Happy late Thanksgiving to everyone in the US! I hope you ate some turkey and stuffing for me because turkey was not happening here. I was dripping sweat, sitting in the shade in shorts and a t-shirt, contemplating ice cream, which is the exact opposite of what I usually do on Thanksgiving when it's cold and all I want is delicious warm food.
The last week has been quite a bit of fun. We fell into another job around the area when Tony, a garlic farmer called the hostel and asked if there were any backpackers looking for work. Thus started my illustrious career as champion garlic digger, root snipper, bundler, and hanger. Now garlic picking isn't all that hard, but you're out in the sun all day, hunched over, digging garlic bulbs out of the ground, contending with mud, prickly bushes, and scuttling spiders. So you get really dirty and your back starts complaining after a couple hours.
Once again, Australian hospitality made itself known. I could get used to it. Our boss was always providing drinks, coffee, or tea, ice cream, fruit, and one night he even gave us his car to he wouldn't have to pick us up in the morning. If you ask me, that takes a lot of trust. I'm sure when he was watching us drive away, Stefan, our German friend, at the wheel, he was wondering what condition his car would be in when he got it back. But we each took a turn driving, you know, getting used to the whole “stay on the left side of the road” thing and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. It's basically the opposite of back home with the left hand turns being the easy ones and the right hand turns where you have to watch for all the traffic. But it was nice to have the freedom that a car brings, even if it was for a night since we've been walking or biking into town, which is a time intensive endeavor.
Garlic picking was great. I met a whole bunch of people. A French girl, one from New Zealand, and a large group of people from Thailand and Laos who came in and saved the day a few days ago, making the picking go so much faster. Since picking isn't the most entertaining job in the world, we talked a lot and I got to learn all the important Thai phrases like hello, good, no good, and take it easy. I'd be out in the field picking and they would be jabbering away in Thai, with me in my own little world, and all of a sudden one of them would tack my name onto the end of a Thai sentence, essentially asking me a question to which I would stare blankly back at them and eloquently grunt out, “What?” to which they would laugh and then translate for me. I'm sure they enjoyed it, but they were also delighted that Steve and I would keep asking different phrases to learn their language.
The last few days in Hunter Valley were a blast since we took a break from work and just hung out. The 25th we trekked over to Potter's Brewery, just down the road from the YHA for a $10 brewery tour. I wasn't expecting that much and we were told that the tour lasted about 20 minutes, but an hour and fifteen minutes later, the guy was still talking. It was really interesting to hear about how different malts combined with different hops can produce an abundance of different flavors in a beer and how yeast turns to alcohol after a while. The whole process is very scientific and a lot of thought goes into deciding exactly what type of taste the brewer is attempting to obtain. After the tour, we walked next door to the pub and tried out a few of the beers Keith, the beer guy (his official title, I swear) had mentioned. There was a delicious mango beer and a disgusting bacon flavored beer which I got just to try and regretted the entire time I tried to drink it. Then we went back to the hostel to find it invaded by a huge group of people up from sydney. I don't think i've seen that many people at the hostel the entire time we were there.
Friday the 26th, our last day in Hunter we cleaned for Carolyn and then we (Chris, me, Steve, and Glen, a Kiwi) hopped on some bikes, up and down hills for a good 40 minutes to get to Hunter Valley Gardens where we played AquaGolf. Now aquagolf is an amazing invention. It is essentially a driving range into a large pond, but scattered in the lake are various nets labelled with different prizes ranging from $20 at the local pub, to a bottle of wine from a nearby winery, to the $10,000 grand prize. The guys were pretty good, and Glen won a voucher for a meal at the Australian Hotel in Cessnock. No one else won anything, but we bought another bucket of balls because we were convinced eventually we'd hit something. It's better than gambling, because you get to hit a freaking golf ball as hard as you can just for the fun of it. Then we went back to the hostel, piled into the truck and Carolyn took us into town for our bus ride to Newcastle. All of our friends saw us off. We had our own Hunter Valley send off committee with Chris, Stefan, Carolyn, Glen, and Terry. It was really cool that in the 2 weeks time we spent in Hunter, we made some good friends, and I'm sure that in the course of travels we'll see them again.
After waiting 4 hours in Newcastle, our bus finally arrived and we loaded all our stuff onto it for the 11 hour ride north. Luckily it was an overnight bus and I, for once, actually got some sleep. Anyway, we arrived Saturday morning in Lennox Head, dropped our bags in our room and headed down to the surf club for some breakfast at a stand on the beachside. Let me tell you, banana pancakes with ice cream is a beautiful way to start the day. We explored the town, looked into the real estate offices because we're thinking about an apartment, and discovered most everything is for holiday rent these days which is about $1000 a week. I hung out at the beach for a bit and walked to the ti-tree lake, where the tea trees turn the water brown like the drink. We met Byron, a med student from Perth who is doing a 2 week rotation at the Byron Bay hospital. He offered us a place to stay in Perth at the apartment he shares with a bunch of mates, so we have an option if jobs in Lennox Head don't pan out. We also met another Stefan, this one is from Switzerland, and he's been motorbiking down the east coast for the last 3 months.
Anyway, the four of us went into town last night to see what was happening in tiny Lennox and we found the bowling and sport club where drinks are about half price and the food is cheap and delicious. There was also live music. I will definitely be revisiting the bowling club in the future. It was a lot of fun.
Sunday was a lot of fun. It began as all days should, by getting in my bathing suit and slathering on sunscreen for some time to sit at the beach. Ruth, an intrepid traveler from the UK, and Byron got up early to go diving and when they came back, they made a delicious brunch that they shared with us. Then we headed out on the lake in kayaks we had to lug over there. I had quite the time of it in the lake as Steve and Byron were rocketing across the water, my kayak would unexpectedly spin in circles for no reason I could see. So it took me quite a bit longer to actually get anywhere than it did them.
Then we decided to get some food for a BBQ dinner that night, and this is how I go out grocery shopping and end up hang gliding. While we were out shopping for food, Byron got a call from the hang gliding guy saying that the weather was perfect for it and he needed to go up. Anyway, I decided to go watch and when we got picked up, the lady asked me if I was going up as well, and I thought, why not? So 10 minutes later, I found myself strapped in a high tech sleeping bag, fastened to a glider, standing on the edge of a huge cliff just outside Lennox Head. I didn't even have time to wonder what the heck I was doing there before Neil, the instructor, stepped off the cliff, with me right behind him. Hang-gliding is one of the best things I've ever done, right up there with parasailing. It is so peaceful to just float up there on the wind and watch what's going on down below. When I get back to the States and round up a bit of money, that's what i'm signing up for, hang-gliding lessons. It'd be great to do for fun.
After that we had our BBQ, made by a genuine Aussie on the barbie. It was pretty good. Steve and I spent the rest of the evening working on our resumes and teaching Byron how to play Shithead, a great card game (I didn't name it, that's just what it's called).
Oh, we also got credit on our phones for the first time in weeks all thanks to Byron, who let us use his credit card to buy credit online. He's a great guy :) Can't believe he trusts us that much after just a day!
Today was the day to get things done, or to at least attempt to get them done. We got up, had breakfast, and then hopped on the bus to go to Ballina for some groceries since the only supermarket in Lennox is the IGA which is tiny. Our trip turned into an expedition since the buses only run every 1 ½ hours so we hung around Ballina a bit and when we got back we dressed up in our very best, to go knocking on doors in town, begging someone to hire us.
I now understand why everyone gets so frustrated looking for jobs. This is my first experience with job searching and it is so disheartening to walk away from an establishment, knowing deep inside that the resume you just gave them is ultimately going to end up filed away somewhere they'll never look again, or in the trash. I stopped by at least 7 places today, and I think maybe one or two of the places might give me a call back sometime. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Tomorrow, I'm planning to head out again to a couple places that were closed today just to see what might happen.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Living It Up In Wine Country
Did you know that being American and graduating college is no guarantee that you will do well at an Australian pub trivia night. With four Americans on our team, we ended up coming in last place and the grand prize winners more than doubled our score. It was a little embarrassing, but when you know nothing about Rugby, cricket, or British queens things don't go very well at all. We decided that the next time we need to recruit an Aussie from the street to answer those questions.
The next day we were up bright and early, dressed in our waitstaff uniform and headed down to Sydney CBD to take our bar service skills course. Now, we thought it would only last about 4 hours, but it turns out that it was a whole day affair. We went to a pub on Darling Harbour called James Squire and actually got to work behind the bar for a bit, pulling draughts (I had no idea that you want a centimeter of foam on top and it needs to be smooth and creamy. It's beer, people'll drink it no matter what, right?) and mixing pretend drinks. That part was neat, but I feel like we aren't that much more prepared for a bar-tending job than we were before we took the class. I think it's more of a job where you just have to jump right in and you learn along the way or you fail epically. Hopefully the former one.
Wednesday we rolled into Cessnock, in the Hunter Valley again where we got picked up and went to the hostel. At this point we've been at the hostel for about 5 days and truly it feels almost like a home since we've got a regular crew of people who are living here for a longer period of time and we're getting to know the owners, their sister, and their parents. It's better than just being around a rotating medley of backpackers who are there one day and gone the next. We've got Chris, a Scot who's here with IEP as well who is working in the vineyards suckering the vines. Suckering is basically pulling off all the lower leaves on a wine so the plant doesn't spend energy growing those leaves when they can use it to make grapes. There's Ian, a Kiwi who drives the buses to and from concerts at the wineries on the weekends and who is taking flying lessons during the week to get his pilot's license. Then there's Stefan, a German backpacker who is traveling around on his own and finding work every now and then.
The cleaning we've been doing at the hostel is pretty easy and doesn't take that much time, just tidying up the rooms after people leave and cleaning the commons area and kitchen. We've helped pack up all the comforters and got out the fans since summer's on the way and it's getting hot here at night. Today we spent most of the day painting two of the rooms. I'd forgotten what a pain painting is.
This past weekend was pretty much the best weekend I've had in Australia. Carolyn got us work setting up and tearing down for a concert at Bimbadgen, an upscale winery about 15 minutes away from the hostel. Steve and I, Stefan, and Chris got up early Friday morning and spent the day laying out 2500 chairs for the concert, setting up barricades, and putting screening up on the fences.
I also got to set up the dressing rooms for the stars because as a female the stage crew guys “knew I would do a better job.” Now if anyone knows my decorating skills or my artistic inclinations, you are aware of the fact that what I think looks cool doesn't necessarily look cool to anyone else, so I was a bit skeptical about the job, but I did my best. However, it is more than likely some of the singers sat down in their trailers and wondered what kind of crazy person set up the room so the rug was cockeyed, the couch was situated in the far back corner, and the mirror was set up at a 90 degree angle to the door so it cut off everyone's view of the door from the couch. Eh, oh well.
Saturday we did our cleaning at the hostel and that night we got a ride to the concert because Whitey, the manager of the show had given us free tickets to get in to sit in the grass. Sh, we're not supposed to tell anyone that. Well we rolled up and got to the gate, told the lady our names were on the list for tickets, and discovered that we'd actually been given seats! After watching a thoroughly drunk man shout insults at passing people as he was handcuffed and lead away we found our seats, right in the middle of it all. Now, these seats cost around $130 for paying customers so we got an incredible deal.
The artists were interesting, two Australian artists, Vanessa Amorisi and Jimmy Barnes. Didn't really like Jimmy, but Vanessa was really good. She was an ultimate entertainer and she even ran into the crowd to get everyone into the music. I'm pretty sure her security absolutely hates it when she does that since they have to deal with unruly fans and Vanessa was just dashing all over the place. You could see the frustration on their faces as she ran about 5 feet away from us with them speeding after her. She even tried to run up the hill into general admission where there aren't any barricades and it's just chaos, but her people managed to head her off and averted that disaster.
Sunday we headed over there again to tear down everything. The day was filled with stacking chairs and moving barricades again, sprinkled liberally with water breaks which the crew basically forced us to take. We were working steadily, but apparently we did all the work in about half the time that it takes most of their backpacker help to do it. I think we broke the mold for them. Afterward, the guys took us back to their homestead, a nice house with a pool and a penthouse suite. I think it started out as an obligation, a couple beers to thank us for our work, but it turned into an awesome time. We drank a few beers there, used the pool, then headed to Harrigan's, an Irish pub, for food and Whitey bought us each two beers a piece. Then we headed back to the homestead again to play some pool and darts. It's the first time that we've actually gotten to spend time with real Aussies since the majority of people you meet at hostels are fellow travelers from all over the world, but it's a rare find if you meet an Aussie. I tried Vegamite for the first time on toast, made to perfection by an Aussie and it wasn't horrible. Probably not ever going to be something I choose to buy and eat, but it was good to try at least. I can say it didn't kill me. Oh, I forgot, I also saw my first pack of kangaroos in the wild. Right behind the homestead and the pool, it's just open vineyard and in the evening about 10 kangaroos were out there cooling off and lazing around while we played a game of backyard cricket. I now understand cricket. It's just like a skewed game of baseball, but somehow more entertaining to play. I still don't think it's the much fun to watch though.
We didn't get back till midnight and I think the stage crew really liked us. We came out way ahead. We got paid 20 bucks an hour for a job that back home would pay about $9 at the most, had tons of drinks provided throughout the two days we worked, got concert tickets for free, had about 10 drinks bought for us by the crew at their place and the pub, ate their food and snacks, and they still thanked us for all the hard work. It was incredible. That's how it is at the hostel though as well. Every time we do something other than just the room cleaning they end up giving us stuff. A 1.5 liter bottle of water, a coke, a candy bar, lunch, the list goes on and on. This is the best i've eaten since I got here.
On an entirely unrelated note, in the past 24 hours, Steve and I have been asked twice if we are twins. Apparently, we look about the same age and that's the only explanation they can think of for why siblings are traveling together. It's a bit bizarre.
The next day we were up bright and early, dressed in our waitstaff uniform and headed down to Sydney CBD to take our bar service skills course. Now, we thought it would only last about 4 hours, but it turns out that it was a whole day affair. We went to a pub on Darling Harbour called James Squire and actually got to work behind the bar for a bit, pulling draughts (I had no idea that you want a centimeter of foam on top and it needs to be smooth and creamy. It's beer, people'll drink it no matter what, right?) and mixing pretend drinks. That part was neat, but I feel like we aren't that much more prepared for a bar-tending job than we were before we took the class. I think it's more of a job where you just have to jump right in and you learn along the way or you fail epically. Hopefully the former one.
Wednesday we rolled into Cessnock, in the Hunter Valley again where we got picked up and went to the hostel. At this point we've been at the hostel for about 5 days and truly it feels almost like a home since we've got a regular crew of people who are living here for a longer period of time and we're getting to know the owners, their sister, and their parents. It's better than just being around a rotating medley of backpackers who are there one day and gone the next. We've got Chris, a Scot who's here with IEP as well who is working in the vineyards suckering the vines. Suckering is basically pulling off all the lower leaves on a wine so the plant doesn't spend energy growing those leaves when they can use it to make grapes. There's Ian, a Kiwi who drives the buses to and from concerts at the wineries on the weekends and who is taking flying lessons during the week to get his pilot's license. Then there's Stefan, a German backpacker who is traveling around on his own and finding work every now and then.
The cleaning we've been doing at the hostel is pretty easy and doesn't take that much time, just tidying up the rooms after people leave and cleaning the commons area and kitchen. We've helped pack up all the comforters and got out the fans since summer's on the way and it's getting hot here at night. Today we spent most of the day painting two of the rooms. I'd forgotten what a pain painting is.
This past weekend was pretty much the best weekend I've had in Australia. Carolyn got us work setting up and tearing down for a concert at Bimbadgen, an upscale winery about 15 minutes away from the hostel. Steve and I, Stefan, and Chris got up early Friday morning and spent the day laying out 2500 chairs for the concert, setting up barricades, and putting screening up on the fences.
I also got to set up the dressing rooms for the stars because as a female the stage crew guys “knew I would do a better job.” Now if anyone knows my decorating skills or my artistic inclinations, you are aware of the fact that what I think looks cool doesn't necessarily look cool to anyone else, so I was a bit skeptical about the job, but I did my best. However, it is more than likely some of the singers sat down in their trailers and wondered what kind of crazy person set up the room so the rug was cockeyed, the couch was situated in the far back corner, and the mirror was set up at a 90 degree angle to the door so it cut off everyone's view of the door from the couch. Eh, oh well.
Saturday we did our cleaning at the hostel and that night we got a ride to the concert because Whitey, the manager of the show had given us free tickets to get in to sit in the grass. Sh, we're not supposed to tell anyone that. Well we rolled up and got to the gate, told the lady our names were on the list for tickets, and discovered that we'd actually been given seats! After watching a thoroughly drunk man shout insults at passing people as he was handcuffed and lead away we found our seats, right in the middle of it all. Now, these seats cost around $130 for paying customers so we got an incredible deal.
The artists were interesting, two Australian artists, Vanessa Amorisi and Jimmy Barnes. Didn't really like Jimmy, but Vanessa was really good. She was an ultimate entertainer and she even ran into the crowd to get everyone into the music. I'm pretty sure her security absolutely hates it when she does that since they have to deal with unruly fans and Vanessa was just dashing all over the place. You could see the frustration on their faces as she ran about 5 feet away from us with them speeding after her. She even tried to run up the hill into general admission where there aren't any barricades and it's just chaos, but her people managed to head her off and averted that disaster.
Sunday we headed over there again to tear down everything. The day was filled with stacking chairs and moving barricades again, sprinkled liberally with water breaks which the crew basically forced us to take. We were working steadily, but apparently we did all the work in about half the time that it takes most of their backpacker help to do it. I think we broke the mold for them. Afterward, the guys took us back to their homestead, a nice house with a pool and a penthouse suite. I think it started out as an obligation, a couple beers to thank us for our work, but it turned into an awesome time. We drank a few beers there, used the pool, then headed to Harrigan's, an Irish pub, for food and Whitey bought us each two beers a piece. Then we headed back to the homestead again to play some pool and darts. It's the first time that we've actually gotten to spend time with real Aussies since the majority of people you meet at hostels are fellow travelers from all over the world, but it's a rare find if you meet an Aussie. I tried Vegamite for the first time on toast, made to perfection by an Aussie and it wasn't horrible. Probably not ever going to be something I choose to buy and eat, but it was good to try at least. I can say it didn't kill me. Oh, I forgot, I also saw my first pack of kangaroos in the wild. Right behind the homestead and the pool, it's just open vineyard and in the evening about 10 kangaroos were out there cooling off and lazing around while we played a game of backyard cricket. I now understand cricket. It's just like a skewed game of baseball, but somehow more entertaining to play. I still don't think it's the much fun to watch though.
We didn't get back till midnight and I think the stage crew really liked us. We came out way ahead. We got paid 20 bucks an hour for a job that back home would pay about $9 at the most, had tons of drinks provided throughout the two days we worked, got concert tickets for free, had about 10 drinks bought for us by the crew at their place and the pub, ate their food and snacks, and they still thanked us for all the hard work. It was incredible. That's how it is at the hostel though as well. Every time we do something other than just the room cleaning they end up giving us stuff. A 1.5 liter bottle of water, a coke, a candy bar, lunch, the list goes on and on. This is the best i've eaten since I got here.
On an entirely unrelated note, in the past 24 hours, Steve and I have been asked twice if we are twins. Apparently, we look about the same age and that's the only explanation they can think of for why siblings are traveling together. It's a bit bizarre.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Rain, Cold, and Other Things
Can I just say that I had the absolute worst shower experience EVER this morning?! At the moment, we are in Katoomba, a little tourist trap of a mountain town 2 hours train ride west of Sydney where there are tons of bushwalking tracks and a great deal of 2nd hand bookshops (yay!). It is extremely cold in Katoomba, ok so in the 50s, which isn't horrible, but when your “budget accommodation” isn't heated and the windows are left open all hours of the day, it's COLD. So, back to the shower. If there's anything I loathe in this world it is a cold shower. Well, I discovered something equally horrible. A shower in a freezing cold room with a permanently open window where the water is either scaldingly hot or ice-cold but never a temperature your body can stand. This resulted in me standing about 2 inches from the boiling hot stream of water, whimpering, covered in goosebumps, quickly sticking my hand in the water and pulling it back out before I got second degree burns, trying in vain to warm up at least a little bit without doing harm to myself. One of the least satisfying showers of my life, right up there with bathing out of a pot of water heated on the stove that one time in Spain when our hot water went out for a week and a half.
Anyway, Katoomba. We're in Katoomba through the weekend, alternately reading books when it's too cold and rainy to go outside and trekking up and down the mountain streets to see the natural sights and the random shops along the way. At night, I sleep curled up in a ball on an electric blanket next to a space heater in my sweatshirt and long pants. Monday, we're going back to Sydney and i'll be glad to get warm again. Coldness aside, I really do like the town of Katoomba with its mountain charm and cloud-covered streets. We walked down to The Three Sisters the other day, an enormous rock formation in the valley below the town. The best part of the experience is the legend connected to the sheer cliffs about 3 Aboriginal sisters who were turned to stone by a magic man to escape unwanted/unworthy (depends on the version) suitors. Sadly, the magic man died before he could turn them back to their human form so there they sit, in the valley, waiting. We're also going to check out the Giant's Stairway tomorrow. Great names, right?
Well, I've been meaning to put on here how you can get in touch with me since we're moving all over the place and sometimes the internet access is sparse. Probably the easiest way is to just email me at jcrobinson08@gmail.com and I'll get back to you when I check in, which is every 4 or 5 days at the most. Usually, it's more often than that. Also, if you are feeling adventurous and want to brave the telephone, i've looked up all the different codes to put in front of my number and this is what you need to dial to reach my mobile. 011-61-410-071-233. If you're worried about long distance charges, you can always call me and let me know to call you back so it'll be charged on my phone. I have a really great international plan so it shouldn't be a problem.
In other news, yesterday Steve and I heard a kookaburra laugh for the first time. It's a pretty ridiculous laugh and there's no other way to describe it than as a half insane old woman cackling away. Poetic, right?
Anyway, leave me a comment, questions, or whatever you like. It's always great to hear from you.
Anyway, Katoomba. We're in Katoomba through the weekend, alternately reading books when it's too cold and rainy to go outside and trekking up and down the mountain streets to see the natural sights and the random shops along the way. At night, I sleep curled up in a ball on an electric blanket next to a space heater in my sweatshirt and long pants. Monday, we're going back to Sydney and i'll be glad to get warm again. Coldness aside, I really do like the town of Katoomba with its mountain charm and cloud-covered streets. We walked down to The Three Sisters the other day, an enormous rock formation in the valley below the town. The best part of the experience is the legend connected to the sheer cliffs about 3 Aboriginal sisters who were turned to stone by a magic man to escape unwanted/unworthy (depends on the version) suitors. Sadly, the magic man died before he could turn them back to their human form so there they sit, in the valley, waiting. We're also going to check out the Giant's Stairway tomorrow. Great names, right?
Well, I've been meaning to put on here how you can get in touch with me since we're moving all over the place and sometimes the internet access is sparse. Probably the easiest way is to just email me at jcrobinson08@gmail.com and I'll get back to you when I check in, which is every 4 or 5 days at the most. Usually, it's more often than that. Also, if you are feeling adventurous and want to brave the telephone, i've looked up all the different codes to put in front of my number and this is what you need to dial to reach my mobile. 011-61-410-071-233. If you're worried about long distance charges, you can always call me and let me know to call you back so it'll be charged on my phone. I have a really great international plan so it shouldn't be a problem.
In other news, yesterday Steve and I heard a kookaburra laugh for the first time. It's a pretty ridiculous laugh and there's no other way to describe it than as a half insane old woman cackling away. Poetic, right?
Anyway, leave me a comment, questions, or whatever you like. It's always great to hear from you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
