Despite what the title might suggest, it was more about the wildlife than a wild time here at Thala...

19/10/2012

So now that Lloren has left, I guess I'll have a lot more time to fill. Time spent probably learning German and playing my Ukulele when it arrives. Oh yeh, that's two things I haven't mentioned; I'm learning German and I bought a Ukulele. Let's start with the German; This is kind of an item on the bucket list and a plan for the journey home. The item is: 'Become fluent in another language' and seeing as I've got the basics down from school, it shouldn't be too difficult. I've been learning it since I got here 5 weeks ago and it's going well. Due to the confusing amount of German guests we get here, I practice at any opportunity I get and got asked by one guest this week "How come you speak German so well?" Flattered, of course, I explained my motivation for learning. The journey home. As I may have mentioned the journey home will span across Asia and hopefully Europe too. The way it's currently planned, I arrive in Germany in late summer and will hopefully Helpx for a month or two. This will both submerse me in German language and allow me to cross the item off my bucket list, AND fill time before another item on the list: Oktoberfest.

Now that I've explained that, the purchase of the Ukulele is fairly simple. I missed playing music. It's currently in transit from the states, and should be here in a week or two. I don't intend on getting rid of it after Thala so I'll definitely have to find a place for it in or on my bag when I leave.

20/10/2012

Jeez, 20th already, time really is flying by. I forgot to mention about the new couple who have arrived! They're only here for 8 *weeks, but Lisa and Daniel seem nice. Oh and they're German, although this seems like a good thing, giving me more chance to practice, they said they've met so many Germans and they're over here to speak English. So maybe I won't mention that I'm learning German and want to use them to practice. I just got a call to start at 2pm, I'm assuming they're apprehending a busy spell, can't see much point in me starting only an hour earlier otherwise.

So now I have 2 days off. This was after a mare of a night when the charging cables for one of the buggies got run over. Not sure if it was me or Rose that did it, but I'm pretty certain maintenance aren't going to be too happy about it. Still though, tomorrow night we're having a few drinks down at the beach to kind of welcome Lisa and Daniel. That, and I think it's important for everyone to get together and socialise outside of work. It'll be nice.

21/10/2012

Feeling tired in Port Douglas on a Sunday morning, I opted for a cappuccino in a cute book shop/café near the post office. When I ordered the drink, she said "For you, it's $4", feeling quite flushed, she made me aware that it was because I work at Thala and I'd driven them around in the buggy. Perks of the job, ay? Sitting here is actually quite annoying, without realising, I sat myself down in the cooking section of the book shop, an instant reminder of how much I miss having a kitchen. Starting to feel more awake, I've realised it's Sunday and I'm not at work. This means at 14:30, an omnibus of a certain Australian soap will be on! Not that I'll be up to date with any of the storylines! So my plan for the rest of the day is; Get my shopping in town, Watch neighbours/clean my room, Eat dinner, and finally chill on the beach with some beers and a fire. Today will be a good day off.

22/10/2012

Waking up hungover with sand in my bed, this is a feeling I haven't had since Bournemouth. I woke up at 12 and couldn't face going up for lunch, so I ate the pie I bought in town yesterday and watched 3 hours of Homeland. Got out of bed at 16:30 and ate a few cookies and drank a cup of tea, instantly felt better. Now, after dinner, I turned on the TV to find Nigella Lawson gracing my screen. It's as if ABC1 knew I was hungover and wanted to say, "Hey Steve, here's something from us". Anyway, I've got 2 films and a chocolate bar to see me through the evening and with Family Guy and American Dad on from 9pm, I think I'm set.

23/10/2012

6 weeks down, 6 weeks left. Half way through and the bank is looking good. If the next 6 weeks earnings are the same as the last, I'll leave Thala with the same amount I had when I arrived in Australia. Reset. Now I've learnt a bit about travelling, how to do things on the cheap and with what I have left to see and do, it should be plenty to see me through. Then, for the Asia & Europe return home, I'll have the tax and superannuation I've built up.

24/10/12

It was the best of days, it was the worst of days... In reverse order. It started out a terrible, terrible day, Frankie couldn't do the morning shift, so we swapped. I screwed up many times and I was definitely the bee in the bonnet for a couple of important people. It was raining, I even broke the key for one of the buggies. As I said, just an awful day. However, it started to get better when Loren decided soup wasn't enough for tea and bought me and Aimee and herself pizza. I missed out a vital piece of info there, Frankie couldn't make the evening shift, so I'm just back from a long 15 hours at work. This is why I didn't write after work yesterday, finishing at 11pm and starting at 7am. I know I'm all over the place in this, but I feel that accurately represents my thought process right now. So yesterday, 2 things worth noting happened; I saw the largest Australian species of snake, and my run up the hill became a competition. When I take a car down in the evenings; I have, in the past, timed myself. This has now been given a name "Thala King of the Mountain" and a Top Gear style leader board produced. Of course, you wouldn't be reading about this if I wasn't the leader ;-)

26/10/12

Yesterday at work I had to free a python from some netting down at the beach shack. These snakes are really starting to make themselves aware! Apart from that, not a lot happened, it was a cruisy night but the tips have started to come back. I haven't had more than $5 in one day for well over a week, most days resulting in nothing. Suddenly: $20. That'll do nicely. A British couple gave me $5 for fixing their DVD player, even weirder: They were eating dinner in their room whilst I fixed it.

27/10/12

I had to get up at 9am to help Frankie with a group bag pull. This lasted for about 20minutes before he said "All good, I can take it from here" I woke up early effectively for nothing. Well, $10 really. Because of this, I went back to sleep and woke up at 12:30, missing lunch and dramatically cutting my time off before work. Speaking of drama; The lights along the path didn't come on last night, so I had to go to the 2 main switchboards and try to fix it (which didn't work) So the rest of my evening consisted of driving people around the resort. Which I loved. I don't think anything would've happened otherwise, so it made the evening go quick!

Today more Germans arrived! I had a small conversation with a couple of them, nothing spectacular, but still pretty good! In other news, the key to buggy #2 went missing earlier, between putting it on charge and the guests from room #61 & #62 leaving to go out in Port Douglas. Strangely enough, asking lots of questions about the buggies and when it will be done charging. They kept asking questions like 'Do you ever race them?' I have a feeling buggy #2 is going to get stolen tonight...

So anyway, after work I had a fairly extensive skype with the parents followed by a nice little catchup with the Searsons. Sitting here at 3am I've just finished watching a film. Tomorrow's plans: Haircut. Over and out.

28/10/12

Well that failed. Alarm was set for 7:30 to phone reception and ask if anybody was on the 10:15 bus, if not, get up and jump on the 8:30 with the other guests. I don't remember that alarm going off. What I do remember was the phone ringing at 10am. It was Mick asking about the key for the other buggy. So I explained, and when I hung up I got dressed in the hope that the 10:15 was coming to pick up guests. It was not. Could've gone back to sleep, however I could go to the beach... There is no point. As I forgot to mention yesterday, we had our first stinger injury. A pregnant woman swimming in the sea got stung 'There were several of them by the time I noticed'. Count me out of swimming now. This makes the beach in the day pointless for me. If I want to burn, I can do it anywhere. So plan for the rest of the day now? Well I'm definitely having lunch today, that's for sure!

I'm currently sitting in a café in Port Douglas, having hitchhiked here without much effort. The first lift was a bit nerve racking, Brodey; A tropical fish seller from Bolten, moved out here 40 years ago and "just loves it out here". Sounds nice? He was, but his image screamed Operation Repo (google it). The second lift was -from Kath and Aisha, two girls from Cairns. They were really nice and were up here for Church. They invited me for coffee and even though it cost more than a bus ride would've, I bought. The guy working at the café asked where I worked and gave me a free upgrade to a large milkshake because I work at Thala. Seriously, this day just got good. Beats sitting in my room watching films. Now to get my mop cut, then a choice; hitch back or bus it for $8...

Found out the hairdressers are shut. It's Sunday. I didn't want to pay for a bus for nothing, so I hitched back. Nothing much to report, took about the same amount of time and they were just 2 lifts both by 2 normal guys. So anyway, Charlotte's leaving next week and she wanted to go up to the Daintree before she left, so I'm swapping a shift and going up with her, we were going to rent a car, but Joey (who has a car) is coming too! So we're going up to Mossman gorge, The Daintree Rainforest & Cape Tribulation!

I'll finish off by realising that yesterday was the 4 month mark of arriving in Australia. Which means I'm 1/3 of my way through Australia. Crazy.