no_going_back

Dont Worry, I found Nemo!

Oh my,I have been busy, thismight be a tea and biscuits entry! space key isdodgey on computer,so use ur imagination.

Well after Ileft Brisbane I headed to Hearvy Bay, This is the main acess point for Fraiser Island which is made entirly of sand. It is also inhabited by lots of Dingos. Well I managedto get a free night in Brisbane (always good, but possibly notlegall!) Brisbane is really not wworth the visit,except the zoo of course.

Hearvy bay was sooooo much fun. I was adopted by the bar staff who got me VERY drunk the first noght on jugs of Burbon and coke, not that u coulkd taste the coke! But it was great fun,no dingos were hurt and all were returned safley! The bar there was very much a backpacker bar and involved an indecent version of the YMCA at midnight every noght. I met 2 Brummies there who Ive just bumped into here in Cairns,how weird,but I think we'll be goingoutwhen I gethome! Anyway I had another day tochill at Hearvy bay. THen at 6am we got up to go to Fraiser Island.As its all sand and forest u go in a 4x4 which was very cool! To be honest theres not much on the island exceptdingos,trees, sand, lakes, sand, trees, sharks and stingers! But the lakes are amongst the most beautifulin the world. At lake Mckanzie u can drink the water u swim in, its weird. So we spent 3 days and 2 nights drivin, swimin, drinking and thats about it. WHen we got back to Hearvy bay we got drunk again! It was funny, wait till u see the pictures!

So after Hearvy Bay I headed to Bundenburg, they make rum there. Its the main rum in Oz. SO I thouhgt Id go to the factory. I was in town 24 hours exactly! The factory was great fun. But empty stomachs and neat rum at 11am dont mix, I think the pictures might exp[lain best! But Bundy is a lovley town. I was sitting at the bus stop to the distillery next to a guy readingthelocalpaper. He looked alittle English, and when he was joined by his 2 friends I hear this thick Yorkshire accent! It was very surreal. We got chatting and he told me his brother showed people round a church in new zealand so i have to visit him now! very weird!

After Bundy was Airle Beach. This is the stop to getto the whitsunday Islands. I was doind a sail and dive around the islands. Ruth u would have hated it.When I say Sail we put the sails up twice over 3 days. But the diving was amazing. we spentalotoftimesnorkling, but it on the edge of the reef, so there are lots of coral formations and thereforefish. The was Elvis this massive Marrowi wasse fishhe was very cool,and Dori and clams, and parrot fish and the fish that give directions and of course nemo. (the going out and coming in thing he does when leaving the house is reall,i saw him do it!) DId I mention its stinger season? for anyone who knows bill bryson box Jelly fish will kill u in about 20 mins. so that added so spice to it all (we had stinger suits, gloves and ninja masks too, it looked a bit like a james bond film. Espically on the beach there with all the other people fromvarious boats, it looked more like an alien invasion!) I also did anight dive whihc was massivlydissapointing even if i did get toplay with glow sticks! But I did itsddo now I have 7 dives done. After the sailing we all went out( a recouring theme) and drunk, I got a bus at 9.30AM havinghad 3 hours sleep in 3 days-that was fun!

Sonow imin Cairns and itsHOT,and humid as its rainy season. But imhaving fun. The hostelthat I had 2 freenights in wasnt bad it was dyer. I have stayed in somedodgeyplaces but 1 night was enough there. The bus neverpicked us upfoi the coach so 11/2 hours laterthe 4of us got a taxi. Me and another girl I met brifly in hearvy bay,AB, moved to another hostel, which is alot more fun. SO now im in Cairns I need to work to get to Perth as it expensiveto do the middle of Oz,which has to be doine. SO today was job hunting. Tomorrow im going rock jumping at the local falls. I also want to go diving again and get my davanced.Here u get to do 11 dives 2 of them night ones so ill be close to my 30 to become a wreck diver. Unfournatly the shark diving is too expensive, but doing that for your advanced,how cool! so thats me for a bit, just hanging around. But deffinatly enjoying it.

sublte hint: If anyone wants mybank details, possibly for birthday presants dont hesitite to ask.

Sorry pictures arnt up yet but i havent had time.

Havefunin the cold!

1.3.05 06:58, Comment

Cowboys and Murrys

So 3 weeks in the outback, well the stories I have. SO its a bit of a long one sorry

Before we even got out there it was crazy. We had to go out before we left. AB had been up to cape tribulation, somthing she had bought ages ago. While she was gone i did very little as i was still a little crook. But when she got back the night before we went to Chillagoe we and a guy she had met went out. As usuall it was dinner in th wool shed. Then drinks in various places. Then to sporties for the hour of power for $6 and hour for free drinks. As usuall i didnt pay but the bar man kept giving them to me. AB got through12 rum and cokes i stop0ed at9. Well the trip home involved me running around with a 3 legged chir on my back cos i found it. AB pushing the other guy in a 3 wheeled trolley and regullarly causing him to fall out. Whne we got back to the hostel Pete the manager got woked up by the trolley running into the gate got up to save the playstation and kicked the austrian out as he wasnt staying. Apparently I came out the toilet and fell flat on my back, though i have norecollection only a very balck ruise that took 2 1/2 weeks to go. Now were back at the hostel were banned from such acctivities. But we were both hungover for the trip to chillagoe, that was a great start!

Its was an experience. The bar has a catchment of locals and then people off the cattle stations in for 2 day piss-ups as its their time off. I was in Chillagoe, at the Chillagoe Hotel Motel. Owned by Ray witht the other bar maid Jodie. Its 3 hours from cairns and without a car VERY isolated. The main problem was living and working behind the bar. Ray drinks all day often ending up trying to sell me to male customers by the end of the night. But does usually leave the finalll decition to me as to weather or not i take them home, very considerate!

Chillagoe has a population af around 200 and is famous for its caves with abroginal paintings, marbel and other rock mining and the standing rock.It even has a whole page in the rough guide! There are 2 pubs and 4 licensed restaurants. The 2 pubs fued, badly.

Well the first night i worked was crazy, while im allowed to drink behind the bar i only had a few as im clumsy at the best of times! There is a dressing up pile behind the bar and seeing drillers runn around in red dresses and grass skirts was a shock to the system!! However not every night was the same. FOr 2 days we had 3 guys from the stations and they did not stop drinking!! There is a watering hole-the bogie hole. Great fun at 1am after id finished cleaning. Me AB and Mick, her man (they were banned from sleeping together in our room as i was there to, so AB ended up spending most nights at his and i slept alone), went down, for a while we'd only seen it by night, but eventually with the guys from the station and their dogs we found it by day. I worked 5-1ish evey night, AB did 12-2 then 6-8 but silghtly longer with washing up etc. So we didnt see all that much of each other outside work. I slept till bout 11 then would potter until work. There isint masses to do in CHillagoe.

Most nights in the bar just went by with the murrys (abroginals) locals and drillers droping in at various points. The hardest thing for me to get used to was no-one askes for drinks. They just put their drink out the cooler or empty infront of them and expect a replacment, with their money usually directly infront of them u just took it. Very different to busy pubs in cities. Anyway I eventually kinda got the hang of it.

To beging with between working and sleeping i didnt really do that much. But as we got known, which didnt take long in a quiet place without many young women, we met lots fo different people. And so it went with fights and characters and i learnt alot about growing up in the middle of nowhere. Guys my age have their own Ute, dog and horses. They've been woking since 15 and will do nothing else. One guy at 24 was incharge of one cattle sattion, and the cows and the people. Responsibility no-one of that age would get in a city. And the pay some get, well it puts alot of jobs to shame.

Well I met helicopter pilots, cowboys (known as ringers in Oz), rescue teams, drillers, horse people, so many people i wouldnt meet otherwise. Did u know they use helicopters to muster the cattle along with horses and drit bikes. That was weird. I met a few of the pilots but on Paddies day when a helicopter landed at the back of the pub i couldnt believe it. It just appeared! Paddies day was fun. We had a green keg of xxxx gold and coloured all the drinks. Appart from that its was a normal mad night. At one point Magoo a piolot found a snake outside, a NON poisnous one and decided to bring it in, jodie the other bar maid HATES snakes so Matt another piolt, who parked out back, jumped the bar with the snakes, a VERY funny moment! But the night went on the rum kept flowing (and HOw) and we got sufficiently drunk. That night ended with me, bradly and jodie drinking back at the rooms. Mick AB and the pest controll guy, who no-one rembers the name of, but was very intrested inme, going swimming. I think there was a bottle of rum involved too!! The next day one of the locals brought a brown back for us to see, it had been in somones house and he caught it, its one of the deadliest snakes and he was holding it! Very Steve.

Everything seemed to be going along fine until sun 20. I got rudley awoken at 9.30 probably after a hevy post work session. To find the pub closed and 6 or so police men putting up signs and laywers being reached. They had closed the pub over allogations about the licence. They claimed Ray was taking alchol to a dry station, where the whites can drink but the Murrys cant. Thats was the main thing there were others, like keeping the guys key cards to pay their bill while they were on the stations and some others involving the helicopters parking out back. We couldnt go in the pub, and as it was sunday nothing much could be done. So we chilled a bit then the others went to the caves lodge (licenced) for a few before we went back for a very late dinner.

So on Monday Ray goes to Cairns and we clean 9-5 in the kitchen, fridge, everything that could be done. The joy of it was, id wanted a night off and I got 4 in a row. I managed to get VERY drunk. The Top pub is the other pub. They dont like ray but also are very cagy about serving the murrys. The murrys drink, lots. Some a carton a day. not being served was not necessarily the best plan for them, but they didnthave mcuh choice. We drunk atthe top pub at night, partly to get the gossip but i felt a little like a traitor, but what else could we do. We had fun. The only problem is they have 3 legger stools, and when ur drunk there very easy to fall off, as i did, very ungracefully! typicall. But it was fun! During the closuer we were all over the Queensland news as was another pub that was closed for similar reasons. The reason being they want to pass a new law of only 1 carton per car, not even person, to cut back drinking on the stations, but the target is the murrys but due to discrimination it has to affect everyone and its all crazy! SO we had news crews dropping by and interviewing the locals and it was all very exciting. But i was a little worried as we wernt paying tax, and mabye the IRS woulfd look into stuff and I would be deported, but they didnt and im still here.

Another advantage of being closed was that one of the guy off from work took me on a tour of chillagoe. I saw some ofn the abroginal paintings, the standing rock that will eventuall due to errosion fall, but has a very thin base that is still keeping it up, quite cool. And the smelter in the old days there were 3 smelters for the rock dug up. Now there are the chimneys, slag heaps and remains left. It quite cool to see.

Eventually on the Thursday we got the go ahead to open. We got permision for the easter weekend, thursday from 4 through to monday night. Good Friday we were closed as no-one has a licance ofr then, but we had a plesant day sunbathing anddrinking at the bogie hole. Easter was busy as tourists go through or to chillagoe for a break theres fishing etc locally. So we were busy and often i was having fun after work. A memorable incident with 2 tourists, friends of ray, some localls, jodie and a bottle of rum! I pittied the guys on the dirt bikes the next day, poor soles wernt used to rum. But it was funa dn involved the bogie hole as usuall.

AS the end grew near people asked when we were leavind and I got a good bye supprise for one of the loalls danny, as i turned around to see him flying over the bar trying to bit my bum, and ashleys slow-mo reconstruction, that was good. That night I decided to stay up and watch the sun rise, it was a good idea at the time. I was with Shane and Clint, they'd been at a local rodeo all weekend as clint is a bull rider!! how excitiong!!!! SO they explained all that to me wow! I got an hour sleep at abou 8am hen got up and said a few goodbyes and back to the bogie hole. We werent sure if we'd open and did eventually at 3. But it was a very quiet tuesday so we closed early enpough to go back to the bogie hole around 12. Me and AB slightly tippsy plucked up the courage to go off the swing, in the full moon light. Well I fell short and half hit the rocks half the water and scraped my left arm enough for it to be sore today. AB on her second go hit the rocks scraped her back and was feeling a little worse for wares. Mick in a paranoid state too her to the little 'hospital' to get checked. Apparently the nurse told them off for driniking and swimming at such a time and waking her up. AB is fine, sore but fine.

I enjoyed it but hated the feeling of isolation, i see why guys my age have their own cars cos without it ur trapped, which is what i didnt like. Plus i could have murdered a takeaway pizza. Theres only so much omolette and salad sandwiches i can take! Chillagoe reminded me of a modern day to kill a mocking bird. The White black divide isint so strict but is just as obvious. It was intresting to see. You hear stories about the murries, how they get treated, how they act, but u kind of dont want to belive it. But to see some of it is true was a suprise, somthing i cant really explain.

And so ends my outback adventure. Im back in Cairns and thinking of heading off to Perth in a few days. Unfourntly I cant afford the West Coast and its looking doubtfull for Alice, that part of the world is VERY expensive. But AB is coming to Perth with me and theres a chance of doing the bottom together too. That would be soo cool.

I have to appologise for lack of photos. But my camera had an unfourtnate incident with some spinklers in Arlie Beach. While the cards are fine I have no photos of Chilagoe, except what AB will send late April when she gets home. Sorry

Hope all are well and enjoy uni holidays

3 Kommentare 30.3.05 04:57, Comment