Employed Again - Blogabond

On account of the fact I've been concentrating far too much on the Holiday side of my Working Holiday Visa and kind of neglecting the Working side by the time we rocked up to Perth I was desperate for a job.

Maaike Working Hard

Aaaanyway, Kliff and Tim saw an advert in a Job Shop window by chance which was casual work setting up and taking down for shows and concerts for a company called Event Personnel Australia (EPA) so we all signed up for it. Its mainly crappy stuff like laying carpets, cleaning chairs or unloading trucks but sometimes it involves twenty backpackers who haven't got a clue what they're doing sticking tons and tons of steel together and hoping it doesn't fall down. Hmm, comforting.

The Wiggles @ Burswood Dome

Mash Potato Mash Potato...

Slightly sinister childrens entertainers, they're huge over here. We set up (bumped in) and took down (bumped out) for them and when we rocked up to clean up and take everything down security let us through to the front to watch the last ten minutes of the show. There were hoards of children everywhere. It was terrifying. And I've never seen such an offensive array of colours in my life, it was retinal rape.

Robbie Williams @ Subiaco Oval
Got sunburn and shouted at by Belgians. We also got fed although I can't help thinking its somewhat foolish letting an army of backpackers loose in a free buffet.

How Many Backpackers Does It Take To Move A Pallet?

Kylie @ Burswood Dome
After starting at 7am for the first shift on the Monday I was asked if I wanted to stay on and help with the shows.

Oh, ok then.

Even if it did mean I worked a 16 hour shift (ThinkOfTheMoneyThinkOfTheMoneyThinkOfTheMoney) and they had me on stage near the end to set up a prop (DontLookAtThePeopleDontLookAtThePeopleDontLookAtThePeople). That was nerve wracking, the rest of it mainly involved watching the show on a monitor or sitting under the stage. We were allowed to go through to the front for the last two songs an all so I got my Gay Disco fix.

Easy money.

God I Hope I Assembled That Thing Right

During the bump in I was idley wandering through the Dome looking for work when I was accosted and assigned to help assemble the stunt rigging with a man from Botswana called Jerry. The stunt rigging is the thing that carries Kylie over the stage while she sits on a moon and it's Jerry's sole job for the whole production. He puts the rigging up, he takes it down again and this time me and another backpacker called Phil helped him out. During the show I was stood backstage as the Pop Princess herself was performing the number on the moon and Jerry walked past, nudged me and said, "You helped put her up there."

I prayed to the gods I'd tightened the nuts properly.

Kylie is totally untouchable though, every time she walked from the stage to her dressing room the area was cleared. Mind you, she's so little you could easily trip over her or accidently crush her underfoot and you just wouldn't want that to happen. It'd take ages to scrape her out of the treads in your trainers.

All this being catered for has spoilt me, though. A tin of beans or a packet of noodles isn't enough now, I want a buffet full of foods I don't recognise and probably couldn't pronounce anyway.

The bump out on Thursday was easy enough. We were all handed a colour coded tent shaped like a T-Shirt and we had the whole show packed up in four hours and I found a red sequin which fell off the frock she wears when she sits on the moon and sings Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Yes, I sent it to one of my Gentlemen Who Favour Pastels friends in Denmark.

Random Information
I haven't managed to see a lot of Perth yet on account of lack of funds and the weird hours I've been working. A few of us went to Connections the other night which is Perth's attempt at a gay scene. We rocked up before 11pm so it was free to get in and I stayed sober due to the fact EPA hadn't paid me yet. It was odd, I felt like I should have been taking the stage down or something.

The hours for EPA are starting to dry up which means I'm gonna have to think about getting a Proper Job which is a shame because I love this work. I'm thinking about getting a riggers ticket when I have some cash, its about $1400 to do but its guaranteed work all over the world and you get to walk around with a ratchet spanner and feel important.

First things first though, I need to apply for my second visa and get my car serviced whilst trying to save enough money to learn to scuba dive, do a sky dive and travel the West Coast.

I'm gonna need a balaclava, a sawn off shotgun and a fast car...

written by

Koala Bear on December 11, 2006 from Perth, Australia

from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz

tagged Work

Send a Compliment

comment on this...