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)