I wanted to check out Rainbow Bay on Boxing Day, and I was running low on bread as well, so I took a stroll to Aldi's in Tweeds. I went out late, but the shop doesn't close till 6PM anyway, so I walked around town for a bit. Bought myself a coconut juice from the grocer that cost me $4!! Went through the mall and found that there's a cinema upstairs. They were playing American Hustle, Anchorman2, Hobbit2, and Hunger Games2. I was gonna come back and maybe catch a movie, but then saw the tickets were $15 for a regular movie!!! And I thought $12 was expensive back home for AVX. Then I headed towards where I thought was Rainbow Bay, passed by where I got dropped by by the Greyhound, and ended up on the other side of Rainbow Bay where there was a grass bit and a circus was either setting up or taking down, and a boardwalk along the water. I just sat by the water and watched the sparrows flew around me. A few of them landed on the cables on the railings and kinda created music notes. I went and got my bread just before Aldi's closes. Passed by the little carnival that they had set up in town. It was really small with only like 5 rides and a few game stalls, mostly for kids.
A couple European girls checked into my room that night and in the morning they just kept making a ruckus talking really loud, coming in and outta the room, slamming doors. I don't know if they didn't care that there were people still sleeping or they didn't know, but it was really annoying. I finally got up and was about to go for a morning shower when a bloke stopped me and asked if I had anything planned for the day because he was looking for something to do as well and was looking for company I guess. I told him we could meet up after I've had my shower and some breaky. His name is Saul and he's a local Aussie, apparently a life guard. He said he could show me around town, so we just hopped on the bus and headed north.
First we stopped at Tugun because he wanted to get Subway. Then we went to Currumbin. I'd already been to the sanctuary, so he took me to Surf World across the street. It was a showcase of evolution of surfboards, some of them looked pretty funky. There was even a gigantic surfboard that was in the guinness record for having the most surfers (47) riding a single board. Then we went to a surf club for a couple drinks, that's when I learned that surf clubs are basically restaurants where anybody could go eat and drink, but primarily they are surf life saving clubs where parents send their kids to learn about surf life saving, or you could join to become a surf life saver, lifeguards basically. Apparently it's a big thing in Australia.
We got to Burleigh where was actually one of the places I wanted to check out. Walked down a strip of shops, went into a drum store with a bunch of aboriginal crafts and other musical instruments, and people were playing bongos. We also went into an organic nut shop. I wanted to get some chocolate covered dried bananas but 2 scoops of them would've cost me $11!! So I got some chocolate covered peanuts for $1 and a few chocolate covered strawberries. We went to Burleigh Beach for a bit while Saul went for a dip in the water. We started heading back because I wanted to catch the piano man playing at the Southern Cross Tavern, the one 5min walk from the hostel. When we got there the piano man was on his break, so we just got ourselves a drink and played pool. It was pretty dead for the pub on a Friday night, don't know if it's just OZ or it's the holidays and everyone's away but it seemed pretty sad, and the bartender said they'd be closing around 8.30PM. So we decided to share a 6pk from the bottle shop and went back to the hostel. We sat outside and just talked till just before midnight and I was getting pretty tired from all the walking today, plus Saul was starting to creep me out by the end of the night, crossing boundaries.... I'll be keeping away from him from now on.
On Monday I re-organized my luggages, took out all the souvenirs and headed for the post office in Tweeds. I took my time walking along the beach and there was a Surf Life Saving Club. I see a lot of those around but never really sure what they are, it seemed like a pub because I always see people drinking out on the patio. A guy have been walking in front of me, seemed like he was going to Tweeds as well. When I caught up to him half way he asked me to put some sunscreen on his back for him, and he did look really burnt... Turned out he's also staying at the YHA. I thought he was much younger with his cap and sunnies on, but he was actually around my age. So we walked to Tweeds together, he waited for me to mail off my stuff at the post office, then we had lunch on the main street. He's from Germany, had a weird name that I couldn't pronounce. He does computer programming and is looking for work in that field or farm work to get his second year. He's planning to go to Brisbane soon though as there's not much here in Cooly. After we got back I decided to go to the beach, and he just went back to the hostel. After the beach I was looking for stuff to do and saw posters about the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and the hostel sells tickets that included the admission and a photo with a koala for $40, so I thought I might as well do that.
Next morning I woke up early to take the bus to the sanctuary, got off one stop late again. Got there around 9AM. It wasn't too bad, but there weren't a lot of animals out maybe because it was hot. I did get to feed the kangas and hold a koala, they were super soft! There were Bearded Dragon Lizards everywhere. I also saw Tree Kangaroos which I never knew existed, and Cassowaries. At one point I saw a display of how parrots were smuggled in tiny plastic tubes in suitcases and it made me sick to my stomach! I spent about 2.5hrs there, they had some bird feeding and animal talks throughout the day but the map was confusing so I didn't bother sticking around. I decided to walk back to the hostel, which would take me about an hr, but I just wanted to see some of the shops along the way.
I walked for about 15min and got to Tugun, it was basically a street of little cafés and grocery stores. I haven't eaten since 8AM so I was starving, found a tavern that had a Chef's Special of baked ham and veggies for $8!!! So I got myself a beer, the food didn't seem much on the plate, but the potato bites filled me right up and it was decent. Afterwards I bought myself a Milo ice cream cup from IGA, first ice cream I've had in Australia, and took my time walking back to the hostel. Got back to the hostel around 2PM and headed for the beach. I went into the water and it was actually pretty warm. I could never go into the ocean water in Vancouver, even in the summer time. The problem is I can't swim, so the waves scare me. I kept close to the shore. I spent about 2hrs at the beach, had a nice cold beer back at the hostel, showered, and had free BBQ at the hostel which consisted of crisps, sausages and onions. Apparently they don't use hot dog buns here, everything's eaten on toasts.
Today's Christmas Day and it's been quiet, most people have checked out of the hostel or are spending their holidays elsewhere. The Chinese brothers left this morning to go to Sydney. The hostel held a Christmas Lunch for those who had nowhere to go, which was pretty nice. They served fruits, pastas, salads, sausages, schnitzel, beer and wine and I was stuffed! There's also this East Indian lady who loves to talk to everyone. She's actually kinda weird, but really nice lady, and she made a bunch of East Indian food for the barbie as well.
For the rest of the day I just tried to look up for free stuff to do around here. Can't really afford to do any tours or anything yet since my cheque from the farm haven't gone through yet. There are a few towns I'd like to check out in Gold Coast, but they're all a bit far so I'd need to take the bus. I'm also gonna look into WWOOFing, Willing Workers on Organic Farms, where you work for accommodation and food on organic farms. I saw some more farm work on the TAW website, but since my last experience with the Morgan's I'm kinda iffy about the employers out there. TAW screens their clients so they're all legit, but I guess you still wouldn't know what kinda people they are.
So Godfrey has refused to sign me off on the days that I've worked for my second year visa. His reason being that I didn't stay for 3 months like I said I did, and that he wasn't just gonna sign people off for staying one month, and that it's a busy time for them and it'll be hard for them to find replacements. Well fuck, when we talked on the phone back in Sydney, he said we'll see whether I like the job or not. He never worked one single day with me, he didn't know that I've been working more hrs than he said I would. I didn't bother arguing with him, and Mrs. Morgan just sat there and said nothing. She wrote me a cheque for my pay, with a scrap piece of paper that said how much taxes was taken off. She never got me to sign any tax declaration form, and she just got me to write down my mailing address in the corner of their accounting book. Everything just seemed so sketchy, but I really just wanna get outta there! Mrs. Morgan still need to drop me off at the Greyhound bus stop in Miles so I'm in no position to piss anyone off. Back at the trailer I've finished cleaning everything and washed the bed sheets and was just waiting for Mrs. Morgan to come pick me up. James came back for lunch and we were talking, he understands where I'm coming from. He could work 12+hrs a day 7 days a week, but he enjoys working and he enjoys what he does. He agrees with me that if I don't like what I'm doing and there's no motivation, there's no point staying.
I was really upset the whole 8hr ride to Coolangatta. I told Cam what happened and he was super pissed about it too. He said I should've argued for it, but I just didn't wanna deal with the Morgan's anymore. Greyhound dropped me off in Tweeds and I still needed to take another city bus to get to the hostel, by then it was around 9.30PM. I told the bus driver where I needed to get off, but he forgot so I ended up getting off 2 stops after. He tried to get the bus coming the other way to stop for me but it went by really fast, so I walked 15min back hauling my 2 luggages and it felt like forever. Finally got to the hostel, sweaty and exhausted. Luckily couple girls were still up so I didn't feel too bad getting in late, I just hopped in the shower and went to bed.
Woke up at 7AM this morning, guess I'm still on farm clock. I saw a post about a Beachfront Market at the Marine Parade in Tweeds and I was asking the reception about taking the bus there, the guy there just so happened to be heading out with the courtesy shuttle bus so he said he could just drop me off. On the bus I met 2 brothers from China. When I got to Tweeds it was around 9.30AM and I was super hungry because I only had 2 eggs for breaky before I left the farm and a cup noodle from the hostel vending machine for dinner last night. Had myself a chicken schnizel, then I went to check out the market. It was super hot so I did a quick walk around and went to check out the beach. The sand was so nice and fine, barely anyone on the beach. I often wonder if the Aussies appreciate their beaches as much as the tourists, because all their beaches are stunningly beautiful.
I walked down to the next street where most of the shops are to check the bus schedule. I still had 30min so I walked around the street and checked out some shops. A lot of cafés and pie shops, Aussies love their meat pies. Originally I was gonna go do some grocery shopping at Pacific Fair in Broad Beach, but decided to go check out Surfers Paradise while the weather's nice. Their transit system is very confusing here. There are several buses that go to the same destination but on different routes. The thing though buses don't tell you what the next stop is, you basically needs to know exactly where you get off. So it's very hard for us tourists who don't know our way, and the bus drivers often forget to tell you even when you ask them to remind you. So a bunch of us who were heading to Surfers got onto the wrong bus. The driver had to chase behind the right bus and we all hopped over.
I got off right by the harbour, there were people jet skiing and boating in the canals, and every house has their own boat launch. Wouldn't it be nice to live here. Surfers Paradise was basically like a plaza full of restaurants and retail shops like Roxy and Quicksilver, very commercialized and tourisy. I had a beer at a bar by the beach where we need to sign in as guest at the bar, and carry a receipt with us saying that we're of age. They even have a Starbucks here, first I've seen since I've been in Australia. Bought a Gold Coast mug as a souvenir for my best friend PO because he collects them. Afterwards I was gonna catch the bus back to the hostel for barbie night but I've just missed it and they only come every 30min, it takes 40min to get back, so I decided to pick up some grocery at Woolworth's instead.
I bought a week's worth of groceries but forgot to get milk. Told the bus driver where I needed to get off and he forgot again, so I had to walk couple blocks back, but on the way found that there's actually a petro and a bottle shop just 5min walk from the hostel. Dropped off my food and went to get milk and beers, there's also a tavern with live band that I'd wanna check out another day. Got back to the hostel, showered, made dinner and had a beer. YHA Coolangatta is pretty remote, besides the airport next to the tavern and the beach across the highway, everywhere else you'd need to take a bus, with the closest Coles 10min ride away. The hostel itself is kept pretty clean and the staff are all very nice. They have BBQ night once a week, and a lounge room where they put on movies every night and everyone just kinda relax. I'm thinking of going to the post office in Tweeds tomorrow to mail some stuff home, especially the souvenirs I've bought. Don't want them to weigh me down for the rest of my trip.
I slept in till 8AM on Sunday and the boys had already gone to work. I had breakfast and was gonna clean all day and relax. The boys came back for a quick bite and Gus told me that Rob was having a Christmas party that night and I was invited. I was to go with them because it was in Sunnyside about 10min drive away and they didn't want me to get lost. Gus was frying up some eggs, but he took mine that was sitting on the counter without realizing it, so he gave me his carton of eggs. On with the cleaning. I started in the bathroom, cleaned the shower, basin, and the toilet, also swept and mopped the floor. Then I did the same for the trailer, also tidied it up and did a bit of pre-packing. It was around 11AM when I finished all that, so I moved on to the kitchen. I wiped all the counters and the stovetop, also cleaned out the microwave because it was really dirty. James came back for lunch and saw me cleaning and he made fun of me being OCD again. I just thought it was the least I could do for the boys before I leave, they've all been so nice to me.
It was just after 1PM when I finally finished. I had a beer and cup noodles for lunch. Then I jumped in the shower, half way through I saw Mrs. Morgan's horses in our yard through the window. Somehow they got out and she was there trying to shoo them away. After shower I just relaxed in bed and watched some Supernatural. Around 5PM I got up and let Bear off the chain and get ready for the Christmas party. Mundy came home from the horse race. I asked him how it was, he said he basically just got drunk. I went looking for Bear when Mundy went to wash up. Not to my surprise Bear was all wet and dirty. I was just trying to get him back to the house but he thought I wanted to play so he came running up to me and started humping my leg.
The rest of the boys came home around 6.30PM. Once everyone got ready we headed for Rob's, and we each had a beer on the way. When we got there I was told that Macko, Rob's 5y/o son that I played with the other night, was looking for me and apparently he calls me "Mundy's big kid"...... Anyway, the Morgans were all there plus a bunch of other people that I haven't met. I did have a nice chat with one of the older ladies, Mary. We were talking about my travel plans after the farm and Mrs. Morgan mentioned about me taking the Jackaroo school again. Please, just get over it already. I also mentioned that I wanted to check out Nimbin and they were just like why would I wanna go to Nimbin it's just full of hippies and people smoking up. I don't know, I get the feeling that farm people are really against weed as if it's as bad as doing coke or heroin. I don't do it myself but I really don't mind it at all.
Throughout the party Mrs. Morgan kept telling me to bring platters around, help clean up, do the dishes. Rob's wife felt bad, but I would've helped clean up anyway, it's just annoying that Mrs. Morgan's constantly telling me to do things. The food was absolutely amazing, them Aussies can really cook! There were a few people around my age, but basically the men mingled over beers, ladies sat around and chit chatted, while the kids chased after each other. They also had the cutest puppy who kept going around looking for attention. He kept coming up to me, so I eventually picked him up and held him for the rest of the night and he nearly fell asleep in my arms, I really wanted to just take him home with me! It was a beautiful evening. I could see the moonlight, starry sky, warm breeze, and a thunder storm in the distance..?!
Next morning Mrs. Morgan got me to sweep her yard and windex all her outside windows. I could tell they haven't been cleaned for a while because they were full of cob webs and dead bugs. Mrs. Morgan was very fussy too, even with all the trees in the way I had to climb the ladder and get all the corners, take out the mesh windows and clean the inside windows as well. I couldn't get to all the windows because I had to make it in town by 10AM to get all the rubbish bins out, so she told me to go back at 4PM. I finished the apartments and got home around 2.30PM, had lunch, and went back to the Big House. A storm was coming so she got me to wash her car instead, which I didn't see the point in doing because the rain could've washed away the dirt, and even if I washed it the minute she drives out it would've gotten dirty right away. All I've got to wash the car with is a bucket of hot water and a dirty rag, no detergent or anything in the water, a sponge would've gotten the dirt off better, or better yet, a hose would've made it so much easier and more effective! Sometimes I don't get the way Mrs. Morgan do things, they just don't seem effective at all! I'm constantly having to sweep the same yard over and over because she had this Rowan tree I think that keeps dropping berries, and it's not like she was having people over all the time anyway. Also vacuuming her house all the time when people would just walk in with their dirty feet or shoes on, it just seemed pointless most of the time. If they wanna keep their houses clean then keep the shoes outside!
It started to rain so she told me I could go when I'm done. By the time I got home it was around 5PM and it was pouring. It doesn't rain much in Condamine, but when it does rain it rains hard. When the rain finally eased out a bit, I quickly jumped in the shower, and by then a rainbow came out. I made dinner and was just playing my sudoku when the boys came home and they had their steak sandwiches again. James started playing my sudoku when I was on my phone, Gus got curious so we tried to teach him. He thought he got it so he tried to play one on his own but he screwed up. It was cricket season so the boys all went to watch the game in their house after dinner and I just went to watch my Supernatural. Also Mundy would be away for a few days because he's going to another property with a bunch of others to brand the cattle.
Next morning Mrs. Morgan had me clean out the inside of her car. She only kept me for an hr but she sent me to Sophie's to clean out their Cold Room till noon. It was kinda like a big ventilated shed that's connected to their guest house and I had to clean the floor and organize it for them and it was dirty as hell. I also had to clean their guest bathroom again. Mrs. Morgan was being fussy again telling me I've missed a spot here and there and I was really annoyed. I didn't finish till half pass, got into town, stopped by the roadhouse and bought myself a ham and cheese sandwich before heading to the apartments. There were more people staying at the first apartment than it said on the roster that I was given so I ended up having more rooms to clean. By the time I finished all the apartments it was 4.30PM and I really just wanted to go home. Got home, cooked dinner, let Bear loose and had a beer. Before I was able to jump in the shower I thought I had lost Bear again because I kept calling him and he was nowhere to be seen. I thought last I saw him he was heading towards the Big House, so I got the chain and started walking. James was mowing the lawn and when he saw me he knew what happened, he said he'll keep an eye out for Bear. Mrs. Morgan was also doing some gardening, and she was surprised to hear that I walked all the way from my house, don't know why because it was only like a 5min walk. On my way back I finally saw Bear chasing something in the tall grass. He saw me and came running up to me. I got the chain on him and all the way back he kept jumping on me wanting to play.
Finally got to take my shower, half way through the water stopped running. I stood there thinking WTF wondering what the hell am I supposed to do because I still got soap all over me and in my hair, then I saw one of the boys drove off hoping he was going to turn the water on and thankfully he did. I saw James in the kitchen and asked him about the water, he said one of the pipes was leaking so he had to shut off the water for a bit, hoping I wouldn't be in the shower... I was doing sudoku while James was making his dinner. He said that Gus had decided to go to his mates' for dinner and had texted him to take out the roast because he forgot to turn it down so it was a bit burnt. That's when I told him that I saw smoke seeping outta the stovetop before I went for my shower, but wasn't sure if it was just the oven because it's old.... But he still saved the roast! Later on we were just chatting and he asked if I was still hungry. I hesitated, but I was actually still hungry since I only had a drumstick for dinner. So James just got up and started putting a bunch of food on a plate and handed it to me. Then I found out something interesting... James told me that Mrs. Morgan had the previous girls wash her car twice a week, but they usually only work 4-5hrs a day, starting from 10AM. I asked James how he came upon working at Myall Grove. It turned out that he was just travelling around Australia in his truck, stumbled upon Condamine, got a job offer and ended up staying. He was actually born a city boy from Sydney but he loves the farm life. We also talked about how I wanted to become an animator before I decided to come to Australia, and he made me explain to him the difference between full animation and limited animation.
It was finally the last day working on the farm. I had a scare in the morning when I found a frog inside my toilet only after I've done my business! #farmlife Mrs. Morgan didn't keep me long in the morning as I had 3 apartments to clean. Turned out I had an easy day because most of the miners were on holiday so rooms were mostly empty. I finished around 1PM and I wanted to go into Miles to use the WiFi but I didn't have my Mac with me, so I drove home, dropped my laundry in the washer, got to Miles, I was hungry so I stopped by Creek Café and had a Chicken Caesar Wrap which was good. Finally got to the library, only to find out that they were closed for the day. Somewhat disappointed, I went home, hung my washing on the line, showered, threw my work clothes in the wash, and had instant noodles as my last dinner on the farm. Gus had gone home for the holidays, he wished me luck before he left. Mundy came home and we were just chatting. I had forgotten that I was wearing the only clean clothes I've got and Bear just came and jumped on me and got me all dirty. Mundy tried to hold him back but whenever he let him go Bear would just come back jumping on me. It was alright though, I love that boy and I'm gonna miss him so much!
I had 4 beers left so I was just chatting with Mundy about what we'll be doing at the Jackaroo school and what they did on that other farm property. He explained to me the process of cattle branding. I showed him the itinerary of the Jackaroo school, and he said he could've taught me whip cracking. In the end he gave me his old Jackaroo hat as a gift. I've been wanting to get a jackaroo hat and now I've got a real authentic one from a cowboy! James never came home, don't know if I'll see him tomorrow before I leave. Mundy's going to Dalby over the weekend because he has to come back to finish branding the cattle then he'll spend his holidays in Sunshine Coast. I still gotta wake up early tomorrow morning to get Mrs. Morgan to sign me off for the days that I've done for my working holiday, then clean up the trailer and the bathroom for the rest of the morning before heading off to Gold Coast for Christmas. It'll be the first Christmas I get to spend on a beach and I'm super excited!!
On a side note, Mrs. Morgan never got my name right. She kept calling me Rachel, which's the girl before me, or she'd try to call me by my legal name which's in Chinese, and she kept getting wrong and it was really annoying. I don't like people calling me by my legal name, especially when they could never get it right, so I asked her to just call me Rebecca, and she said that I don't look like a Rebecca. WTF.
When I went to work Monday morning Mrs. Morgan told me that there's a staff BBQ next day and that I should go. I thought, that's very kind of her, I finally get to enjoy a nice evening. She told me I could just skip gardening and go straight to work the next day so I can be on time for the barbie at 6PM because Tuesdays are my big days with 3 apartments to clean, and I thought, that's so considerate of her, and I'd have time to clean up. Then she said I need to be there to help set up and everything... Oh, that's why. It took longer than I'd hoped to clean the apartments on Tuesday. I got to the Big House at 4.30PM and I just had to help her sweep the yard because her granddaughter, Godfrey's daughter who goes to boarding school, was in town and she'd already help set up the tables. Afterwards I went home and took a much needed shower, went back to the Big House but not a lot of people were there yet, so I just helped prep the cheese platters with Sophie.
People started showing up at around half pass, and we were gonna sit out in the yard but it was really windy, so we moved inside to Mrs. Morgan's sun room. She provided all the beers and the wine and I've had a few. We all just sat around and chit chatted a little. I've met most of the people, but it was my first time meeting Megan, Godfrey's wife, and his son. Apparently Aussies have a custom, that when they are snacking, once in a while someone would go around and bring the platter around for everyone. For tea, Aussie way of calling dinner which took me a while to caught on, we had sausages, steak, rice salad, and Sophie's potato bites (scalloped potatoes), all were very delicious!! After we've cleaned up, everyone sat around with some more drinks, and the family gave speeches to the staff, mostly saying how well they've done in the past year, and they got gifts for 2 couples who've been on the farm for god knows how long, one of whom was moving away. They also mentioned about the rest of us hoping we'd keep sticking around, and about me sticking till Christmas Eve. I sat there thinking, well isn't this awkward, I haven't told them that I've decided to leave the weekend before Christmas... Mrs. Morgan mentioned that I'm leaving to go take a Jackaroo school, and everyone laughed as if it sounded so ridiculous.. And Sophie jokingly said they'd give me a crash course on jackarooing... I felt kinda uncomfortable to be honest. Not everyone needs to know that I've decided to leave early, let alone why I'm leaving.
Next morning when I was helping Mrs. Morgan do the dishes from the night before I told her that I've decided to leave on the 21st so I can spend Christmas in Gold Coast. All she said was: Fair enough. I felt awkward. Then it rained when I was working on her garden. There were puddles all around her trees and she still wanted me to pull out grass from around them. I told her I couldn't because my feet was getting wet from the hole in my shoe... She told me to come back after the apartments and she got me to vacuum her rooms. Godfrey came in sometime in between and I had to break the news to him, though Mrs. Morgan had already told him. His response was: I'm not too excited about it, but you gotta do what you gotta do. That was awkward again... Before I left Mrs. Morgan told me to go straight to the apartments next day, but go to Megan's afterwards. I told her I needed to get some toast in Miles, but mainly so I could make it to the library to make my bookings which I didn't tell her, and she said: Can't I wait till Friday, which kinda upset me. She did call up Mundy who was able to get me the toast I needed...
Next day I went into work, and since it rained all the towels I hung out were wet, so I sat and waited for them to tumble dry in the dryer before I headed over to Megan's. I also had a chat with one of the miners, and he was shocked to hear that I only make $400/wk. He said if he ever comes across any cash jobs he'll let me know. At Megan's I had to dust all the skirt boards, sweep, mop, and vacuum the whole house. After I've done everything she said I was to stay till 4.30PM, so she got me to do the veranda. They have a Boxer puppy name Wally, but I prefer to call him Wall-E. Megan pointed out that there were still doggy foot prints on the hardwood floor and she'd like me to mop them again. and just after I've redone them the kids came home walking in with their shoes on, Sophie came in with her shoes on, Wall-E was in the house.... I was just thinking WTF.... I didn't finish till around 5PM and during which time everyone was eating and playing around in the house while I cleaned. I felt really shitty but just tried to ignore the feeling. When I finally got home that night the house was still empty. I jumped in the shower and was gonna do my laundry because Bear got me all dirty again, but figured I might as well do it all on the weekend. Then the boys came home with boxes of beers and a big slab of beef. Apparently it was steak sandwich night, and James was cooking. I enjoy talking with James, who just got back from a wedding in Sydney. He said he drove there 10hrs straight!
On Friday Mrs. Morgan only kept me for an hr. I took my time at the apartments because I've done most of the work throughout the week, but I didn't want to go home too early in case Mrs. Morgan sees me and gives me more work. Last time when I had to drive out to look for Bear and she asked if I'd gone out. It's kinda unsettling to know that she's keeping an eye on my whereabouts all the way from the Big House. Anyway, when I got home I was so hungry I wanted to eat before I shower, but I forgot to thaw my chickens so I just had some toasts and noodles while Bear roamed around. Then I fed Bear, showered, did laundry, and rationed my food for my last week here. I've learned to feed Bear after he's had his running around so I can lure him back to the dog house with food or else sometimes he just wouldn't listen to me. When the boys got back Gus was freaking out thinking his laundry was still in the washer, but I hung them out for him already. The boys had steak for dinner again, as they have been for the past few days. I sat around and chatted with James, he had like 5 beers throughout the night. He kept making fun of me as a Canadian, but all in good nature. I called it a night at around 10.30PM.
This morning I woke up around 6.15AM, got ready and headed for Miles. The library doesn't open till 10AM, so I went to the Creek Café and had myself a Flat White while I played sudoku. I was able to make most of the bookings with the 2hr free WiFi, except for the train ticket from Sydney to Tamworth which I could book once I'm in Gold Coast. I'm fussy when it comes to bookings. I like to book early, but not before I double triple check everything. My plan so far is taking Greyhound from Miles to Coolangatta, transferring in Brisbane. Would need to get a ride from somebody from Condamine to Miles though which would be awkward to ask because Godfrey and Mrs. Morgan weren't too happy about me leaving early. I'd be staying at YHA Cooly for couple weeks, but I need to figure out how to get from the bus stop to the hostel as I'll be arriving late and they don't have the courtesy shuttle bus by then. Then Greyhound from Cooly to Byron Bay, staying at Nomads for a week, and doing a day trip to Nimbin while I'm there. Then Greyhound again from Byron to Sydney, staying one night at my favourite hostel YHA Railway and hopefully I can meet up with Cam and Silvia. Next morning take the early train to Tamworth with the YHA just around the corner, stay one night there to rest, and get picked up next morning for the Jackaroo school, and be on the farm for the following 6 days. Rachel from UltimateOZ has done an amazing job making most of the bookings for me. I have no idea what I'm gonna do after that. I might finally get the hop-on/hop-off bus pass and travel up the east coast, or even check out the Big Day Out concert in Gold Coast that's got really good line up including Pearl Jam and The Lumineers.
I still had the whole afternoon so I decided to go check out the Heritage Museum at the Information Centre. There were actually a lot more to see than the one in Chinchilla, so I guess $14 was worth it. Got home around 4.30PM and the boys were still out trying to finish loading the grains. So I started cleaning and tidying up the kitchen, organizing all the bottles and cups on the shelf. When the boys came home, Mundy had gone straight to Chinchilla for a horse race. Apparently it's his thing to go and get pissed drunk every now and then. Gus went to bed soon after dinner, but James and I stayed up and had a 3hr chat over more than a few beers. First thing he asked me was if I'm OCD, eyeing the shelf. He said when they came home, I was in my trailer at the time, and saw everything lined up he asked if Gus had done it. Gus was like no, must've been me. James admitted that he's very impatient and impulsive, gave me an example of one time when his ex was looking to buy a car, and he found and bought one the very next day. He's also fidgety, always need to be on the move and getting things done. I said he's a workaholic, not in a bad way, just that he's always gotta be productive. He'd rather work the extra hours on the weekend when everyone else goes away than having days off knowing that things could be done. We finally went to bed at 11PM because James still had to work the next morning, and I was super tired too. I think I'll clean my trailer tomorrow morning, which I believe Mrs. Morgan would expect me to do anyway before I leave...
I woke up early Saturday morning and headed for Dalby. 1.5hr seemed like a really long drive because there was nothing in between, and I constantly had to watch out for semi-trucks because the roads are narrow and small cars need to pull over for the big cars to pass. Dalby was definitely bigger than Miles and Chinchilla, they even have a cinema and you had to pay for meter parking on the main drag, 20c/hr!! The library doesn't open till 10AM so I had about 1hr to kill. I went into the mall which's got Woolworth's (like Superstore) and Big W (like Walmart). It was only one level, with about 20 shops in total, small, but it felt good being back in civilization. I walked along the main drag for a bit looking for boots, and decided to have lunch at a café before I go to the library. I still wasn't sure how restaurants worked here. It seemed that you'd order and pay right away at the counter, then they'd give you a number stand and they'll bring you the food. So I decided to have eggs benny, but when it came it was served on focaccia bread... I was confused.
Finally went to the library and they actually closes at 12.30PM on Saturdays, so I had about 1hr to quickly do my research. UltimateOZ hasn't responded yet but I looked up the hostels they suggested and they seemed to be booking up quick, so I figured out my dates and decided to book the hostels myself, and I'll leave the rest for UltimateOZ. I plan to leave on Christmas Eve, make my way to Gold Coast and stay at YHA Coolangatta because YHA Surfers Paradise was full, spend 2 weeks there, go to Byron Bay and check out Nimbin while I'm there, and go to Tamworth from there. However, according to UltimateOZ I'd have to take the Greyhound from Byron to Sydney, then take a train from there to Tamworth. It's alright because that'll give me a chance to visit Cam and Silvia. I just hope everything'll work out, and I can't wait to get off this farm!
This morning was supposed to be my day off still and I wanted to sleep in, but at 8.30AM Mrs. Morgan came knocking on my trailer door and wanted me to work on her garden for couple hrs. I was still half asleep and disoriented, and basically was just thinking WTF. I got up, got ready, headed to the Big House, and she basically just wanted me to put mulch around some trees. Since I was up early I decided to go into Miles for some grocery and check out the Dogwood Creek. As I was driving out, Bear came chasing after me, more so he was running in front of my car blocking my way. To avoid running him over I got him into my car, he had just jumped into the trough again so he got me all wet and dirty. I got him to run after Gus (Angus) back at the house and off I went.
I first went to check out the Miles General Cemetery. The reason I go to so many cemeteries is because I promised a friend back home who's into photographing cemeteries. Then I went to check out the Dogwood Creek where you basically need to walk in from just outside of town. It was a bit of walk, and it was 33degrees, but I just took my time. The creek was nothing special and you could barely see it along the trail because of all the trees in the way. There were several points along the trail, but I just stopped half way at the Dogwood Cemetery and back. It was a really old cemetery, and it's been flooded several times over the years so some of the tombstones actually got washed away. Got back to town, saw that there was a Foodworks, went in and did my grocery, and found that IGA in the middle of town was actually cheaper.
I was super hungry when I got back, so I had my can of Campbell's "Man Size" Beef Stew while Bear hovered around me. Then I fed Bear, showered, and did my washing. Prepped the chickens I just bought today and put them in the freezer, and made myself a second dinner. No one was home yet, so I just tidied up the kitchen a bit and was ready to settle in for the night. Lately I've been getting in the routine of watching Supernatural before bed. I'm totally into the Winchester boys now!
I was supposed to have an easy day, with only 2 apartments to clean. Expecting that I'd be done by noon, Mrs. Morgan told me to go to Sophie's (Spencer's house, Godfrey's brother) in the afternoon. Got there at 2PM, and Sophie got me to wipe all the windows, inside and out, and mop their veranda again because apparently I didn't do a good job last week as there were still streaks.... For fuck sakes, when I was mopping it last week people were walking around with their shoes on, getting it dirty soon as I mopped it so what's the point? Anyway, I finished at around 3.30PM, but Sophie was out picking up the girls from school. I guess it was her son who had just cut the grass, and he said I was supposed to use the leaf blower to blow out the guest patio with all the cut grass bits.
When Sophie got home I thought I'd be done but she said that Mrs. Morgan said I was to stay there till 5PM.... WTF, I didn't know I had a work schedule. So she got me to do more windows and I could tell that she was trying to think up something for me to do. By then all the kids were home and she had a friend over as well, so everyone was just chilling while I worked. I tired to do as many windows as I can, but some of them were too hard to reach and had a bunch of trees in the way. Last week she also had me scrub out her kids' bathtub, and it was gross, the window had a huge cobweb over it. It was around 4.30PM so she got me to clean and change the bedsheets in their guest house. I did it like I would with the apartments so I didn't finish till 45min later, and I don't know if Sophie felt bad or that they were getting ready for dinner so she sent me home.
I was pretty upset when I got home, had myself a beer and was able to calm down when I played with Bear. I really wanted to just book the next bus and get outta here. I talked to Cam later on that night and realized that I'd have to do 88 days of farm work in order to qualify for second year, so maybe I should really stick it out till Christmas, but I don't know if I could last that long.... I've also emailed UltimateOZ and asked them to book my next buses for me after the farm. I think Greyhound only goes from Miles to Brisbane, so from there I could go to Gold Coast and spend my holidays there, then check out Nimbin on my way to Tamworth where I'd be taking the Jackaroo school after New Year. I've also talked to some people on the Facebook group SWAP Working Holiday Australia, and apparently quite a few of them have had to quit their farm job early because it didn't turn out to be what they expected. And what they said is true, I'm here to travel and enjoy myself, not to be stuck and miserable on a shitty farm.
Next day apparently Godfrey has told Mrs. Morgan that I've decided to leave, and I don't know, sometimes she just sounded sarcastic. She knew that I wanted to do the Jackaroo school, and she said: What are you gonna do after doing the course? Jackrooing? Um... Isn't that kinda the point?? Then I told her that I wanted to check out Dalby over the weekend, and she said sure, as long I pay for my own fuel... Afterwards she got me to pull out these tall fluffy plants I think they were Pampas Grass? Good thing I had my gloves on, but I was still getting scratched up from all the sharp leaves. Then I had to clean the third apartment and it was disgusting as usual, and the boys couldn't even pull the rubbish bins out to the road like they were supposed to so it was overflow with beer bottles.
I've just been so pissed off everyday with all the shit I had to deal with. The only time I look forward to is driving home after work, play with Bear, chat with Mundy, and enjoy my beers. I was able to finish early so I headed into Miles before the library closes. You only get 1hr of free wifi but I think I've got most of my research done, and UltimateOZ had emailed me back with a bus route for me. They said it'd be faster to take the train to from Sydney to Tamworth, and I could just book a day trip from Byron Bay to Nimbin for $35. I still need to look into it a bit more, but so far it's looking good. I also stopped by a café and tried the Aussie steak sandwich and man was it delicious!!!! It was strips of nicely done steak with some lettuce, BBQ sauce, caramelized onions, in between 2 pieces of toasts. Simple but delicious, much better than the steak sandwiches I've had back home that's usually greasy and hard to eat.
Back at home I told Mundy about me leaving and asked if he's been to Nimbin and what he thought of it. He said it wasn't for him, just a bunch of hippies and nothing else. I also asked him for directions to Dalby for tomorrow morning. It was pretty straight forward just following the signs, but he still repeated it several times to me like he did with Chinchilla. He also said that the shops open from 8.30AM to noon, which means I'll have to wake up early because it's gonna be a 1.5hr drive. However, they do have a library with free wifi as well, and a proper supermarket! Exciting!
I slept in till 8AM on Sunday, had eggs, toast and tea for breaky. I haven't had coffee since I've been on the farm, tea's just easier to make. Then I called Mrs. Morgan, telling her that I'm going to Miles for groceries so she doesn't worry about me, she made sure that I knew the way. It was only 10.30AM when I got to Miles so I thought I'd check out the town a little bit. I first went to the Information Centre and found out that there's a heritage museum right behind the building. It cost $14 to go in and the lady there said there's actually quite a lot to see, but since it's the weekend and they close earlier I figured I'll come back another day. I asked the lady what else is around town. She showed me a map and jotted down a few spots. There were 3 cemeteries that I'd like to check out, also found out that the library has free wifi! Will be coming here on weekends more often now to catch up on some Doctor Who and maybe rent some DVD's. I also bought 2 more postcards there to send to some friends.
I decided to go to IGA first because I wasn't sure what time they close on Sundays as everything seems to close super early in Australia. I got some chickens and a bunch of flavoured canned tunas for lunch. I tried to look for the news agency in town but it looked shut down, or I just wasn't at the right place... Then I went to check out one of the cemeteries, reading the tombstones and each one's got a different story to tell. I also saw some children graves again, one of them was a 13 month baby, and the other was 13 day old, super sad..... I started heading back around 1PM because it was super hot and I was worried that my chickens might go bad in the trunk. On my way back I stopped by the lagoon between Condamine and the farm. It seemed like a small caravan park as I've always seen a few trailers parked there. The water was really mirky and there were people jet skiing.
Got back, let Bear loose, and as usual soon as he jumped into dirty water he came running up to me. I had toast for dinner just to finish them up since I've bought some more, then I turn around the Bear was gone! He's usually within the vicinity but I tried calling him and he never came so I got worried. So I got some dog food, hopped into my car and was just driving out of the gate to our complex when I saw Bear chasing after my car, thank goodness! Got Bear back to his dog house, had myself a much needed beer, and went for a shower. I tried trimming my bangs in the bathroom, but all I've got is a rear view mirror from a car so my bangs turned out like crap, but since I'm just on a farm working by myself so it's okay...
By the way, Christmas is coming and apparently we get a week off from Christmas to New Year, I'm thinking of borrowing the car and driving to Brisbane to spend my holidays there. That'd save me money on Greyhound bus, and nobody would need to drop off/pick me up. Hopefully I could meet up with Cam as well since he doesn't have plans yet for the holidays, it'd be nice to see some familiar faces... It's only been a week but I feel like I've been here forever! For the rest of the night I just watched some Supernatural and went to bed early.
Come Monday and I already hate my job... and Mrs. Morgan's starting to get on my nerves. Housekeeping isn't hard, it's just boring and repetitive and I'm always by myself. I had to vacuum her house today, and she wanted to get every corner and every skirting board. There were spider webs and dead bugs everywhere, so obviously she hasn't cleaned it herself in a while. At one point there was a sticky pad bug trap and I used my gardening gloves to pick it up because there were a lot of dead bugs on there and it grossed me out and she made a remark about it. Why didn't she just change a new one?! And she didn't want me to just vacuum with the nozzle she wanted me to vacuum with the hose! As I was vacuuming she was either walking around with her shoes on or barefoot from walking in from outdoors, so what's the point if she's gonna be bringing in dirt anyway. All day long I kept thinking about leaving on Christmas. I've wanted to go to Brisbane but then it seemed boring there, so I'm thinking of going to Gold Coast instead. Later on at one of the apartments I had to clean out a full fridge when the boys were supposed to clean it out themselves.
I finished around 3PM, went to the pub for a drink before coming home, showered and made dinner. It was another quiet night as all the boys were out mustering at another farm so they were all gone for the night. I enjoyed my quiet time, but would've liked to have Bear to keep me company. I also messaged some of my friends. It seemed that Cam has decided to stay in Sydney for Christmas instead, Elizabeth wasn't enjoying her job much either at a Chinese restaurant, and Markus was just having a blast working at a sheep farm in Adelaide and was even thinking of staying longer than 3 months! I just felt like I was wasting my time here, not learning anything.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have 3 apartments to clean, and the third one always takes the longest. Every time I go in I gotta change all the sheets, wipe down all the showers, sweep and mop the huge living room, and wash out the front porch. Today it took me nearly 4hrs and so I didn't finish till 5PM, I was starving and exhausted afterwards. I also tried to go to the post office in the morning before work, it was open but no one was mending the desk. It wasn't even a proper building it was more like a shack. I thought I might try it later on but then it was closed! Godfrey came to check up on me when I was vacuuming the Big House and I told him that I've decided to leave on Christmas, he didn't seem too happy about it.
After I got home I showered, ate, and had a beer. Didn't really get a chance to talk to any of my friends today as everyone seemed to be busy. A few of them have moved on to other places. I started feeling lonely again. The boys didn't get back till around 8PM. Mundy said they had to kill a beast today, and I saw a huge stain on his shirt that looked to be blood.... So life sucks here and everything's so far and inconvenient. I can't get onto wifi with my Mac in the kitchen, but I need internet to figure my way out of here. Mrs. Morgan supplies fuel for my car, but I don't think she'd like it if I keep driving to Miles all the time. I think I'll do the 5-day Jackaroo school after the farm. They have one every week, but since it's the holiday season the next one doesn't start till the second week of January, so that gives me about 2 weeks to check out maybe Gold Coast. I'll have to do my research the next time I'm at the library.
