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Another New Job

Broome, Australia


Oh come on, you all know I'm incapable of holding anything down for more than 2 weeks before I get bored. The gardening job was starting to get to me, I was so over mowing lawns and being attacked by vegetation and every time I saw a pile of leaves it depressed me so I got a job with Dave in the Clippers Pearls yard which gives me access to all kinds of exciting things such as a kettle, a puppy to play with, people to talk to and a toilet with three frogs that live in the u-bend.

I do feel a bit guilty about pissing on the frogs but hey, when you gotta go you gotta go and they don't seem too perturbed by it. I'm more worried about the use of cleaning chemicals, what if they have an adverse effect on the frogs? What if they mutate resulting in the Kimberleys being ruled by the iron albeit webbed fist of the evil Lord Ribbit and his minion, Captain Croak?

I digress.

I will now see out my time in Broome fixing panels with cable ties, what with me being the expert that I am after me and Sarah lashed the grandstand at Burswood Dome together with cable ties and gaffa tape.

The yard is run entirely on Broome time. Work starts when the supervisor finally shows up to let us in and the kettle's boiled. A 10 minute break takes 20 minutes and we get three breaks a day.

They keep trying to get me out on the pearl boats though which totally doesn't appeal to me for two reasons. The first being, I currently sacrifice 8.5 hours of my day and they give me $130 minus tax in return for essentially drinking tea and chatting shit. The other day they asked me to go out on the day trips, sacrifice 11.5 hours a day of my precious time during which they will expect me to actually earn my wages and all for a mere $20 a day extra.

Get. Fucked.

The main reason though is that everyone that comes back off the boats after a 12 day trip come back covered in scabs and with bits of shell embedded in their extremities. The sea water in Broome carries a bacteria and you're constantly covered in the shit on the boats so any sores you get will get infected.

I really don't need any more scabs, I've been eaten alive since I got to Broome, I've practically skinned my legs and feet. I can't help it, I scratch the bites in my sleep and there's nothing I can do about it. I wear long trousers to bed and I wrap myself so tightly in my sleeping bag that I shouldn't be able to move, let alone contort myself into insane positions that I do so I can reach my legs with my claws. I wake up hacking at myself and I can't stop because I'm still half asleep and it feels so goooood! The only other option would be sellotaping mittens to my hands but I swear if I did that I'd wake up gnawing on my limbs to satisfy the itching.

And lets face it, scabs aren't gonna help my pulling potential now are they. Come and get me girls.

Don't mind the pus.

permalink written by  Koala Bear on July 6, 2007 from Broome, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged Work and Bollocks

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Clipper Pearls Was Brought To You By The Letter Tea

Broome, Australia


After only a couple of weeks I'm a bit gutted to be leaving Clipper Pearls, their work ethic suited my addiction to tea, abject laziness and aversion to Actual Work down to the ground. Getting a Proper Job is going to be a shock to the system but at least I can say I worked in the pearl industry in Broome and all without getting infected.

Anyways, as from Tuesday I'm off through the Kimberleys on a 12 day 4WD drive tour. I won't have Mobile phone signal until I get back to Broome and no internet until probably Kununurra which means no Hotmail, no blogging and certainly none of that new found addiction, Facebook.

The horror!

I'm sure the withdrawal symptoms will wear off soon.

And damn you all for getting me into this Facebook thing! Damn you all to cyber hell! I resisted for so long but you all know I'm weak and easily swayed by peer pressure so you kept on pestering and pestering until finally I set one up and before you know it I'm uploading photos and leaving messages and generally Keeping In Touch.

Well there goes hours of my life I can't get back. Just you wait. I'll get my own back.

Just as soon as I work out if there's a Beat Your Friends With A Big Facebook Stick application I can add...

permalink written by  Koala Bear on July 13, 2007 from Broome, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged Work and Bollocks

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What The Fuck??

Broome, Australia


So it rained last night.

Rained.

In Broome!

During the height of the Dry!!!!

Just my fucking luck!

permalink written by  Koala Bear on July 16, 2007 from Broome, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged Bollocks

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Random Nuggets Of Information #3

Batchelor, Australia


On account of the fact I've had fuck all money and therefore no motivation to peel myself off whatever couch happens to be handy apart from when I have to go and slave in a field I haven't quite managed to put together a suitably coherent post. I mean, I've been up to stuff since I got to Darwin, not much though because there's no fucking work in Darwin but yeah, stuff has occurred.

The following has been brought to you by abject laziness, a touch of boredom and no small amount of confusion as to why my usually fantastically reliable luck appears to have taken a holiday.


See I Did Have A Life Before Australia
So I was mincing through Darwin pretending like I was employable or something when I saw a man in a sarong and I thought, "Hmm. Man in a sarong" because lets face it, men in sarongs walking through Darwin are about as common as lesbians with 31 piercings walking through Darwin. Then I recognised him, it was Tristan, the stoner hippy Aussie I lived with at Stockmore Street in Oxford for a year about 4 or 5 years ago during one of the vaguer, messier periods of my life. There were some fun nights and days at Stockmore Street with our digital TV, PS2, mixing decks and an abundance of people who came round our place to party. The UV Wall was the centre of attention, I was a perverse mix of cybergoth, punk and crusty, kittens made great toys for fucked people and the Smily Army started to grow.

But still, good times and I do miss them but they weren't good for me. Tristan now works and lives at The Rock, an indoor rock climbing gym based in a WWII water tank, its fucking cool and means I get to go and play on fibreglass rock face 9 metres higher than normal. Regular readers will be aware of my fascination with putting myself in High Up places then wondering why because I generally like it better when incapacitation or death isn't imminent. Chilling with Tris is like we were never apart and the other guys at the gym are cool an all.

Anyway, so that's the main Darwin story. These days I stay in touch with everyone whether they mean anything to me or not. I'm in touch with random people I met only once and with people who didn't touch me in ways others did and I don't mean that in a filthy way. Well, not everybody anyway.

But the point is I've been reunited with someone I should never have lost touch with in the first place and hopefully, where ever I am or where ever he is we'll manage to stay mates from here on in.


The Top End City
The first thing you need to know about Darwin is that it's hot. Its winter in Australia but Darwin doesn't do winter. It does the Wet (50C and close to 100% humidity, monsoonal rains, cyclones and flash floods) and the Dry (around 30C in the day, never drops below 20C even at night, still quite humid, chance of rain is minimal). The Dry is when every backpacker and his Ford Falcon is in Darwin, I made the mistake of rocking up at the height of the Dry when there's more people than jobs.

Random Overheard Comment Whilst Watching The Sunset @ Mindil Beach Sunset Markets: "Wow, its like a big ball of fire init!"

Really? Ya reckon??

Apart from the odd retard, Mindil Beach on a Thursday and Sunday evening is the place to be. Live music (usually involves didge) and loads of food plus the usual home made jewellery and tie-dye which is compulsory at every market. And and and! Unless you have a severe addiction to buying stuff you don't want or need its free.

I had a couple of good nights out in Darwin, one thanks to the misguided notion that I might get work soon and one thanks to the Vic and their penchant for cheap or free food, party games and giving away beer. I think they work on the theory the drunker we are the larier we'll be and the more fun the night'll be.

Oh how right they are.


Twisting My Melon, Man
Ever tried to imagine Hell On Earth?

Take a mate and go down Coles or Tescos or whatever supermarket happens to own the country you live in. Feeling a bit posh? Try Waitrose. Students and backpackers, stick to the Co-Op.

Find a decent sized watermelon and play catch with it. Now imagine doing this for a minimum of four hours a day seven days a week.

In an oven.

On account of the fact I have tits and therefore can't be trusted to pick enough melons I get to do other things such as Drive The Tractor or Put Things In Boxes. It's definitely easier but this still has to be the worst job I've ever had surpassed only by that time I decided that cleaning in the slaughter room in an abattoir was a viable career option, instead of sheep heads hitting me in the noggin its melons hitting me in the tits but its still almost as unpleasant.

The backpacker house is cool, its like a hostel without the rules and the omnipotent "Don't Do This, Don't Do That" signs everywhere. The other people are wicked, you get four dogs to play with and if you don't mind the fleas its all good. The only other thing you have to deal with is being patronised by the sons although after receiving detailed and comprehensive instructions on how to use a rubber stamp I did manage not to slap Sam. Do I get a medal?

But yeah. Fuck it. Fuck melons. I'm off to the Lesbian Metropolis that is Alice Springs, not that I saw any dykes last time I was there but to be honest its difficult to notice much when you constantly have your face buried in a pint of beer.

Kindred Spirits
I have discovered that the Taiwanese have the same appalling taste in cheesy music as I have.

Always good to know you're not alone as a minority.

permalink written by  Koala Bear on August 21, 2007 from Batchelor, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged Work and Bollocks

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This One's For You, Kat

Katherine, Australia


My best mate Katherine got wed today. Fucking typical, a major event in one of my closest friend's life and I'm... well... I'm in Katherine init. Not like that you filthy minded fuckers! The NT town.

Anyways, while I was at Wolfe Creek I recorded this video message which can be found at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ohfuckkit/2845904490/in/set-72157606358079385/

Me: Hi Kat, erm, I'm gonna try and do this without laughing, I haven't got a fucking clue what to say.
Erm, just wanted to say have a really good hen night and a wicked wedding day an I'm sorry I can't be there, I'm fucking gutted I can't be there. Erm, yeah, have a great one and sorry for the lack of purpleness but I do have to get a job when I go to Darwin, the whole purple hair thing isn't gonna work for me ay.
Anyway, this is Wolfe Creek crater. So hopefully... I'm recording this now in case I don't survive. Er, so I thought y'know, get it in there quickly, hopefully, y'know, somebody'll find the film, send it to you, get it all sorted, all that sort of shit.
And erm, hello everybody else who's watching this, hope you're all cool and, yeah.

Sarah: Haven't been washed away (referance to the recent floods in England).

Me: Haven't been washed... yeah, fucking hell yeah, hope you haven't drowned or something. Yeah, god yeah, I'd be gutted if you'd drowned. Yeah, get in touch and let me know you're not, like, dead and stuff.
Erm, clearly I might be on account of the man in a white ute over there. So yeah, cool have a good un.

Sarah: Offering you rain water (referance to the movie Wolf Creek).

Me: Offering me rain water. With a big knife. He was sharpening it earlier, it was a bit unnerving.
Erm, cool, alright. This is Nicky by the way.

Nicky: G'day.

Me: She's not... She's from Sale!

Nicky: I'm from Sale.

Sarah: Oh, my sisters just got a house there.

Me: And that's Sarah who's holding the camera.

Sarah: Hi! I don't know if I'm holding this so you can see me but...

Me: Brilliant. And, erm, yeah, cool. We're just watching the sunset from the crater then we're gonna go and get drunk because it's less painful when you're drunk when the knife goes in and severs the spine.
And erm, I'll hopefully see you soon. Ok. Bye bye.

Sarah: Bye.

Nicky: Bye.

permalink written by  Koala Bear on August 25, 2007 from Katherine, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged Bollocks

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Wonders Never Cease

Alice Springs, Australia


People had stopped referring to my car as the Falcon and had begun calling it The Car Over There That Needs A Wash. I'm currently semi-gainfully employed by The Rock Tour, they pay me to wash buses which gives me access to all kinds of exciting things such as Buckets, Hoses and Brushes.

Here are some fun and interesting facts I discovered after scraping months of dirt off it.

1. My car is blue.
2. You can see through windows.
3. Mirrors reflect.
4. Locust guts should be removed immediately in order to prevent them from becoming a permanent feature.
5. Red dust really doesn't Add Character.
6. Detailing a car that has seen 100s kms of unsealed roads with all the windows down since its last clean is fucking boring and will never get finished.

permalink written by  Koala Bear on September 13, 2007 from Alice Springs, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged Bollocks

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Things To Do In The Alice That Don't Necessarily Involve Falling Over

Alice Springs, Australia


Ok so you can walk up Anzac Hill and see the whole town. This is useful for finding out where things such as McDonalds (an essential Hangover Cure) or the next pub is but don't attempt to climb up this hill whilst on the phone because it just makes you sound like a dodgy phone pervert to the person on the other end.

You can also go and get all mushy at the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre. They go out and rescue joeys from the pouches of road kill, raise them and release them back into the wild so that they themselves can become road kill and thus the cycle continues. It's $5 in and you get to play happy families with a little piece of the future of the NT's roads.

Not had enough of cute, fluffy marsupials? Head up to Heavitree Gap and grab a bag of pellets for $1 to feed the rock wallabies. Nothing like interfering with the natural flow of the food chain.

The Reptile Centre is $12 to get in unless you're a filthy backpacker and can prove it (and not with your handsome collection of goon bags either) in which case its $10. Don't go after you've been playing with joeys though or apparently the python might take a bit of a fancy to your extremities. These guys also do free handling and talks at various venues around Alice.

There's also some kind of big red rock type thingy about 300km south of Alice Springs, you may have heard of it. You can either self drive or you can fork out $295 plus park entry fees ($25 at the moment) and go with The Rock Tour which means you get to sleep during the boring Getting There bits and you get fed for three days. Can't be bad. The staff are also very good looking, especially the backpackers that clean the buses...

Here's the thing, I can't place why I love Alice so much. It's not a particularly special town, there really isn't much to do if you think about it but I'm still not ready to leave. No one ever hangs around for long, they rock up, do a tour to the centre, come back for one night then leave. I think it must be the people, they're awesome. They're so much fun and I'm gonna miss everyone.



permalink written by  Koala Bear on September 27, 2007 from Alice Springs, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged Bollocks

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Being A Tourist - Day 5 & 6

Cairns, Australia


Tuesday and Wednesday were spent recovering from the trauma of the previous day's early start and getting used to being covered in a fine film of moisture. October is the build up to the Wet, its hot, humid and rainy.

I spent most of the time indulging in the popular Cairns pastime of Lying Very Still Under A Fan.

permalink written by  Koala Bear on October 10, 2007 from Cairns, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged Bollocks

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Big Things #33

Ayr, Australia


Crikey mate, you wouldn't wanna get tagged by this little beauty in Ayr, Queensland.

permalink written by  Koala Bear on November 5, 2007 from Ayr, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged Work and Bollocks

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Saying Goodbye

Brisbane, Australia


Have you ever had to say goodbye to someone you really don't want to resulting in the compilation of a three hour Slit Yer Wrists playlist comprising of some Evanescence, a touch of Sinead O Connor, a dash of Foreignor and the entire Missy Higgins Sound Of White album which you listen to in full in a darkened room whilst you wonder at exactly what point the world stopped revolving around you?

No?

Uh... no... me neither...

  • shuts down Windows Media Player and retreats to the pub*


  • permalink written by  Koala Bear on December 30, 2007 from Brisbane, Australia
    from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
    tagged Bollocks

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