Living in Paradise.

The past two weeks have been crazy, I feel like I have done sooo much!!! From leaving Karumba, to being back in Cairns and then doing the long trek down to Airlie Beach to live in the Witsundays!  It has been insane. But; before I get to my adventure getting here and telling you about island life I have to tell you a story.

Behind where I  lived in Karumba was the old staff housing, an old blue house with two levels that are now boarded up and locked.  My last week in Karumba (before I knew it was my last week) Liz, Cass and I grabbed wine and bundy rum and drank into the wee hours of the morning.  On this very drunken night after we danced on our front porch and sang along to the iPod I pop up and say “you know what I have wanted to do since I got here?  Break into the blue house!!!”  Well, the girls thought it was a great idea, so off we go to the forbidden blue house.  We walk up the steps to the top level.  Locked.  “Cass cough”  “What?”  “Cough really loud”  as she coughed, I – thinking I’m tough – kick the door hoping to break it down?  Ya right it didn’t even budge.  Defeated we walk back down and were ready to call it a night when I said “there is a door on the ground level”  Cass walks up and turns the handle and the door moves, she pushes it again and it opens a crack but something seemed to be blocking the door.  Liz joined her and pushed on the door.  They get it open enough for all of us to squeeze through.  There was a huge king size mattress blocking the door which of course happy and excited we got in had to act like toddlers and jump on the bed.

The place was pretty clean, not overly dusty or covered in cobwebs.  There were other rooms with mattresses that didn’t seem to be old or rotted.  Liz found a scarf, there were empty beer bottles and a full set of golf clubs and of course deciding we just needed them for no apparent reason took two of them home with us.  Cass found a lamp shade glued to the ceiling in one of the rooms “I like this she said” and ripped it down and wore it as a hat.  The place seemed pretty cool and we wondered why it had been shut down.  To be honest, the place gave me the creeps.  I felt weird in there, that something was hiding in the shadows, as fun as it was I was happy when we left.  Also, just to add,  I had not been drinking goone like my last BnE lol though I was not at one of my most reasonable moments. 

Karumba.  I do miss it out there and even though I left there two weeks ago it feels like it was a lifetime a life time ago.  I went back to Cairns for 4 days and felt like I was home again, I had an absolute blast and got to catch up with people and then  Jarrett  (one of the guys who used to work at Calypso Hostel where I stayed)and I applied for a job with Club Med Lindeman Island and got the job. So 24 hours later and drunk as skunks after a big party night at the hostel we boarded the Greyhound with yet another 11 hour bus trip ahead of me.

So now here I am living on Lindeman Island in the Witsundays, Paradise, and pretty much a haven for backpackers.  The views here are amazing!  We are surrounded (360 degrees)  by mountainous Islands for endless miles all with golden lines of beaches.  The water is so blue and sometimes so calm it is like glass.  The wild life here is amazing.  Bush turkeys that constantly squak and chase eachother and wild cocatoos that fly into our canteen and steal peanut butter.  Elvis (one of the resident cocatoos) flys in grabs a packet and flys back into his tree where he peels the lid back and sits up there cleaning out the whole packet with not a trace of peanut butter left.  When he is done he just drops it to the ground adding to the pile of the packets previously enjoyed.  One day he even ate it off our fingers.  He very slowly walked up to us and like a tame cat just licked it right off our fingers.  They are really curious birds and seem to have no fear of us.  They will fly up right behind us and just sit there looking at us, turning their heads and fanning themselves out.  Then there are the spiritual birds (I’m not sure what they are called) they have long skinny legs and their feathers have the most interesting brown and black design, some parts almost looking like the spots of a leopard.  They have the blackest eyes and they just stand there not moving for minutes at a time, staring at what I don’t know.  They make this weird clicking-hissing sound and then they run towards whatever they are hissing at.  It is said they are warding off evil spirits and if you purposely kill one your number is up.  I love watching them.

There are butterflies, snakes (which I have not seen), moths, horribly big marsh flies that bite, green ants that bite but apparently taste like citrus and spiders, big ones, but I am dealing with them ok.  The weather here is so hot, almost flawlessly hot, I am tanned as,  working outside in a polyester uniform really isn’t the greatest fun.  What am I doing for work?  I’m a PA.  No no not personal assistant, Public Area.  We mop the floors, clean all the toilets, pools, tennis courts, pool areas, rubbish bins and our living area GE Land.   GE Land is made up of shack like appartments A-D block and the Donga’s which is where I live and the best place to live.  We each have our own rooms though we share toilets and showers but its incredibly social here and everyone gets a long great.  My door is always open unless I am at work, I would like to say it is closed when I sleep but usually I pass out with it open when I nap.  Even when there are parties here I fall asleep with the door open and do not wake up to the loud music lol.  There are three parts to the Dongas.  There is oneside called the Monga’s – they are quiet and don’t party, then there are the Donga’s which has two blocks there is the end part which is clean with painted doors which I call Beverly Hills and then there is my block which I like to call Harlem.  This is where all the parties take place on our doorstops (mine being one of the main ones), garbage and cigarette butts that I try and clean in the mornings but is back to the way it was by the end of the night and graffiti on the doors, sounds ugly but we love it though and wouldn’t change it.   GE Land is set up on a hill away from the resort and guests are not aloud here, we have a gym (with rusted equipment), ping pong room (that has holes in the walls containing aspestos but they have been checked and it is safe), a canteen where we eat all our meals (3 meals a day done buffet style, yum yum), a pool, a bar, laundry facilities and the shoe tree.  The shoe tree is massive covered with heaps of shoes,  when leaving the island if you have a pair of shoes that are ruined and need to throw out you put them on the shoe tree so they can stay on the island.  Work isn’t really that bad.  PA is one of the best jobs to have on the island and I actually really enjoy it even though I am cleaning toilets.  I’m happy and always smiling at work even when I sweat like a pig in heat I smile.  Our polyester shirts just sit on the sweat and the mesh at the side to help you breath…not so much by the time I am done work I feel so grungy I can’t wait to get into a shower.  My shifts are 630am till 3pm everyday, early I know but I like the hours.  I have even been napping in the evening so I can party at night.   We have a disco on the resort which is pretty much all staff, it kind of sucks but it is nice to go out and see the GO’s which is the other side of the staff.  The GO’s are the FOH (front of house) staff and have different accommodation from us so it’s nice to see them.

It’s really cool working and pretty much knowing everyone since we all live here.  Everyone is great!  I’m having a blast, I’m even trying to extend my stay here so I can stay and save some more money.  Plus there is so much to do here.  Snorkel (as we are on the outer part of the Great Barrier), camp outs on one of the island beaches, kayaking, weekends at Airlie Beach, helicopter rides over the Witsundays, hikes up Mount Oldfield where you get a 360 degree view of our surroundings which is absolutely breath taking, watching sunsets from the 8^th hole of the golf course which are probably some of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen.   I DID have pictures of most of this stuff but I lost my SD card so I have to take the pictures again so please be patient.

Anyways I know I am lack of blogs lately but so much happens its hard to keep up so I will be trying my hardest to keep you updated.  I must go though, there is an epic night waiting to happen at the disco tonight and I must join in the festivities of my Donga-ites and get ready for tonight.  I just napped for 4  hours as I have to wake up at 6 and clean…guess what…the disco haha.

Take care

PS  It is my 7 month anniversary!!!  Miss me ? J

On the Road Again!

Alright so it grew on me, Karumba actually grew on me.  The people, the dry landscape, the heat, the fishermans cologne it all grew on me and I fell in love with Karumba.  The only thing I was struggling with was the job, I never settled into it.  I tried but even to pretend I enjoyed it I couldn't do.   They changed the rules on us and worked against our RSA and the old guys that sat at the bar everyday were C ____s (I won't write it because I know mom doesn't like it).   To top that off Steve and Yvonne were acting really wierd towards me and everytime she spoke to me she was condescending; like I wasn't capable of doing my job properly.  Every thing I did she spoke to me like I was a child and I was getting really frustrated.  I don't care if I am a backpacker and we get the shitty end of the deal I am still a person and you don't talk to me like that.
By last Saturday I had enough,  I was ready to quit but I actually had a feeling I was getting fired.  The schedule came out on Sunday,  the other girls have 45 hours and I barley had 35, that was it, my last straw after my shift on Sunday I was going to give her my notice.
"Emmie can I talk to you"  says Yvonne as I was signing out and just about to ask her if I could talk to her.   She pulls me into the office and I knew before we even got in there what it was about.  She said she had complaints and then blamed me for losing them business!!!!  She said that people had stopped going there beccause of me.  "I was coming to tell you that I was leaving"  I told her "Well good then you can leave on Tuesday with the rest of them"  and that was it.   I had less then 48 hours to pack, get a bus ticked (which I had to pay for)  and find myself a ride there.  I went online and talked to one of my mates from the hostel in Cairns.  He booked me in for the next night and was picking me up at the station when I arrived.
"What do you mean you are leaving?!?"  asked one of the locals "I got sacked!  She told me I lost them business.  That people stopped coming here because of me."  " What people?  it hasn't changed since you got here.   Did you get a warning or .  anything?"  "Nope, just less then 48 hours to leave!"  "What a bitch.  YOu know that people stopped coming here because of her not you."  " I know but it's ok, they obviously weren't happy with me and I wasn't with them so it is for the best."  The locals were really surprised and some very unimpressed.  They couldn't believe I got sacked, even the ones I gave grief to and kicked out said they couldn't believe it.  The next day the new girl to replace me arrived.  They had already put an add through the agency and hired someone.  They saved their asses before they threw me out on mine.  CUNT's (sorry mom).
I didn't realize how much I loved Karumba until I was on the bus.   You don't just become family with the staff, its the locals as well you become part of their community and their culture therefore they becomes part of your family.  I was feeling Karumba sick on my way to Cairns.   Me leaving had happened so fast that I really didn't even have time to think about it.  I was stoked to get back to Cairns but sad to leave my little Karumbian world.  
The bus trip was long though there were four of us.  Liz was off to Fiji and Becky and Luke are heading home, plus I had thrown my back out in the morning so 11 hours on the Greyhound with a sore back is not fun.  The closer we got to Cairns we got the weirder I felt.  It was so wierd to get back into  "civilization" and plus how green it is.  Everything is so dry in Karumba and so green here it felt wierd to actually see some colour.
It has felt so good to get back to Cairns.  I honestly feel like I am home again.  I missed it so much here.   Matthew  has come by the hostel for drinks and we have been talking about doing Asia together.   I have seen other friends that I met last time I was here and to be honest I don't want to leave.  Cairns has been my favourite place.  Yesterday heaps of us from the hostel went down to the lagoon all day and just hung out in the sun, listened to music and went swimming.  It was such a wicked day, one of the best I have ahd in a long time.  I just want to stay and live at the lagoon everyday,  but...lucky me...I got a job lol.
One of the guys (Jarrett) who used to work here was planning on heading down to Brisbane to find some work.   I on the other hand wanted to do some excursions and head down and hopefully find some work in about a month.  There was a job posting in the hostel and we applied together.  We got the job, we leave tonight at midnight for an 11 hour bus trip haha love those.
Whats the job you ask.  Working at a Club Med Resort in the Witsunday Islands.  It's gonna be great.  I'm not overly excited because I just came back from work but I would be stupid to give this up, it's money and it's only a three week contract. Apparantly they had heaps of replys but they only had 3 spots available,  so awesome.   It's gonna be so amazing out there!  Everything in life happens for a reason.  If I hadn't of gotten fired I wouldn't have had this opportunity. On the road again!

Poop, it Keeps Your Feet Warm!

There is a feeling of freedom when shooting a gun…an anxious sort of excitement.  Now I am not one for guns; I have never liked them and they scare me, the only guns I like are the toy ones that I can fill with vodka lol…no, but seriously they scare the shit out of me, yet shooting that .22 Magnum felt so good.

I was afraid to hear the sound of the shot as cowboy held the rifle and concentrated on his target.  I mean , I was thinking a hand gun but instead he loaded the trunk of his car up with 5 rifles and drove me us out into the middle of the bush and I mean the MIDDLE of the bush.  There was absolutely nothing around except for dried out trees, sand and flies – Karumba is surrounded by flood plains. “Oh perfect” I thought “this is the perfect setting to for horror movie, did you not pay attention to Wolf Creek!”  No worries, some of the other girls have gone shooting with him so I knew it was safe.

As he got the guns ready I looked around and took some pictures.  Man it was so fucking hot, my clothes were soaked and the backs of my knees were sweating and the flies would not leave me alone.  It had to be about 37 degrees out there and there is no water holes or anything and if there was you can’t swim in them because of the crocs.  “It’s hot out here in the bush isn’t it?” Said Cowboy “so hot” I replied “We are lucky it’s the middle of winter” he finished and started laughing.  I noticed these big brown piles on the ground that at first I were what was left over of a tree stump and then I asked “is that poop?”  “yup, cow poop” “eww” “stick your feet in it and it will keep your feet warm.” I looked at him and laughed. “Seriously if it ever gets cold just stick your feet in it, you are from Canada, don’t you know about that?!” he giggled.  “Ummm, we have thermal everything we don’t need cow poop for our feet” I answered thinking, why would they need to keep their feet warm out here, you can’t wear anything more than shorts or a singlet because you would melt in anything else.

“Ready?”  it was my turn to shoot.  I was a little scared as I stared through the target hole and concentrated on my X…I even had a conversation with myself.  I have done so many other things that scare me in the last 6 months why not this?  Because guns are scary and it can kill me?!?  You jumped 14,000 ft out of a plane, that’s pretty risky!  I know but this is a gun…and then I pulled the trigger.  There was barley a sound and the trigger moved so smoothly and the gun was so light I could hardly tell I had shot the gun.  “You got that in the centre of your target, that’s incredible for your first shot!”  I finished off the magazine with almost all perfect shots and moved on to another gun – the .22 magnum – and then a bigger gun after that.   After I shot from the third gun I went back to the .22 magnum.  The first gun was to light and quiet, the third one was a little heavy and made my arm tired but the .22 felt so good.  The sound was just perfect so that you knew you shot the gun and when you shoot the bullet the gun throws back a bit into your shoulder just enough so you know you have actually shot the gun.  I fired a bullet, brought the gun down, pulled the leaver to fill load another bullet, brought it up, focused and shot.  I did this over and over again.  I couldn’t believe how amazing this felt.  I was trying to focus and aim so perfectly but when I lined up my target I would start to shake a little and my heart would start racing with excitement.  I would try and relax and breath and calm down but as soon as I got it close enough it would start again, I just wanted to keep shooting the gun.  We were out there for 3 hours!!!  What a way to spend the first part of my day!!! 

It has been so hot out here  and the temperature has been rising.  I can’t wear more than half my clothes because it’s just too hot.  I have to sleep with the A/C on in my room full blast, if I don’t I will wake up by 9am just absolutely drenched. It does cool down at night sometimes, the  temperature  might drop to about 24 and those nights you wear a cardigan – I know a cardigan on a night that’s 24, we pray for those nights back home - other nights it might stay at about 30.  Sometimes its unbearable, especially since only 1 ceiling fan in our main room works and it’s usually hotter in there then it is outside, I sweat just eating dinner.  With the rising temperature comes all the little flies, weird looking beetles and lots of toads!  One dropped from the ceiling behind the bar today while I was working, thank god not on me!!!  I would’ve lost my shit, and just like everything else in Australia there are poisonous ones up here so we can’t touch them, just kick them out of the way.  Gotta love it!!!