Christmas Staff Barbie

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...