Well, it's been a while since we have posted anything on here, over 3 months in fact.It seemed that there wouldn't be much to write home about, living and working in the outback for this long, yet, as we look forward to moving on and after analysing our experiences here, we thought you may enjoy hearing about them.

We arrived in Perth on 28/7 in our summer clothes with a nice tan, and we stepped out of the plane to 13 degree very wet weather! We quickly put on many more layers and waited for the Ozi Inn transfer van to the hostel.We knew we were in for a long week when we saw the state of the company's dented and rusty van…we were not wrong….!We were shown into our 8 bed dorm which stunk of all body odours you can think of and contained what we could only assume was a tramp, who stayed on the bunk below Holly.Throughout the week we had to witness him vomiting in the dorm's bin and leaving it there until we moved it, smoked weed whilst we were sleeping and had a very nasty-looking swollen leg and foot… We were both worried about catching something nasty from this hostel, and can't believe we lasted the whole week!That week was dedicated to sorting ourselves out in terms of obtaining bank accounts/medicare cards and looking for jobs amongst other things.We did, however, manage to see the sights of Perth.It is a very quiet city in comparison to the ones we've been to recently - no-one seems to be around on a week-day evening! Lucky for us, there are many free bus routes around the city, making it cheap for us to explore.

After speaking to a guy at the hostel, we were told about Aussie Jobs - an agency that gets jobs all over WA for backpackers.We waited 2 and a half hours in a room full of people only to witness the 2 staff members flirting shamelessly with any Irish guy that walked through the door (the Irish seem to be very popular over here).When it was our turn for an interview, the woman was brash and blunt and didn't think we had any hospitality experience… perhaps working for Disney and Celebrity Cruises wasn't good enough for Aussie Jobs..! We left feeling very inadequate, worthless and started to question if we would ever find a job in Australia.We then came across The Job Shop and things were completely the opposite.They were really positive and suggested we work at a roadhouse somewhere in the outback to save as much money as we could.They said they would be in touch.

We were able to leave the nasty hostel and head just a little south to Fremantle where we met up with Ade's old friend, Nick, from amdram days.It was such a relief to stay in his lovely house which he shares with a couple, Megan and Andy, who were also very hospitable even though Megan was 6 months pregnant (we've now heard that she's had her baby girl!).We had a lot of fun playing with their dog Russ, who was a very tubby Jack Russell and loved nothing more than having his belly rubbed!Had a night out on the town with Nick's mates and girlfriend and ended up in a nice little Irish bar dancing to a great live band.We really liked Freo (as the locals call it)- it reminded us a little of the south coast in the UK as cruise liners often dock here.It was at this point that the Job Shop phoned us up with a job offer to work at the Commercial Club Hotel in Mt Magnet…

Yardie, kitchen hand, barmaid, housekeeper - these were our roles.After several bar shifts, smiling and laughing at purvey, old, boring locals and trukkies, Holly's migraines began occurring more frequently as over tiredness set in.She asked Jack (the boss…apparently..!) if she could change to housekeeper and kitchen hand only.Holly wasn't sure if this was OK with him due to the lack of communication skills (he skirts around very simple questions while almost attacking the person asking the question) so she had to assume that this was ok!We were told that Jack was both the owner of the motel and the manager and that he has been in the process of selling the business.Every week for the past few months he's been saying that this is his last week…he's still here…!Then there was Helga, the cook… She seemed to be a very nice German lady who we could go to for assistance if needed.A bit short with us at times, but then she is German…!We pay $15 a day each for room and board which includes food for lunch and breakfasts for our staff fridge.Yet every time we go to her to stock up, she erupts into a feud about how 'we only got that litre of milk last week' etc.She obviously hasn't had to provide for a house full of kids!As the weeks have gone on she has loved giving us orders even though she's merely the cook on the same wage and has been here just 9 months longer.However, we have been lucky enough to work with some great fellow backpackers who we could have a giggle with. This has made us realise that this place is merely a stopover to make some money for our future travels.

We always wanted to experience Aussie life off the beaten track, and now we have done it! Not long now and we'll be heading off to the coast to enjoy the lovely sea air.

We'll write again soon! xxx