Bonjour mes amis! Hope the cold weather isn't getting to you all. It's been pretty hot here, reached 39 degrees on Monday and it's not been much cooler on any other day! We caught the ferry on Thursday morning as planned and on arriving went straight to the Dome café where we met our new bosses, Jim and Samala, who are pretty cool people. Jim showed us around the staff quarters, which are basically laid out like a student house. There are several shared rooms, although Laura and I have been given our own room which is pretty cool. We have a good sized bbq area which we seem to share with quokkas most of the time, and is great for partying. All our housemates are very friendly, if some are a little loud at times and others are messy, but we all have fun together and get along well. Everyone is between 18 and 30 years old. The general population of the island is also quite young as everyone here has to live without many commitments.

Jim gave us a few hours to make ourselves comfortable then we went over to the café for our induction. There were 3 other people who came across to the island to work with us, two were another travelling English couple from London but they had to fly back home the next day as a family member had fallen ill. The other was a South African girl called Megan who is taking time out from Uni. The induction went well, and we got paid for it! Wages are average-good and we shouldn't have any problem saving for our travels, but we will have to do our shopping on the mainland as the only general store on the island charges megabucks… $8 for a salad!

We have had to come to the mainland anyway to upload this blog, as there is only one public internet computer on the island and the amount of time it takes to upload one page is measured in millennia.

So far I have been really enjoying myself, Laura isn't enjoying work as she is stuck in the kitchen and meals aren't requested as much as drinks, so while I'm kept on my feet most of the time Laura is left twiddling her thumbs until an order comes in for her. She has applied for work at 'The Lodge' a bar/restaurant on the island, so fingers crossed she'll get it and it'll be more exciting for her. We don't always get the same shifts at work either.

Personally, I can say I've been on the island for less than a week and I already feel like a local. There's a community spirit and everyone helps each other out with everything. The local fauna here is so different from anywhere else in the world too. Aside from many a Quokka, we also share our space with peacocks/hens, snakes, lizards, stingrays, and more quokkas. Every morning they are in the café pestering the customers for food, it's not good for us as they always leave little presents on the floor. They are very tame, inquisitive and fun little creatures, but they can be a pain at times. On Monday I was filling up the stores at work, and a family of quokkas kept going for the food every time I turned my back!

In our spare time we have been walking and swimming, as we haven't brought our boards over yet and we haven't managed to get hold of pushbikes, although there is an auction for some bikes on Saturday that we'll try and get to. On Monday while Laura was working a closing shift I went jetty-jumping and swimming with Megan, Katja (Hat-ya), Somi and Athena - some girls from work, and yesterday went jogging with them and a new guy, another Brit from Derby called Grant. I wore holes right through my trainers so will have to pick up some more today!

We're gonna spend tonight in a Backpackers in Northbridge, nice and cheap and close to the nightlife, then back across to the Island tomorrow. Hopefully Laura will hear back from The Lodge too. We're looking forward to surfing again! It's been too long since we last went.

The Christmas dec's have started going up here now, it feels really weird as it's so hot!

All the best to everyone,

With love from Laura and James xXx