?!)  I appreciated how laid back Mel was though at this point and I was pretty happy to just cruise along. 

It's occurred to me that readers are probably horrified I neglected a 9 year old on my first day nannying by falling asleep. Literally sleeping on the job, in my defence Mel had told me to have a good night that night and get to know everyone, now if the most responsible person in charge was ok with me having a few drinks in the pub, I assumed Scott's safety and security in this area was nothing to worry about, especially since his mum was about 3 rooms away and in any emergency the kid could wake me up.

So, while Scott was In school, my days were filled up with, well i couldn't do any light cleaning so I started to organise Scott's clothes a lot better and just do, generally what I could without using the things I couldn't find. Followed by walking the dog "two dots" named by Scott haha. I didn't really know what Scott liked except playstation so I decided we could just walk the dog because anything was better than a kid In front of a TV. I felt sorry for Scott and I really liked him and I genuinely really wanted the best for him. My little brother max, at home, i missed so I could at least do activities with scott I once did with max. Little lads are easy. Go out, kick a football around, show em a big field, some trees, ya know they love it. And the smile on Scott's face sometimes afterwards, it's the best feeling knowing you've made a child's day, hour, minute even. It was challenging sometimes, trying to get him away from that dreaded playstation. it could be terrible sometimes, the fuss he made over it, so I just limited it, it all felt like I was doing a lot more mothering than nannying and I just ended up being bad cop a lot of the time trying to put Scott into an actual routine which he hadn't had before (his mum had been travelling Australia before setting in Greenvale) but it was still all totally worth it for that smile. 

The following days passed in total confusion, Mel was actually pissed off that I fell asleep on my first night and it meant I didn't get off to a great start. I wasn't told anything really and constantly had to ask questions, however Mel would always let me know where she was going to be or what the plans over the days would be. I could go on and list a dozen things that went wrong with me nannying for Mel. All I can say is it was partly a lack of direction which would lead to talks which i appreciated and things would get better once I finally knew what I was doing. Mel had never had a nanny before so I guess it was all new to her, she really appreciated the things I was doing though and made that clear which made me happy. a really big issue was still food. The cost of petrol to get to charters towers is simply too much to make frequent visits to shop so most people would visit once a month. There was a small general store and a van that would deliver groceries at a more expensive cost once a week so I would have to eat less because I was eating her out of house and home. I felt awful and decided to cut portions down and fill up on peanut butter from the general store. 

If Greenvale taught me anything it was community. Everyone was there for one another and I met some amazing, kind hearted, charitable locals. Mel included, raised money for a woman in Greenvale who went through a really hard time with an illness and the community got involved and contributed which is what every community should be like eh? Greenvale will always stand out to me for that one reason. it's also the reason Mel decided to settle there, perhaps she needed the security like I did and I appreciated her taking me in when I was stuck in a rut and appreciated I got to see Greenvale. The simple thing like not having phone signal, well, that was a blessing, everyone at the pub was talking, nobody would sit there on their phones, memory's were shared, story's and jokes, it was all just an amazing experience. I got to go fishing for the very first time with all the kids and the locals, Scott and Mel included and 4 backpackers Elliot, matt, Zoe and Anna in a beautiful cattle river. Us girls all had one thing in common other than the ambition to see the world and that was photography. We just got along really well. Anna and Zoe were also nannying and like mums, we found we spoke about the kids a lot which was really nice and funny at the same time. 

I felt better to know that Matt and Elliot, like me hadn't really done the typical - come to Australia, do the east coast, do all of the touristy things, see all of the attractions and beaches etc. They had an amazing time never the less. You cant really compare your time to anybody else's, you make your own journey, your own experiences, some say sydney is amazing and they lived there for months, others say once you've  seen  the opera house and the bridge thats it. it just depends on your own company and your own experience. the guys, looking for work, saw an ad on gumtree to be extras which they applied for, which had a brief description of what the roll would entail but no idea what they would be extras in. it turned out the be a film staring Angelina Jolie, which they were paid really well for and for a number of weeks they got to live on an island where all food and stay was provided, so although they didn't scuba dive or snorkel in the great barrier reef, for example (on the top of my bucket list anyway) they still had an amazing time and had something they would talk about for years. They wish to come back another year and save more money to do the things they missed out on which was my plan also, unless I managed to save enough some money in the future and do it all before I came home (however I was currently spending half the money Mel gave me on food) 

A real low point...

  Another long coach journey, traveling from Mackay to Townsville, further north. I was feeling a bit deflated,  I got so caught up being positive and maybe I was just being naive this whole time thinking I would get a job. I started to worry about debts, money and what I would do when I finished nannying since finding work was apparently impossible. I started to worry about a lot of things. I was being negative. I was on my own again, with no real security yet.  I needed a hug from Craig or my mum or just a friend to be struggling with me. I started to miss home and everyone I'd left behind and had a bit of a sob... 

Eventually I put things into perspective, realised that I was actually incredibly lucky, I got to visit parts of Australia and I've met some amazing people who have been my security just knowing they are in the same country and are there if/when I need them, I started to think about all the things that I appreciated at this moment such as the small fact that id made it this far. being negative didn't alter anything, it didn't change my situation it just made me sad and made me feel like nothing was possible. I needed motivation, I needed something that was going to inspire me, and I remembered "the alchemist" an iBook I'd read already once before I came to Australia. The book is about a shepherd in Spain who sold his flock of sheep to go on a journey to see the pyramids of Egypt. My description does this book no justice at all but the motivational and inspirational paragraphs in the book are amazing. There was one bit in it that stood out to me more than anything at that time  

“What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.’
“Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”

 I mean i appreciate how poetic "soul of the world" sounds but just to clarify, the book is one big philosophical metaphor that will motivate you, whatever your dream or ambition is, not just for traveler folk. I have to admit (and i feel highly uneducated saying this) But even that paragraph confuses me but i just about get it

basically when you really want something, when your going after your dream 'beginners luck' is that initial easy period when you've just bagged that job or been accepted on that course etc (in my case i got the job as an au pair or i probably would never have come to Australia) but then, your tested, you struggle, not because some higher power (wether that's god, the universe or whatever it is you believe)  wants you to struggle but by struggling, by jumping through those hoops you are facing new experiences and you are learning and growing as a person, so it's not just about reaching the goal of your dream, the most important part is the journey.

After spending a night in a hostel in Townsville, I took a coach an hour and a half inland to charters towers. Mel told me to meet her at Woolworth's (supermarket here in Aus'). Of course there were 2 Woolworth's (why do people do this to me!!?!)  so I call The pub Mel works in as she has no home phone and no Mobile, they tell me she's left and she should be there any minute but to go to the bigger Woolworth's. 

Confusion out the way I finally met Mel. Mel seemed very young in both her appearance and the way she was, very happy too and very easy going. I Helped her with the Shopping, during which, I highlighted what a huge appetite I had and I think we got about 10 days (30 days for the average person) worth of breakfast, little did I know I wouldn't be seeing a Woolworth's again till I got back to Townsville (devastated - not kidding #ilovefoodtoomuch)

     

Mackay

August 2014

Another long and sleepless journey. I had no idea where to go when I got off the coach. I googled a hostel and only one showed up. One hostel in the whole of Mackay, given I basically picked a random city to stop over in which was definately no tourist destination but one hostel costing twice as much as a normal hostel a night was crazy! I used my maps on my phone to find my way. 

It was 6am and the doors didn't open till 7:30. Exhausted, I put my rucksacks down which id walked for around 20 mins with and sat on them, waiting. 

When I got to my room it stank to the high heavens of sweat. I mean it looked immaculately clean, not a speck of dust even but damn they could have used  some room spray. It was unfortunate there were no windows in my dorm. I slept anyway not really caring at that moment. 

When I woke up the smell wasn't as strong; that or I'd just got used to it and a Taiwanese girl arrived, apple (her real name was something else but quite often People from Asia take on English names, hers, funnily enough was not copying the beckams kid it was for the shape of her head) Apple was so so nice. one of the nicest, warmest person I've met. She also had a boyfriend and we were talking about our experiences with dealing with the separation and it was good to have a conversation with someone who was sticking it out like i was. 

Apple had met a guy in the hostel who was working as a chef in the area and had arranged to meet him Later and invited me to come.

We took a walk on the beach, it was windy and not very hot at this point as it was still winter. So around 20'c. It was perfect. It was nice to talk about work and our experiences traveling so far and I listed more places that I needed to visit along the east coast.

the following morning I had to Catch a 6am bus so I was unable to collect my $20 Deposit from the desk. I Facebook mailed apple and told her to take it. I fell asleep on the coach and woke up to numerous messages like, "hey they want proof that your ok with me taking the deposit" then "hey it's ok they trust me thank you so so much" she deserved it. Good people deserve nice things. Hostels who have smelly dorms do not. 

Matts birthday and leaving Bunderberg

August 2014

Sam and Gemma arranged to get cake, decorations and booze and we all chipped in. The hostel didn't allow drinking on the premises but we sneakily had some drinks anyway. 

Sarah gave me a bit of money for matt for his birthday and matt and i went to the shops while Sam and Gemma were setting everything up.

Bunderberg is actually really pretty, a large river runs through the small city and the buildings are a mix of styles between European and western. The people there are all so nice and I felt like it was an Australian version of my home town as we passed the bowling green, which most people my age in my town will only remember as the place where we would all be under age drinking back in the days. Every town or suburb has that one place eh. For the people of our hostel however our drinking place was the park by the river, since drinking in the hostel wasn't allowed. The police would regularly drive around checking on us which seemed crazy that they didn't have anything better to do. I guess crime rate must have been pretty low there.

Matt and I went to a sushi bar and I tried sushi for the first time. It wasn't too bad. In the centre of the roundabout outside was a water fountain and rather than water, had soapy foam. Obvious play time for me and matt and we both clearly had the exact same idea: FOAM FIGHT!!! Once the fun and giggles of that was over we stopped being children for a second and made our way back where matt was surprised with balloons and cake by the majority of the people in the hostel.

It was a good night spent drinking with friends and other backpackers, I actually made an effort and wore makeup for the first time since My nights out in cairns. Most girls in the hostel were wearing mascara and foundation to pick which made absolutely no sense to me at all. Mud over foundation. Nice. Wiping sweat from your brow which is making its way to your eyes whilst wearing mascara. Panda eyes. why make an effort to pick? Well each to there own... So it felt good to have an excuse to actually not look like sweaty muddy shit.

We were all making our way out of the first bar at around 12am and matt had work the following morning so was happy to head back but didn't really mind what we did. Yvonne (a girl who joined us to seek work on hamilton and joined us in Bunderberg ) kicked up a fuss that she wanted a night out and seemed a bit annoyed everyone was heading in so early. A couple of people from the hostel had headed off to the club but our group were heading in and she wasn't impressed. I asked her what was up and when she explained I simply said well its matts birthday, lets just do what he wants eh. And when she still seemed annoyed I said "hey Yvonne do you happen to be an only child..." (I blame the alcohol) she knew exactly what I was implying and responded "fuck you Beth fuck you..."  Well I guess I brought that one on myself. My usual diplomatic self shining through once again! Face palm moment for any readers who know me, I know, I know, I should know when to just not say a word right? Just shut up? 

When we got back to the hostel A couple of our group got caught for drinking and was made to leave the following morning. I wasn't drinking but decided to leave anyway. I'd pulled a sicky for the last remaining 3 days of my week there as I found the picking unbearable and I wasn't tolerating any of the slave labour any longer.  I didn't get paid for any of my work and I still haven't 3/4 months later. I tried chasing it up with no luck, half of the stuff I picked wasn't even documented so they have no record of me. I'm pissed off but at the end of the day I had a good time outside of the farm work so it was an experience ill remember for the good times.

I decided to go for the only thing that offered security and pay that I knew how to do well. I decided to go back to working as an au pair at least till id re cooperated the money I'd lost from finding work. The au pair position advertised on gumtree was said to be in charters towers, inland from Townsville (16 hours north) and Mel, the host was offering $150 a week which was less than what I was used to but an average amount for au pairing. Scott the child I would be looking after seemed pretty easy going and Mel explained where she lived was pretty out the way from everything but the place itself was really nice. She asked a bit about myself and offered me the position. 

Half of my group who were kicked out went to work in another farming hostel in Bunderberg and Sam stayed packing. Yvonne left to go back to Byron bay I think, she missed it there. Matt went to Brisbane (closest city, south) and went on to do a pedicabs job, taxiing people around with a bike in the Gold Coast.

On my way to meet matt to say bye in town, I met two guys who asked me for directions. These 2 guys were from Vanuatu, an island by Fiji. I explained how my boyfriend had always wanted to go to fiji and we were planning on going for my birthday, they said absolutely not and Vanuatu was much more beautiful than Fiji. They gave me their number and offered there place to us, they had a friend who would accommodate us also and the people of Vanuatu are very very nice like that. They were lovely people, I wish I had the money to get to Vanuatu. 

I met up with matt and we walked to a main road where he could hitch hike from. He found a piece of cardboard in a dumpster at the back of a shop but needed a pen, instead he burnt something and used that to write with. When matt left I really missed him. I was alone to be clumsy again and alone to make food.

The following day I said goodbye to everyone else. I was really going to miss Sam, Gemma and Adam also and we expected to only see each other again on New Year's Eve which we all planned to spend in Sydney together. 

My coach was booked to Mackey (half way point between bundy and Townsville) and a seperate one booked to Townsville from Mackey to break up the 16 hour coach journey. Ughhh!!

Bunderberg - Farming

Credit card: - £500

Au bank account: $400 (thanks to my mum sending me some muchly needed cash)

So bundaburg was the place I would be doing my farm work and hoping to get a bit of money.

The hostel was filthy, which I guess couldn't be helped. Even if you cleaned a house every day, if dozens of people, head to toe muddy and dirty passed through, it would be gross. The rooms weren't terrible, just standard. There were 2 kitchens, one outside and 1 inside. They had an empty outside pool and an entertainment room which had an Xbox and DVDs. The owner of the hostel had arranged 1 of the couches to be stilted higher than the other in front which made it really nice and homely when everyone decided to have a movie night. Everyone in this hostel was a lot more like a big family. They were all going through this shit awful work together and the laughs and drinks and the times in the park got them through the 3 months of slave labour, which is what it was. I'll explain:

Hostel cost a month $150

Average pay $150-$200 (anything after paying for accommodation would go towards food)

The work itself: ok so the deal was that you start off Picking either strawberries, tomatoes or cherry tomatoes for the first 2-4 weeks. The pay for this was absolutely terrible. On average it would take about 10-15 mins to fill a bucket of cherry tomatoes and each bucket was worth 50 cents. Hence, slave labour and its legal too. I called up a government helpline just to see if it was and some snotty woman on the phone un-impressed that i was even checking this over said yes but you have the opportunity to earn more than the farming hourly rate... HAR HAR FUCKING HAR, yes if im asian and robotic  (no racism intended but damn it killed me to see every Asian picking at lightening speed 5 buckets by the time id finished one) 

I would have loved to have seen that woman wake up at 4:30am for an hour and a half journey to be on a low seated, trike-like contraption with no pedals attached to a big tray and spending the entire day hunched over picking strawberries whilst using her feet to pivvot up the hill in scorching heat and having nothing to eat BUT strawberrys and getting just 25 cents a tray for them. Ok i know she was just the bearer of bad news but her impatient attitude sucked. Apparently you get faster at picking with practice and a lot of the asian supervisors were very nice in showing me how to pick faster and even helping me fill my cherry tomatoe bucket sometimes. I was just such a small and helpless girl who was struggling just so very much.... 😏This never happened however when I was picking strawberries. One of the supervisors had a go at me for taking a break to eat a banana and NOBODY tells me to stop eating (low blood sugar = angry angry angry disfunctional and very slow Beth. Plus I have a very large appetite, fast metabolism and I LOVE my food)

Regular tomatoe picking on the machines was the best because half the time you are seated on a vehicle that takes you forward and your grabbing tomatoes from the vines as it goes by and putting it on a machine in front of you that takes it up to the sorters above you. It's difficult to explain what this looked like (ill post a picture)

If you were picking larger things like pumpkins or something you would get paid hourly but guys were usually only picked to do that. 

Once the weeks of picking were up and depending on availability and who the managers like the sound of, they will then hire someone in the hostel to pack which is hourly paid work. Sam, lucky bugger, got this job on arrival so the rest of us were put to slavery. 

By the end of picking everybody's hands were black with dirt. It is the hardest thing to get out of your nails ever. One day I was told to use the green tomatoe juice to clean my hands which seemed bizarre but it really worked. Natures way of saying thanks I guess. well that cheered me up, I'm always really impressed by little things like that. Sarah, a girl in the hostel brought out some dark nail polish so we could hide the build up of muck in our nails that we couldn't remove. I was so greatful for this but she had to paint my nails, I felt like I was 7 years old again using my mums nail polish for the first time because I hadn't actually used nail polish since I was a child and the whole thing felt totally alien to me (such a tomboy)

It was lovely to meet Rannon who had nothing but good things to say about the hostel and her experience, the place had been her home for a few months and the people in it had been her family. I spoke to her about this crazy thing people talk about when they "change" when they travel and all this "finding yourself" bullshit . She told me that she had deffinately changed and had grown so much more confident socially, which I understood and that made sense to me. I still needed to meet someone that could explaining "finding oneself" to me though. The whole thing just sounds funny to me - oh yes! I remember the moment exactly, there I was this entire time, hiding under the duvet in a hostel in Myanmar! So glad I found myself!

When matt arrived I felt awful that I just deserted him. The others had joked before that he was really really pissed off with me, he was a bit mad but he's so easy going he was over it and it was nice to have him with me again so we could be shopping and cooking buddy's. me and matt got along really well and for our whole time in bunderberg we cooked and shopped together just like we did in hamilton. he was just as dippy as I was if not more dippy which was just crazy that that was even possible. He did things that made no logical sense and took the long way round when going about doing things. It made me smile because it made me feel normal. When I was with matt I wasn't the clumsiest dippiest person on the planet, he was. He even rattled on talking more than I did which I liked. I sat on my bed one day missing Craig going through my scrap book of our travels together and cringey silly pictures we'd taken as a piss take. Nobody can really see this scrap book, it's full of private jokes nobody would get but us and if anybody else WAS to see it they would see how weird I truly was and probably not want to know me again but matt ran off with it one time and I had no choice, well I did but he insisted I let him look through it. Apparently he was weird too so it was ok. well I couldn't disagree with that. Gemma joked that if I was letting matt go through that when nobody else could then it was a big deal so we were like proper BFFS now... 

the good thing about the hostel was free tomatoes and potatoes, the good thing about shopping with matt was that we managed to budget weekly shopping to $20 each and that meant a full lamb or chicken dinner with all the vegetables. As a snack we would often make chips too and use the oil from the free section. A lot of hostels have a compartment of food that the backpackers have left behind so anyone is able to take what they want, this usually included spices, salt, pepper, oil or cerieal, so eating on a budget was easily done and chips with salt and chili powder was actually tasty!  I usually cooked and matt did the dishes (when he remembered) and he  really appreciated the meal too. He was so chuft one time he ran up to me and hugged me in appreciation haha. A decent meal is hard to come by when your backpacking on a budget and matt was just as skint as I was.

From Hamilton island to Bunderberg

July 2014

Credit card: -£350

AU bank account: $150

An 8 hour journey on a coach is not pleasant. You can't even sleep and the stop overs in the garages offer expensive food. I met a girl who had family just up the road from me back home though. Small small world!

When we arrived at airlie beach I'd pre-booked a hostel for everyone else that we paid for on arrival. The hostel offered free transport from the bus stop so everything was pretty breezy. Booked a taxi the following morning to get the ferry to Whitsundays. The ferry cost us $50 each for one way. Ouch!!  Hadn't had a proper meal in a while yet either. 

My first Impression of the whitsundays was just a bit... Meh. It looks amazing on tv, the water is so clear the islands are so beautiful and our journey to Hamilton just looked pretty average, sure the islands were pretty but not paradise. Maybe it was the route we did? The only possible sign of paradise was the clear water at day dream island. That was it. I wish I had more enthusiasm about the place and I wish so so much that I had the money to go scuba diving and see Whitehaven beach so I was able to talk about how beautiful the place is and what a fantastic time I had. 

When we met Chris he gave us a grand tour of the island before dropping me off for my first shift. First proper job woooo!!!

The work was very fast paced and I had to learn how to make a bed. Sounds daft but when you make a bed to a 5 star standard a lot more is involved than you think. Just to give you an idea, the shower glass alone had to be cleaned 3 times with 3 different sprays. The pillow cases had to have the opening in the centre, it was all very detailed and meticulous. Everything had to be perfect. The sofas cushions had to be taken away so every part of that was clean.... I could go on and on...  I got to see how the rich folk live. Everyone who goes to Hamilton island for a vacation has money. The whole place is expensive. They have golf buggies instead of cars to "maintain the image of the island." Ridiculous. 1 general store. Expensive. 1 fish and chips, a pharmacy, a school and a doctors. 1 beautiful beach with a stunning view of islands ahead and harbours full of posh yachts and boats and an airport. Apparently a number of celebrity's choose this island as a place for their vacation.  If I was rich It would be the last place I would go to.

Chris needed me to drive a big van and reverse park it next to the apartment we were viewing. I crashed it into the curb, it was so close to perfect parking, just a weee bit too far back. Fortunately Chris got out of the van and left so he didn't know... Minimum damage done to the van. The guys had left their stuff outside the apartment and 2 estate agents needed a decision there and then. They were asking for $1600 which included a down payment and rent in advance. It also meant we had to have the property for a minimum of 6 months (the jobs also required us to stay for 6 months but none of us were planning on staying that long) apparently every property to rent on the island was like this. I was prepared to do it as long as I had others to chip in and share the cost. The estate agents shift was coming to an end and nobody had arrived yet for me to make a decision with anyone, I called everybody. no answer. I had no idea what to do. I needed this place to secure a job and at this point I needed a job to get out of debt. I was prepared to put the whole thing on my credit card and when it came to breaking the  6 month lease I'd just have to let them keep the down payment and find someone else to rent the apartment and deal with it all as and when It came to it...

Finally everybody arrived 5 mins before the estate agents shift  was ending. Yvonne, anton and matt had joined us. Adam met these in his hostel in cairns and they hitch hiked here to get work also.

I was pretty pissed off at this moment, I felt like a big tonne had been placed on my shoulders and I was just meant to deal with it while everybody had fucked off and we all had to make this big decision in 2 mins. I started to explain what the estate agents had told me and how I was prepared to go ahead when Sam pulled me aside and got me to think about things logically. I was panicking. Sam was right when she said something didn't feel right when we got this job, I thought she was just being negative but Sams just a realist. She asked me how I'm going to deal with finding someone else to take over the lease, what the point in putting myself in to debt was for if I was going to be here for less than 6 months...that I had to consider what I was going to do with Craig and how If I stayed the 6 months it would mean working during his stay here. Al l the necessary questions, then matt cut in (who I'd never met before) and wanted to know what was going on and I just barked back at him and said he can't just cut half way through a discussion asking questions (we had 1 min to make a decision I had no time to explain to matt) which he responded "oh il just fuck off then" 

Finally I decided to give up on the whole idea. (Actually so grateful to Sam that she talked some sense into me)

I apologized to Matt for being a total dick and he was cool.

We made our way back to the ferry and Matt got a phone call regarding work on the island with accommodation, enough for 2 people. Everyone agreed that I should stay with Matt since I'd already started work. I'd never met Matt before, he was from New Orleans, wearing a jacket he'd cut the sleeves off of when the guy, Patrick met him at the ferry terminal for the work. Face palm moment. He still got the job, power washing the boats or something. 

We arrived at the place Patrick was letting us have temporarily, told us he was trusting us and not to fuck him over because he was doing us a big Favor, told us to keep it clean etc.

Matt took the room and I took the sofa in the living room. Apartment was nice enough, small but practical. I took a selfie for Craig of me and Matt so he didn't think I was staying with an axe swinging maniac.

The days with Matt were great, he taught me how to budget and we cooked and shared cost on food. Every morning he would be as quiet as possible when he went out for work and closed the curtains so the morning sun didn't disturb me (so sweet) I thought it would be awkward with Matt but we shared story's of what our home was like and the culture etc. And it was just really nice to have our own place. We discussed what we would do after we lost this place, Patrick said we could only have this place for around 1 more week. The closest biggish city was Townsville (2 hours north) which Matt had stopped at on the way hitchhiking. So we thought about going there.

By the end of the week Tracy, my supervisor said I wasn't really keeping up and if I wanted to keep the job I'd have to quicken my pace. Well it made me feel totally shit. The following morning Matt went to work and I decided to use the islands computers to finish off my RSA (a course which is a legal requirement if you want to work in a bar or waitressing) i called Sam and she told me they were all heading to Bunderberg  for farm work they spotted on gumtree (about 14

Hours south) I didn't know anything more than that but I had to go where they were going because I had no where to live after the week was over. The last ferry was due to leave in 2 hours. I ran 20 mins back to the apartment, packed, cleaned as much as I could and left a message for Matt along with all the change I had as I hadn't fully given Matt the money for rent.. I told him

To come Bundaburg and I tried a dozen times to phone him with no answer. 

I just managed to get the ferry and walked around 20 mins with 1 heavy rucksack from a

the terminal to Airlie beach, a really nice man gave me a hand with my other rucksack and we slagged Hamilton island off all the way. Brilliant guy. 

Sam said to meet her in nomads hostel. Dilemma. There were 2 nomads. I left my bag at the desk. My phone was dead and I rushed to use the computers across the road as I knew the coach for Bunderberg was leaving soon. I waited for Sam to respond... Nothing...

5 mins later Sam tells me where to meet her and they are all getting into a taxi to the bus stop. Adam quickly takes me to a place I can purchase the coach tickets and then we are away.

we waited more than 2 hours for the coach to arrive (it had broke down). That was 2 hours of waiting feeling bad on Matt and feeling so incredibly hungry with no shops around to get food. I sat next to

A guy from Taiwan and he told me all about his culture and we spoke about the difficulty of learning languages. I think I literally just sat to him and said "hey..." And it went from there. He's a backpacker, I'm a backpacker. We're all one of the same. Although wouldn't it be nice to go home and sit next to the craziest looking person (who probably isn't crazy and has some amazing story) and be like he's a human being I'm a human being. We're all one of the same and just be like "hey..." ?

I remember seeing a guy in Melbourne train station, similar age as I am sitting on the opposite side of the bench to me. We were the only ones at that stop and we were both just waiting... I wanted to say hi, he could have been a backpacker too and even if he wasn't, I should just been able to say hi to total strangers because (besides the fact that I needed reassurance that I was at the right stop) at home we meet new people through other friends or in a pub when We're drunk but wouldn't it just be nice to have met someone because you said "hi..." ? 

I didn't say "hi" in the end. I don't think it's the social etiquette in a big city. So I left the stranger at the station a stranger.

It was the longest journey by coach yet but I think I managed to get a little bit of sleep. When we arrived it was early hours of the morning and a van of people came to pick us up. Someone got out and ushered us over. We approached the van and then a mini bus came and parked beside it. The van left. Strange. The guy in the mini bus said he works at 'bundy backpackers' the hostel we would be staying at. 

Cairns. Finding work.

Credit card: -£250

AU Bank balance: $400

UK bank balance: £400

(Thanks to Craig loaning me money to be able to pay minimum off on credit card monthly)

now flying over cairns really was amazing, from

City life to seeing lush green hills. Loved it. The flight was a lot longer than I thought. Apparently Australia is big!? I guess the equivalent distance from Melbourne in the south to Cairns in the north would be from the UK to Greece? Something like that (actually just checked this and I was spot on, what an amazing guesstimate!)

When I landed I stood waiting for my bag where a bunch of other people were, before realising there was also a load of other people at another place for luggage collection. Had no idea which one my bag would be coming from and looked for signs... Decided in the end to stand between the 2 which didn't work and so just took my ticket out and looked for something, anything that I could match to a sign somewhere.  When I looked up I saw my bag and ran to get it. Easy. Yeah I know exactly what I'm doing I have this traveling thing all figured out...

Next, transport to a hostel I'd booked to meet Nicki and ash. 

I went to a desk that looked like they could help me and they sorted out transport for me. 10 mins later a mini bus came. 

Ok il probably leave out these boring, how did I get a taxi details now but for anybody reading who has a fear of traveling solo I just wanted to impress upon you how easy it all is even when your as retarded as I am.

the hostel had a pool and a night club. Cairns itself seemed to have a lot of bars and they sold a lot of gluten free stuff. Amazing! Imagine not eating a pie for a while and finally getting one...

I don't know what happened to meeting up with Nicki and ash but I got in touch with Sam:

"Hey I'm in gilligans (hostel)"

" oh were in another one just cross the right turn right then second left and well be on the right"

"Yeah ok Sam I'll give it a go but I'm not promising I'm gonna find you.."

I am shocking for taking directions

she had to find me in the end and i spent the majority of the time in their hostel. 

Gilligans was fine but everyone knew each other in my room and were all about to leave. It was nothing like habitat HQ (Melbourne hostel) the kitchen was a bit desolate and it wasn't cozy and friendly. There was no stage for people to perform on, except to do pole dancing competitions in the bar at night. Totally different atmosphere and not my kinda place (although nicki and ash did sign me up to this competition but I totally chickened out. I might have won a dance competition in Thailand but I certainly wasn't going to win on the pole haha!)

that day I met Adam, Sams twin brother. He had already done his first year as well as his farm work and had travelled a bit of Australia too. 

We all sat together and discussed mission: get farm work. I was up for any work as long as it involved earning money, getting my second year would be a bonus (if you want to extend your working holiday visa and have another year in the country to use before your 30 you have to do 3 months farm work).  it was really good to be with the girls again. We had a catch up of what they have all been up to. Apparently a really good time spent in the bars so it was standard that we went out that night. 

apparently they had been out every night since they arrived in Cairns. its definitely the place to get smashed. Of course if your there long enough the novelty goes and the girls had searched long enough for farm work with no luck

I met up with nicki and ash in the end and we all went to port Douglas via a car we rented. It was amazing to drive again and we stopped over at palm cove, a gorgeous beach. We spotted some Kangaroos along the side of the road and the landscape views along the way were idyllic. 

Port Douglas was a small expensive area with another gorgeous beach. I wish I could have explored the area a bit more as it was too much of a brief visit but it was a nice day spent with everybody and we got to meet some of Adams friends who were coming towards the end of their 2 years in Australia, so o more story's were shared.

I have a huge list of notes on my phone of places I have to visit that aren't necessarily the typical touristy stopping points. Who needs lonely planet or travel books when you have backpackers?

By this point me and Craig had been apart for almost 3 months and it was starting to take it's toll. Id been so stressed and caught up with finding work and meeting new people that I forgot to keep in touch with the guy who has been my biggest support. iMessage conversations were beginning to look like

"Hey"

"Hey"

"How you doing"

*2 hours later...*

"Good yeah you? ..... Hello?"

*following day...*

"Sorry I was caught up with something"

And that sort of dragged on for a few weeks and it's pretty shitty when It gets like that.

It was good that Craig gave me the nudge I needed to keep on track with him, felt awful I needed that nudge though. Life seems to go at a million miles per hour when your working in a panic and trying to have fun at the same time.

 It's crazy when your traveling, almost everyone is single and has this opinion that relationships and traveling really don't mix. well, distance and relationships generally don't mix but If i can stick out 2 tours, I can stick this out no problem and so can many other couples. People with these negative comments just Speak from bad experiences, I'd rather they just didn't say a word though because it's not what I want to hear and it's not encouraging. 

Me and Gemma were up bright and early the following day to make the most of the car rental and drive to farms to seek work. No luck.

The following day we settled to look for work, any work. Adam knew some guy who worked for a cleaning company on Hamilton island in the Whitsunday's and told us how brilliant his experience was. I got in touch with Chris who managed that cleaning company and was told to email my resume along with a cover letter. Brilliant news! so we all emailed chris and I chased it up with a phone call the following day, they were actually just looking through my resume there and then! Gemma also called and the following day I had a job offer. I was so excited! Next dilemma: where do I live on the island? Unfortunately no accommodation was  available to rent but chris found a possible apartment and to make it affordable offered us all work on the island! Woooo!!! $$$$$ 

We spent our last day chilling at the pool by the beach. It was so relaxing. We just chilled in the sun and enjoyed our last day of holiday freedom. 

We booked a coach the following day and missed it. So we re-booked it and made our journey to Airlie beach  (where you get the ferry to the Whitsunday's and Hamilton Island) which is about 8 hours south of cairns.

Absolutely exhausted here! Id just arrived and Flight was 6am!

Trying to assure Craig I was still thinking of him .... Haha