NOTE: The name of the remote location of where I was working in Western Australia during June and July 2005 has been removed from my diary. Every instance of this towns name, as well as some other identifying details of nearby towns have been removed. The names of the towns in question have all been replaced with *****'s.
Wednesday, 1st June 2005
It's 1am and I can't sleep, so here I am in an internet cafe just down the road from where I am staying. I did try to use the internet located inside where I was staying, however the computer ate my $1, which a staff member then had to retrieve for me. I'm staying at the Northbridge YHA, and it has to be the most trashiest looking hostel I have ever seen. I shan't be back. My pillow is about as flat as a sheet of paper and my bed isn't very comfortable either. Reception have at least been very friendly, so that is something I guess. The person in reception mentioned to me to please bring my sheets when I checked out. I said no worries. On arrival to my room, I noticed they didn't even give me any! I ventured into the bathroom and they smelt disgusting, and that was just the showers. Ick. Ick. Ick.
I had originally organised to stay somewhere else. Not for any special reason, it was just a flyer picked haphazardly from the stand at the airport that said there was single room accomodation for $40 a night. I got a taxi there from the airport and immediately felt that this was perhaps a little dodgy. The man in charge had actually just picked up another guest from the airport. He was saying, "How much did they tell you on the phone it would be?" He kept changing the prices around. In the end I think she paid $5 more than she was quoted. Anyways, even though I was there first, he looked after her first whilst I sat dozing after my 10 hours of travel. He eventually showed me up to my room. When he opened the door, I was greeted by a huge whiff of smoke, and the bed in there looked about as comfortable as the one that I was initally provided with in my first apartment in Rockhampton which was sooo tastefully furnished. *insert sarcasm here*.
Despite thinking this place was dodgy, I was really too tired to be picky, so I just said I would stay, and that I would need to go and get some money. I left my bags in the room and it was locked. I also got the keys from the bloke, in exchange for leaving my proof of ID 18+ card with him. When I came back with the money, no one was there, so I had to ring them. I spoke to a lady who said he would be down to help me. 10 minutes later, there was no sign of him. I rung again. She tells me that he wasn't actually here, and that he was across the road feeding his dogs, but was coming straight back. He didn't come back. 20 minutes later, there was still no sign of him, so I went up to the room, retrieved my bags, and waited for him to come back so that I could get my card back. He eventually showed up. I then told him that there was no way that I was staying here and to please give me my card back. Luckily, he did not argue, and gave my card back immediately.
Anyhoos, that is how I ended up at the YHA Northbridge, in William Street, Perth. The YHAs I have stayed at are usually fairly clean and stuff, so this one was a surprise. I am going to get online in the next couple of days and book into a hotel room for the remainder of my stay in Perth I think. I am leaving Perth this morning on the train, and will get to Kalgoorlie this afternoon. Then, there is a connecting bus to Norseman. So...I will be staying in Norseman overnight, or maybe two days. I am not sure. I'm not really intent on staying for more than one day - as there's not really anything to do in Norseman - but, it looks like if I want to go back the same way (ie by bus/train), I will need to wait until Friday to do so, which is a little annoying...soooo hmm. Not sure. It sucks not having a car I guess.
As I worked all day Monday, I didn't have time to get a book for myself. I figured I would need to find something to do, or I would go insane, so I went looking in the Newslink store at Brisbane airport for some reading material, not too hopeful that I would find anything. Then, a Julian Clary book, "A young mans passage", caught my eye. I had soon parted with the asking price of $32 (yeah, I know - pretty rough price to pay for paperback), and then proceeded on my way to check in. The flight arrived in Melbourne on time. I picked up some focaccia thing to eat. From the cafe, not the bin that is. I then boarded my flight to Perth.
The air hostess pointed at the book, which at the time was seated on the seat beside me. She asked if it was my book. I said yes, and she told me how much she loved Julian Clary, and that she had seen a couple of his shows. She said that she had taken her mother to one of his shows, but mum was not impressed. Apparently Julian was a bit ruder than usual, and mother dearest didn't like it. She asked if I had ever seen Julian live, and I said that unfortunately I hadn't, but that I had seen Henry Rollins live last week. She squealed when I mentioned Henry's name as well. Good to run into someone with good taste.
Um..yeah...I think I am about to run out of coinage to use this internet, so I had best leave this internet cafe before I get arrested or something.
If only I had known sooner - a sure fire way to get a response from my dear readers is to skip about a weeks worth of diary entries. I have recieved an email, an sms, as well as a guestbook entry as a result of my lack of updates. I have had an unreal, and rather busy time in Western Australia so far, and just haven't really had the chance to do an update.
I bought a laptop on Friday this week, which is such excitement, as now I can type all this diary crap up in my room, rather than use dodgy internet cafe computers. About a week ago, I scribbled some notes in my notebook whilst I was in Kalgoorlie, so I will start by typing the crap I wrote there, and then update right up to what transpired after that.
It is Friday, 3rd of June, and at the moment, I am in a backpackers hostel in Kalgoorlie, called "Goldfields Backpackers". It is right across the road from a couple of brothels, and there is also a sign at the front of the premises, which says the hostel is for sale, and that it has "a colourful history". Given the number of brothels around here, I figure that perhaps this evening I am staying in a brothel...well...at least a premises which *may* have previously been a brothel!
When I arrived in Kalgoorlie, I wasn't sure where I was going to stay, but was on a mission to see some pest control people who I had spoken to on the phone about checking out if a house in Norseman has white ants etc. They told me that they were located right next to Langtrees - yep one of the brothels. I was sick of carrying all my crap around, so when I saw the brothel...er...I mean, hostel, I went and checked in straight away. I asked if I could book into a single room, but there were not any left. The bloke in charge booked me alone into a 4 bed dorm room instead for the same price. I have been trying to sleep for the past few hours, but have unfortunately had no success. I don't know much about bed bugs, but am feeling rather itchy, and hoping that I am not about to catch anything. How pathetic that would be...sleeping alone in Kalgoolie's notorious brothel strip, and still catching something?
Today I caught the bus to Kalgoorlie from Norseman, which was about a two hour bus ride. Just as I was walking up to the bus stop, which was only about five minutes from the motel I was staying at, I realised that I had forgotten my phone charger. I figured that I could probably make it to the motel and back, but was concerned that if I didn't make it to the bus stop on time, I would miss my bus, and as a result would be stuck in Norseman for another two days. Not that being stuck in Norseman is a bad thing, I just have other things to do, places to see, etc etc! So..I made the executive decision to not go back to retrieve my charger, and instead purchase a new one in Kalgoorlie. This is the second charger that I have lost in similar circumstances, so hopefully it will not happen again!
Oookies...now on to what happened in Norseman...I arrived at 445pm on Wednesday, after catching the Prospector train from Perth to Kalgoolie, and then a bus service from Kalgoolie to Norseman. The ticket cost me less than $80 in total, so I was stoked. On the train, they also had screens all over the place which played movies and also the progress of the train. There was also a special "driver cam", which showed what the driver saw of the tracks in front of the train. Viewing a head on collision from this vantage point would have certainly added some excitement to the journey.
When I arrived in Norseman, I was eager to have a look around, but it was getting dark, so I decided that it would be best to leave my exploring until the next day, and instead just went and checked in at The Great Western motel where I was staying. I was quoted over the phone that it was $99 a night, which surprised me, as I didn't expect it to be so expensive. Despite this, I booked in for two nights. Turns out that it was worth it, as the room and the staff were great. I had dinner at their restuarant both nights, which was also pricey, but rather tasty!
I rang the bloke who organises the real estate in Norseman, and he said that he would pick me up at 9am the next day. I figured that it would take maybe an hour to look at a couple of houses, but it took all day. I was totally blown away by the amount of time and effort that was put into helping me out so much! As well as seeing a heap of houses, I also met heaps of great people, as well as took in some of Norseman's sights.
The first house I looked at was listed at $15000. I got to see inside it, and it has three good sized bedrooms, with built in robes, as well as a sleepout. I was so surprised at the condition of this house, as I honestly was expecting the worst. The first thing that I was drawn to was the timber floors, which didn't seem to creak as I walked over them. I love polished wooden floors, so my first thought was omg, I want these so that I can make them into beautiful polished floors!
There were some issues with the house, such as it needs a hot water system, and that it only has a bath, not a shower...oh...and it has an outside toilet, which has seen better days...but all of these things can be fixed. The other thing is that the house price does not include the price of the land. This is because a mining company owns the land and leases it out to whoever is in the house. The lease is $500 a year and is for 10 years (the lease started in 2003). I have spoken to the company who looks after these leases and they have said that they could sell the land to me, subject to council approval (which should not be a problem). Apparently land in Norseman is rather cheap, so I may be able to pick up the land for around $1000. I have also looked into the cost of rates, which are only $514 per year!
I was chatting to the current owner of the house, who lives next dor, and he asked me how much I would be willing to pay for the house. Without flinching, I said $10 000. He instantly said "yes", which was quite a shock to me, considering I thought that making an offer like that I would really be pushing it, considering that it was listed for $15 000! Where else in Australia can you purchase a house for $3000? That's $7000 for the first home buyers grant, and $3000 of my own money!
After I left Kalgoorlie and Norseman, I went back to Perth and booked in to a backpackers hostel for a week. I had my own room, which was $55 a night, and had a fridge, tv, and dvd player. It was heaps better than the first dodgy hostel I stayed at in Perth. I have put in an a verbal offer for $10 000 with the real estate agent. I was hoping to get payment for the first homebuyers grant upfront, then add in my own $3000 of savings, but after speaking to the First Homebuyers Grant people, they unfortunately can not do that. You need to pay all the money upfront, then they will give you the $7000. As a result of this, I have contacted Keystart Home Loans to hopefully get a loan. I don't know how successful I will be, but have spent the week getting the required paperwork together, which has proven difficult, given that the majority of the stuff I need is at home in Rockhampton. Some
people have been helpful enough to fax things to me, others have refused to do anything other than mail it to me. Grrr. Hopefully I can have all the paperwork sorted by the end of this week so that they can look at my home loan application, and then give me the good or bad news.
As well as purchasing the laptop on Friday, that afternoon I also got the job that I applied for. It is in a roadhouse/hotel in a remote location, with a population of approximately 300. The job was advertised on the notice board of the backpackers hostel I have been staying at, and was advertised as a three month job. When I had my interview though, it was mentioned that it may be longer than 3 months, if all went well. They had mainly put the 3 months on the ad because a lot of travellers have visas that only allow them to work for a certain amount of time in Australia. They also mentioned that the job may finish if it was quiet and I said that I didn't mind either way.
The job involves cleaning and cooking and customer service, and they provide me with my own hotel room, and meals as well. I think that is a pretty unreal deal, and I still get paid pretty well too! It's $15.00 per hour for the first month while I am training and $16.50 per hour after that. The amount of hours is 30-45 hours a week. Nowhere really to go to spend money, so I will hopefully be loaded by the time I finish up, whenever that is! They asked if I could fly out yesterday morning at 7am, and I said yes no problems. This unfortunately means I miss the Stewart Lee gig I was looking forward to in Perth on Wednesday, but oh well, I couldn't exactly pass this up!
Saturday morning, I flew from Perth to *****, where I was met by the manager of the Roadhouse in ****. We went shopping for a bit in ****and then took the two hour drive inland to ****. It seems like an awesome place to work, so hopefully all will work out well. Just outside my room is an awesome view, which is unreal. I also had a great feed last night - a massive steak burger with chips. I had breakfast this morning, and started to work, but unfortunately my work day was cut pretty short due to a fairly major disaster happening. Sparks came out of the meter box, which then caused a fire, leaving the meter box fried, and as a consequence, there is no power. Lucky I was nowhere near it at the time, and no one got hurt.
When I heard what had happened, I immediately knew that this was not a good thing, as I had taken quite a few calls about this sort of thing when I was doing my last temp job at an electricity company. Basically, this sort of thing is an internal fault, and is not something that the power company can fix, so I knew they would somehow need to get an electrician. Not an easy task on a Sunday in the middle of nowhere.
I stupidly did not purchase any more asthma medication before I left, as there just wasn't enough time to get it sorted out, and I figured that I would be right for a while. Unfortunately, this was not the case, so stupid me has just run out of the preventative inhaler that I use twice daily. To make matters worse, I feel like I am about to get sick, which is not a good thing. I have lost my voice a bit over the last day or so, and just hope that it doesn't get any worse. The doctors come here once a week, so I can make an appointment for Thursday, and then the medication arrives the next week on Tuesday on the bus. Apparently, it is free to see a doctor, plus the medication costs hardly nothing, as there is some sort of discount due to being located in such a remote area. It's going to be a pain waiting so long for this medication though, as it really makes a huge difference. Grrr.
Part of the power is now back on (after being off for almost all day), so the phone line is working again, and I can watch some tv, and continue to read one of the many books I bought out here to keep me company when I am not working. I sat just outside my room tonight reading, and watched the sunset, which was amazing. I so wanted to take some pictures, but stupidly forgot my camera, so will be trying to purchase one somewhere soon!
Anyhoos...now that I am settled, I will attempt to go back to doing the daily updates.
I started work at 7am today, and worked through until 115pm. I got to work in the kitchen, which was great, and was helping prepare food for this presentation thing that was being made at the local school by the Premier of Western Australia. As there was still only partial power, we began the day cooking by candlelight - how romantic. *cough*. I got to chop up a heap of things like tomato, cucumber, cheese, etc...as well as make sandwiches, wash up, and then helped deliver all the stuff to the school. I didn't loose any fingers while slicing up all the crap, so I was happy.
Today was a pretty busy day, with the catering for the function, as well as having quite a few Variety Club bash cars coming through. The coolest car that I saw was one that had been decorated to look like a dog. After work, I decided to do some washing, which again was free. No drier, but it was so windy today that the clothes dried pretty quickly. I then went on a mission to find the nurse to see if I could get my asthma medication, hoping that I did not have to wait until Thursday when the doctor was here. I've been unwell the last couple of days with a sore throat, and the occasional cough, as well as losing my voice, but I haven't felt really bad until I started walking to the doctors today. I had a bit of trouble breathing, as well as a coughing fit, and ended up taking some of my other asthma reliver medicine to try to stop it. This was quite unexpected, and hasn't happened
like this for a very long time, so I was a little concerned. I'm okay, but decided to just walk to the nurses and back today, rather than do some more exploring.
I found the nurses office, and I was in luck as I managed to score a free asthma preventative inhaler thingie. This stuff usually costs around $28 a puffer. Turns out you don't pay anything whatsoever for doctors visits, or drugs out here, or in other selected remote locations around Australia. The nurse said that the only charges that there are is if you are on some weird ass drug that isn't common. Well, she didn't say it in those words, but yeah you get the picture. The nurse who helped me made a booking for me to see the doctor on Thursday to get a proper prescription, but let me take the inhaler in the meantime. She used to work in Norseman and said that drugs/doctors visits were free there also. Unreal. All this time I was trying to convince people that Norseman was a great place because of its location, and cheap houses, when all I had to say was, "Norseman is great, they give you free drugs!!!".
I got a couple of express post envelopes from the Post Office. I figured that it would be easier if the backpackers hostel which was recieving my mail could just chuck the letters into an envelope for the home loans people, as they are also in Perth. I'm only expecting three letters to be sent to the backpackers, and they are all just for paperwork relating to the home loan. Because of ****'s location, as well as mail pickups being only three times a week, getting all the mail redirected to ****, and then posting it back to Perth would be just too much of a waste of time. Hopefully it all works out.
I bought a few pieces of overpriced crap at the couple of General Stores around town. I get free meals, but just thought I would like a couple of things in the fridge to keep me company in the instance that I felt like having a feed at say 1am in the morning if I woke up and couldn't sleep. As I didn't bring my huge bottle of sunscreen from Rockhampton, I also went in search of some sunscreen, but didn't have a lot of luck. I ended up leaving with this small, weird looking roll on sunscreen stuff. I also went looking for a camera as I really want to take some pictures of the amazing scenery/sunsets around here, but the cameras have all sold out, and more will not be coming in until next week. As I was walking back to my room, a lady said hello to me as I was walking down the street. Turned out she was the principal from the local school and she had seen me delivering the stuff today
and just wanted to say how much she enjoyed it. I thanked her, and had a bit of a chat, and went home.
I'm going to do some more reading and have dinner at around 6pm. Before I left for ****, I purchased 4 books, and I am almost all the way through one. Any kind persons who have books they think I might like reading, and want to send them to me for free....*yeah ha ha ha as if*...send me an email and I can give you an address to send them too. Yes, I know that as usual, this request will bring a huge response. *smirk*. Oh...and just think of how much free reading material I have provided you dear diary readers with, if you think its a bit too much of a request :P
Today started well, with four hours work, where I got to do some washing up, laundry, and clean a couple of rooms. From there it went downhill, thanks mostly to an email from the dickhead from Keystart Home Loans, which went exactly like this....
I have discussed the loan application with the Approvals Manager. Prior to approving your loan we need you to have lived and worked in Norseman for at least three months. Once this has ocured we would be more than happy to look at financing your property. Part of the reason for this is that Keystart was initiated to help people set up their principal place of residency. To do this we have to be certain that the client has actual links to the location and that it will be long term.
Now, after spending over a week, and a considerable amount of money making phone calls, and paying for reprints of bank statements, this email leaves me disappointed, rather disgusted, and quite stunned. My situation was fully, and very clearly explained to the person looking into my home loan application. Because the person did not mention that I was required to live and work in Norseman for three months prior to them considering me for the loan, I went through countless hours, and expense getting the requested documentation together for a home loan. I was told it would take approximately a week to say whether the loan was approved or not. At no time was I told that I must reside and work in Norseman for any amount of time. To add to that, I paid $165 for a pest inspection, which I would not have done had I had known that to get the loan, I was required to live and work in Norseman.
To add to all the other expenses is the two express post envelopes I bought yesterday to send the last of the documentation to this moron looking into my loan.
I have sent him an email expressing my disgust at his service, and requesting to speak to the Approvals Manager that he makes mention to in his email. All this for a $3000 home loan. Yes, I know - hard to believe. I worked again tonight. I got to learn how to use the till, chop some more stuff up in the kitchen, do the washing up, and most exciting of all - clean the toilets! Today I learnt how to cook and made myself two burgers - one for lunch, and one for dinner. I am so proud of that...yet so pissed off about the home loan thing.
I worked this morning again, cleaning rooms. I also recieved an email response from Keystart homeloans in response to the complaint I sent them yesterday. Although the email offered no apology, or didn't address any of my concerns, apparently the approvals manager is still looking at my application???? This is what they told me anyway, after I requested that they send all the documents back to me that I gathered to support my application. It will be interesting to see if they overturn what they told me yesterday, based on the contents of my complaint.
After work, I decided to go on a big walk, so reluctantly used the new dodgy roll on sunscreen I picked up the other day - the only sunscreen in town! Whoever thought of the idea of roll on sunscreen was not the brightest crayon in the box. Essentially, the packaging is about the same as your standard roll on deodarant. I can just imagine some chick on the beach rolling this stuff all over herself, with some confused kid going, "Mummy, why is that lady putting roll on deodarant on her face?". It's just a dumb idea, looks stupid, and is a pissweak way of applying sunscreen anyway. But, with no other option, I went to work rolling it on.
I walked up to the top of the water tower, and the view that I have been raving about was even more amazing. I am eagerly awaiting when I can get a hold of a camera! So many things you take for granted that you just can not get out here - no fresh milk, daily newspapers, sunscreen etc. Not that I am complaining, it is just perfect for me right now, and I hope that it stays that way.
After not hearing from Keystart today, I decided to send them an email. Turns out I had the right idea - the approvals manager is going to reconsider my application. That is the good news. The bad news is that said approvals manager is in hospital recovering after tearing a tendon, so I will have to wait some more! The bloke who emailed me thanked me for my patience, and said that he knew that I was anxious for a response. Hopefully the approvals bloke will be back on Monday.
I went to the doctor today, as requested by the nurse earlier this week. The doctor tried to convince me that some $30 contraption would help me inhale more of the shit from my asthma puffer, but I said erm yeah...I'll be right thanks, it's worked just fine so far. She then described how I could make one out of a water bottle if I didn't want to spend the money on a proper thing - whatever it is called. You cut one end out of the bottom of the water bottle, then put the puffer into the hole. You then inhale it through where you usually drink out of. Way too confusing for me, and if I did try to cut up a bottle like that, I would probably end up at the doctors again, missing half a finger from where "the knife slipped!".
I got my first response to my request for books today, so am eagerly anticipating its arrival. Mmm. Anyone else?!
In the early hours of this morning, I awoke to a sound just outside my room. It sounded a bit like a bloke having a cough and clearing his throat. This left me scared shitless, as although there are a couple of other people nearby, I am essentially alone here in this part of the premises. I heard the noise again, and pulled the blind to the side a bit to see what was going on...only to see a kangaroo hopping away!
Although it was only a kangaroo, I still had a bit of trouble getting back to sleep and ended up just lying in bed writing a stupid poem in my head. I was almost going to get up and write it down, but I figured I wouldn't be sharing it with anyone, so why bother. I don't write about absolutely everything that happens in my head here, especially if it involves other people, so yeah...the words can stay in my head instead...not that I can really remember the poem too well anyway, other than it was rather morbid and depressing.
Today I looked after the shop for 15 minutes - alone - as both of the managers were out. This was a bit scarey too, but I managed to get through the 15 minutes okay! I then worked for a couple of hours tonight, but today has essentially been a pretty bludge sort of a day. I did want to do some washing, but it's been raining all day, so that didn't happen. I feel a bit more icky, dirty, and smelly with all this cleaning I am doing, so I think I will be doing a fair bit more washing and showering here then usual!
Life and work in **** is still great, plus I have had another nice person offer to send me a book so yay for that.
Not much excitement to report for today other than I worked, ate, and slept some more. Yearning to go for some long walks in the sun, and not have to touch the roll on sunscreen again, I purchased some sunscreen on eBay. I got a message in my guestbook from Isabel, who I met in Norseman, after reading her intriguing true story "Life B4 Lithium". She informed me that drugs were no longer free in Norseman, which of course left me shattered. Kekekeke. Oh well.
Since moving to ****, I have been eating copious amounts of chocolate, and also having the odd coca cola as well. Today, I have decided that this has got to stop, so will be trying to withhold from purchasing any more of the aforementioned crap. I also am missing my long aimless walks, so am going to try to get into wandering about again this week in between shifts.
I have been looking on eBay again, this time for books, so will see if I can pick up any resonably priced ones. The sellers seem to be charging a ridiculous amount of postage in some cases though, which is a little frustrating for an eBay seller who tries to keep postage prices down to Australia Post prices only. I finished reading another book today, and already am on to the next one. I have found it great to have the time and inclination to read again.
When I was younger, and living in Mackay, I read all the time, and had around five book cases full of books that I had purchased myself as a result of my first job. Unfortunately, when I decided to move to Sydney when I was around 18, I sold everything I owned - including all the books. I stupidly took only $100 for the hundreds of books that I owned. I knew it was a pathetic amount to be offered for things that were so valuable to me, however, I was so desparate to get out of Mackay, and had no other financial help, so took the $100. I think that I will be in **** for a while, so will be doing a heap of reading, so maybe will have my collection of books stocked up again.
I got asked be my fellow collegues if I was going to the bar last night, and I declined. I'm not big on going to bars, and when I do, I like to be able to leave and get home safely. Given there are not any taxis out here, I would have to walk home by myself - unless I stayed until they left, so I figured I would go back to my room and read instead. This morning the bloke I work with said that all the blokes were asking about the new sheila in town and when she was going to come down to the pub. Kekeke. I won't be going there any time soon!
Anyhoos, I start work at 8am in the morning, so I must go and get some sleep!
Sorry...no update yesterday...but not much to talk about, so gave it a miss. Today is a little different though. I had the day off, so decided to go exploring. On the way, I purchased a camera, and dutifuly snapped away at the amazing scenery I saw on my way, and at two of **** attractions, "****", and "****".
I figured that I had better tell the bosses where I was going today in the instance something untoward might happen, but luckily all was good and well and I got to and from my destinations safely, and without getting lost. It was a rather long walk along a pretty much deserted stretch of road, aside from the odd car driving past. Had any major medical disaster etc happened, it would have not been the best situation to be in, but hey, I'm okay!
There are a couple of other things that I want to see around ****, but they are a bit further away (around 8-10kms), so I figured that I would leave them to my next day off.
I still have not heard back about the home loan, so am a little pissed about that, but what can one do hey...Grrrr.
It has now been three weeks since I left Rockhampton, but it feels like years! I was thinking today that this time last year I was still in Sydney, sad and uninspired. I was in Sydney for 8 years, working hard and paying massive amounts of rent for the privelige of living in a huge polluted city, full of a lot of other unhappy people. The trains and buses I would catch home were filled with people who looked exhausted and depressed after another day at work - probably to pay off that 500K home loan. Needless to say, I thought I would live in Sydney forever as it was just what life was supposed to be. Luckily, I moved on or I dread to think what mental state I would be in had I stayed put.
It's weird how quickly one can take themselves out of their environment, and into a totally new one. After visiting Norseman, then Kalgoorlie, then spending a week in Perth...then going to ****, I attest that it can be done. If you hate your job, your life, your family...whatever, and think you have to put up with whatever, tis crap. One doesn't need to do anything other than be happy. If you don't like the environment you are in, move on. Sure, I am not 100% happy, and there is a couple of special things that I want, but I just can't have...but well...I am much happier with life since I moved from Sydney, that is for sure! Crikey...what a speil!
Moving on...I finished work a couple of hours ago, and got to actually cook my first lots of food for real paying customers. Hiliarious stuff. I even got to make a dessert that I had no idea how to make. I was asked to take an order out for a customer, which I did. The other person at their table asked if they could have Pecan Pie. I was like, sure..no problem. Then it was like oh shit how do I put that on a plate. I sort of arranged the pie on the plate, with ice cream, and then some cream from a can, which I have never used before. I sprayed this carp on the plate and it looked not too good, so I figured I should read the instructions. After reading the instructions, I tried to spray the cream again. It looked better this time, but something just didn't seem right. Anyhoos, the customer seemed to like it, so that is all that matters.
The loser I have been dealing with from Keystart Home Loans hadn't bothered to get back to me as promised, so I fired off another email to him last night. He got back to me via email today saying that no they will not approve the loan unless I live and work in Norseman for three months. He didn't bother to address any of the issues raised, so I have again requested to speak to his supervisor. Blah. Some people! I rung the bloke looking after the property and gave him the update and he's going to look into another way this could be done, if not, that is it for the house idea for now. If it doesn't work out, I will just have to save the cash and go looking for another house...or perhaps not get a house at all. Who knows...
Not much happened today other than I worked, ate, slept, and continued to read my latest book. I went for a wander to the post office to post off the film that I finished as a result of my exploring on my day off. Hopefully it won't get lost in the mail! I am really looking forward to getting the pictures back, so that I can share them here. It was 27.5 degrees here today. How's that for a winter temperature! I am getting moved out of my room temporarily for a few days, as there is the motel is pretty heavily booked out on the 29th of June and also the 2nd of July. This is due to there being a race day, as well as a ball happening. After that, I will get my room back permanently, so yay for that. I start work at 7am, so think I should get some sleep! Goodnight :)
I am soon to be a home owner in Norseman, Western Australia, and I am absolutely ecstatic! The real estate agent has been able to organise me to pay $3000 for the house, and then get the first home buyers grant to pay the remainder! Unreal. No home loan - nothing! I almost can not believe it, yet I have an email here confirming that it can be done! Sensational stuff. I saw the email from the real estate agent when I logged in tonight, and almost did not want to read it, thinking that it would be bad news. After a few minutes of staring at it in my inbox, however, I decided to read it, and wow...well...lets just say that I am extremely happy with this turn of events!
Work is still going well and I am really enjoying it. I hope I can stay here for a long time. The first home buyers grant says you must live in the house within a year. If I can stay here a year, save up lots of cash, that will be an awesome start to my home renovating in Norseman! I am still paying rent in Rockhampton, as my lease runs for another 2 months or something. Not sure. Will have to see what is best at the time the lease runs out I guess. It may be cheaper just to sign another lease, rather than leave work and pack up my crap. Or maybe just go home, pack up my crap, send it to Norseman, then come back to work! At least I would then have my own house to dump all the stuff in - no storage fees, and no rent - yay! Work is the priority for me now though, and I have no intentions of leaving anytime soon.
I worked heaps today, doing heaps of different stuff. I cleaned a couple of rooms this morning, then was left alone to look after the shop for two hours this afternoon. Then tonight, I worked in the kitchen for a few hours. 8.5 hours all up. I am loving this place. My boss was even kind enough to cook me dinner tonight, which was unreal. She's a much better cook then I am! That being said, however, I have managed to master the preparation of quite a few take away gems since I started here. I can now make fish and chips, burgers (sortof), toasted sandwiches, and salad. I also haven't sustained any injuries chopping up stuff either. All is good.
I am now off to finish reading my latest book and then start on the next one. I don't start work until 12 tomorrow, so am looking forward to a bit of a sleep in. Yay.
I haven't updated for a few days, so I figured I would write this before people start emailing me asking if I am alive. Yes, I am still trying to update this thing daily, but...yeah...I've been busy and slack and stuff. Yesterday, I had to move out of my room, as the motel was totally booked out. This was booked before I started working here, so I didn't have much choice in staying unfortunately...not that moving was a big deal to me - just a little inconvienient as far as moving all my crap around. I am now back in my room permanently - yay!!!
Last night, I got to sleep at my bosses house, (they are a couple), in their spare room. One of them asked me last week if I snored, and I said that I didn't, but that I wasn't going to sleep in the same room as them, so they needn't worry anyway! Then her boyfriend said that I was going to sleep in the middle of both of them and I said errr yeah righto...not! Ick. They are both great people, but whenever I get into couple territory, I always feel horribly inadequete and out of place. It is such a different world to mine, which I would of course like to explore with someone else...but yeah...got to find someone drunk enough first. *cough*.
I got a few parcels yesterday - which was much excitement - especially when I got the photos that I took last week on my adventures. I only sent them last Wednesday, so to get them so quickly was amazing, considering the remoteness of ****, and also the fact that mail only gets delivered three times a week here! I will put them up in my diary soon, when I get enough time to edit them a bit in photoshop to give you the impression that I am a superb photographer. *smirk*. One thing that disturbed me a lot about the photos that I took was how many pictures of trees I took. I went a little overboard me thinks!
Race day is on the 2nd of July, so it will be really busy. I've been getting a heap of hours, and possibly will be getting even more in the coming weeks. I've learnt heaps of stuff already, and I have only been here around three weeks! I did 11.25 hours today, and every toilet I clean, or dishes I wash, or salad I make I think that it is all going towards buying my house. So very excitement.
As much fun that I am having working here, I was a little distressed the other day. I was asked to restock the chocolate AND also the icecream fridges. Now, I can handle cleaning toilets...but arrrr...crap...of all things the chocolate fridge...noooooooooo! As a result of this, I have had continued my steady intake of chocolate and coca cola, which isn't good. I have tried to banish it from my diet again, however it is difficult looking at it all the time. Ah crap.
An update on the house. I can not get first home buyers grant until I own the land. This is a little annoying as it takes 3-6 months to make the land freehold (or so I have been told). So...the plan to pay $3000, then get the $7000 for first home buyers isn't going to work. Grrrr. Soooo intensely frustrating. All that being said, the real estate agent who is selling this property has been absolutely amazing, helping me out a great deal, even though the house is only worth $10 000. He is going to try one more thing for me, which will HOPEFULLY allow me to purchase the property as originally planned. This will involve the current owner of the house to make the land freehold (ie I would own it), and then I would pay for house and the cost of the land. Land is apparently around $1000, but is all yet to be confirmed, plus the owner has to agree to it of course! ha ha ha - I am just waiting for the next drama in my house saga to unfold!
I'm still madly reading, and running out of books, so have purchased a few on eBay, which will hopefully arrive soon so I can read them. I am currently reading a Stephen King book, "Dreamcatcher", so yes I am sleeping well at night. He he he. The last book I read was called "Join Me", and was by a bloke called Danny Wallace who started up a cult by accident.
He started his collective, (he doesn't like to refer to it as a cult), by putting an ad in a paper that simply said "Join Me", and requested that anyone who wished to join should send him a passport sized photo. To his surprise, he got some responses, and then more and more people joined up - but even with all these people joining, Danny still did not have any idea what the purpose of the members of "Join Me" was!
Danny started "Join Me" after his grandfather died. His grandfather had originally wanted to start up a commune and have a heap of people live on his farm, but it didn't work out. Danny wanted to get a hundred people to join his "Join me" collective to make up for the fact that his grandfathers dreams were never fulfilled. Eventually Danny found the purpose of join me by reading some of his grandfathers old letters. The joinees were then sent their first task, which was "To make an old man happy." He sent out a heap of disposable cameras asking to capture his members making an old man happy, which people dutifully did.
He did get some comments saying, "Why just make an old man happy, what about other people?", so decided to make Friday's the day where his Joinees were to do something to make someone happy. There's a few other twists in his journey - including making a fund to assist keeping a fraudster out of trouble, Danny becoming a minor celebrity on Belgian television, and a few other things. I love people who do stuff like this and wish that I could think of something as clever! He now has over 1000 joinees!
I am excited to report that I recieved my very first work place injury today! I was cleaning the blade of a food processor thingie and given that the blades looked sharp, I was being very careful not to cause myself any injury - obviously not careful enough! Admittedly, it was only a little cut, but yeah it drew blood...so yeah mmm. Tomorrow is supposedly going to be a huge day at work (race day), so I think I will go sleepies now.
Today was busy, and I did another 10 hours work - I have now done almost 40 hours already this week, and have three more busy working days to go until Tuesday, which is the end of my pay week! The only other employee here (other than the two managers), resigned today. He's only been here for three weeks! Apparently it is his last day tomorrow. To put it nicely...he's a filthy, nasty, insipid pig of a man, so I am not at all sad to see him go. Blah.
Today was again very busy. The lovely *ahem* bloke who I wrote about yesterday did not end up resigning as planned. Given that this is the second time he has resigned in two weeks, I figure that it is only a matter of time until he really does leave. The owner of the place is here for a few days, and now said bloke is being extremely nice and helpful when he is around. He will revert back to being a prick when the owner leaves though. Stay tuned though, as there may be an interesting twist to this story!
I start work at 8am tomorrow, but am getting up early to do some of my washing. I only did washing a couple of days ago, but I seem to be going through twice the amount of clothing I usually wear, given I feel so dirty after the end of each shift. Ha. I sound like I'm a hooker or something. kekeke. Basically...my days usually consist of cleaning the motel rooms, and washing sheets/towels etc from the rooms in the morning. Sometimes I also look after the front counter, selling takeaway stuff/fuel/answering phone calls etc. In the evening, I do fun stuffs like cooking, washing up, mopping, sweeping, and cleaning the toilets. So yeah...I have a shower after cleaning the rooms, and then another one before I go to work in the evening, and then another shower when I come home at night.
The managers are going away tomorrow for 6 days on a holiday, and only the owner of the place, as well as me, and the charming gentleman I work with will be here. I am looking forward to getting even more hours, and a nice pay packet next week which will cover around half of the $3000 for the house, perhaps more. Hopefully, I will also have good news to share about the house next week, but will have to wait to hear from the real estate agent about that.
It will probably be busy for the next couple of weeks - even busier if this bloke disappears. If it quietens down though, I am thinking of maybe seeing if I can go into **** on one of my days off to go exploring. **** is the closest major town to ****, and is two hours away. I believe that a bus goes through here once a week and leaves on say Monday and comes back on Tuesday, although I am not sure of the days. The boss goes into **** sometimes too, so I may be able to score a lift in. I will see what happens I guess! I also still want to go for a wander to the mine, and a few other places around town, so will see what happens.
I think it may be a while until I get a day off though - which doesn't bother me in the least as I see this as an unreal opportunity to make a stack of cash which will be infinately helpful in purchasing and then renovating my house in Norseman. I am off to read my latest book - "Find Me" - by Rosie O Donnell. This was sent to me by a friend who read my plea here to send books - thanks :)
Okay. Here is the gossip. I can not hold back any longer! I'm tired, so I'm not going to bother proof reading this, so yeah if it doesn't make sense...blah!!!
So the guy at work is disliked by me, and both the managers of where I am working. They needed him to stay to cover race day as it was really busy, as well as the week that the managers were on holidays (ie this week). My understanding was that the bloke would then be fired. Not so. Well...maybe it is going to happen, but then the owner came to visit, and the day after this bloke resigned (for the second time in two weeks), the boss fed his ego by saying how wonderful he was and so forth. The bloke was of course, Mr Nice whenever the manager was around, whilst continuing to make constant snide, nasty, and inappropriate comments to me.
Given that I was under a lot of pressure last week - I ended up working 70.25 hours all up, it just made everything he said even worse and it was going through my mind that I wanted to resign, as I do not work somewhere where I am not treated with respect. This guy also gets quite aggressive when he gets angry. Not in a way that he would hurt anyone (I think), but just like throwing food down really hard on the grill and so forth. He's basically a 30 something year old child who throws a tantrum when he does not get his own way.
I had originally held back from saying anything back to this guy, as I was under the impression that he was leaving anyway. However, I had a lot of fights with this bloke after I heard him spout on about how amazing the manager thought he was. It really was too much to hear after dealing with his shit for three weeks, and then things going the opposite way to what I expected them to. ie. he was meant to be fired, not told how brilliant he was from the owner of the place! I am still trying to understand if the owner of the place was simply massaging this blokes ego so that he would not resign at a critical time, and then once the managers holidays were over then tell him to go away. I still do not know actually. What I do know, however, is that this bloke is so full of shit and has the biggest superiority complex that I have ever seen.
I was upset about the way he was treating me, so asked the owner if I could speak to him about it. I chose to talk to him the next day though, as at that moment, all I could think about was resigning. I did this because I knew that after working so many hours and being under so much pressure, the mind isn't ready to make particularly rational decsions. We had a bit of a chat about respect and so forth. That day went okay, after he spoke to the bloke about respect, but as expected, it was not going to last. This bloke has been spoken to in the past by the managers here about the appropriate way to behave, and yes it lasts perhaps a day, then it is back to normal.
Anyway, the next day rolled on and he just kept having a go at me as per usual, so I got a bit (a lot upset), and walked out. I ended up coming back though in around 5 minutes as it was a busy night, and I did not want to let the owner of the place down as he is a top bloke. He's also got a lot of other things to worry about, and losing an employee on a busy time like that wasn't really fair on him. So..yeah...I went back and said I was resigning, but I would give appropriate notice, however long that was going to be. I honestly did not want to resign, as it is a great job and a great place, but I really could not get it out of my head, so it ended up being verbalised to the owner of this place, at a particularly inappropriate moment. Anyway, I worked the rest of the shift, left for home totally exhausted, and then woke up slightly refreshed the next day.
Then I got the news. I was going to be left here, to look after the place on my own until around 1pm this Monday, with my favourite collegue. Why? The owners wife has cancer and the hospital has been screwing around with the timing of her operations and so forth over the last couple of weeks. Last night, whilst I was busy having a catfight with my collegue, she was being operated on. It unfortunately was not successful, and she has been told that she does not have much longer left to live, and she is asking for her husband (the owner of the place I am working), to see her. Quite obviously, to say anything other than yes, please go, we will look after the place would have been inappropriate, so I said yes to 15+ hour days, until Monday.
I have never met his wife, but I had to try hard not to cry when he was telling me about what she had been going through. Cancer really sucks and it shocks me how someone can be perfectly healthy one minute, then the next they are given the news that say they have six months to live. Absolutely crazy stuff. It makes me want to go to the doctor and have all the tests that one can have to ensure that you are not carrying any life threatening illnesses that you do not know about.
Originally, it was thought that perhaps the managers would not go away this week, as the operation had been scheduled, but the owner let them go away, as it has been 5 months since they have had a break. They work 15 hour days, seven days a week. He did call them to let them know he would be leaving us alone here to look after the place, but they didn't cut their holiday short, so will not be here until Monday. It is weird to have so much responsibility. Keys. Fuel. Guests. Reservations. Checking out. Taking orders in the restuarant. Stocking shelves. Cashing up. Cleaning rooms. Dealing with customers - yikes.
I have had a couple of ladies who are friends of the owner come in and help over the last couple of nights, which has been unreal. The bloke chucked a shit about it, as apparently I was running around like I was manageress or something and why didn't I run it by him. I was like umm..the owner organised it not me, and they are HELPING us. Like we need help. Doh. I had originally planned to clean the rooms myself late at night, after I had finished my already long 15 hour day. Having these ladies help out has been unreal and I so much appreciate it! I can't check guests into dirty rooms either, so yeah they have made a massive difference!
The bloke has continued to be somewhat of an asshole, but it has surprised me that when he is being nice that we have worked together fairly well. It has been so incredibly busy, and I have already worked a massive amount of hours this week. Probably will hit 70 hours again this week, but will wait and see what happens I guess. Anyway, tonight I was cashing up and doing all the end of night stuff and the bloke is meant to be cleaning the kitchen. He walks towards me and says "It is obvious that the owner has no respect for me". (Ie he is talking about himself not me). I was like, "Um yeah.". The bloke then says, "You can stay, I will go". I was like..."um...what?". He goes, "Oh, like I'm not going like tonight, I'm going next week - maybe Tuesday". So...yeah, resignation number 3? I don't know, but I hope so!
The lady from the post office came in tonight and said I had three parcels and that she was going to bring them down earlier but she forgot. That was cool I said, and that I would hopefully be able to pick them up on Monday, or she could be kind enough to drop them in on the weekend ;) More books! Yay! I can't wait until I have some time to read again! This past week and a bit has been so massive, I haven't had time to do anything. Well...actually last night I almost did something, but chickened out! Me and my bloody morals. blah.
There is an incredibly spunky bloke who has been staying here as part of a road crew. mmmmmmmm. Anyhoos, they were staying for three days, and I got to serve them in the resturant,and each day the flirting got progressively more intense. It got to the point that on day three, I had to do something about it! All I could think of was having a go at them for not inviting me to their party - well...they didn't really have a party they reckon, just a couple of the blokes had suspected broken ribs after playing a fun game where they smashed themselves up against each other - in a friendly, non agressive type of way of course. Soooo...yeah. Um...where do I start as far as conversation goes with this bloke. I don't know, but it did take me by surprise - I don't know how long it has been since he has seen a sheila if that's the sort of attention that I am getting from him!
Anyway, without getting into the somewhat filthy, filled with innuendo conversations we were having...I managed to get his room number, and a "what time are you finishing work?". Ha. Ha. Ha. To try to cover up the situation, I also picked up two of the other blokes room numbers too. Keke. Um yeah...but yeshies they were not for me. I had the opportunity to actually say to him alone that yes, I would see him at around 930pm when I finished work, but I chickened out. It was me and my morals that did it, and seriously, they have a lot to answer for...grrr.
Well...I went home just after nine and thought oh shit I want to go to visit the bloke. Then my morals said, "No you do not want to visit the bloke". If you think you are going to have a nice tea and coffee and chat and say see you later, you have so totally got it wrong. I told my morals that I do not drink tea and coffee and they told me it didn't matter. They also reminded me that I would be cleaning the sheets in all the rooms as part of my job. Oh, okay, I guess you have a valid point, I said and went home. I then thought about it a bit more and then sat outside on the steps outside my room for a few minutes. Then I went and knocked on his door. The lights were off, but the tv was on. No answer. Oh crap. Shit. Crap. I think. Here I am, after gathering up the courage to visit this nice boy *cough*, and there's no answer! I knocked again, and then bashfully wandered back to my room when there was no answer.
The next morning he was in the restuarant for breakfast and I got a chance to chat with him by himself. I said, "Thank you very much for not answering your door at 915 last night." He said sorry that he didn't hear anything and that he had pretty much zoned out in front of the telly. I told him that I had considered just opening the door and wandering in, but had decided that I wouldn't do that in case I caught him doing something inappropriate...or if it was the wrong blokes room. He said that I should have came in. Blah. How intensely frustrating!
They left this morning, but apparently stay here every couple of months, so who knows, by the time he comes back (if he does come back!), I might have hopefully dislocated my morals somewhere. *runs off to bang head against a brick wall*. He really was nice and funny and stuff, even if he was quite possibly only after one thing!
On more disturbing bloke news. I think I got picked up the other day. One of the blokes (who I do not find in the least bit appealing for a number of reasons), had our usual verbal diahorrea of a conversation - which I quite enjoy. Then he said, "What time are you knocking off?". I said, "Umm...I don't know". Then he said, "Come down later and have a bong with us". I was pretty floored by that and then informed him of my anti drug stance. He then came back later in that afternoon asking for Mocha milks and asking me again if I wanted to come to his place for a bong! Errr...no thanks!
I took a phone call that amused me a little today. It was from a group of male strippers. No, not all of them at once, just a phone call from the one I guess that had the brains, and was hence named spokesperson. He was trying to book a show somewhere in town and asked me if the lay'dees would like to see strippers. I didn't tell him that I wasn't particularly interested in watching blokes strip unless it was in the privacy of my own home. Kerching. No I didn't say that. I would have said it though if I was witty and clever though. I suggested that he try the pub, and that if they did come to town, be sure to stop by and say hello. *burp*.
Ummm and I will leave it at that. Grrrrrrrr. Got to work at 630 tomorrow. Theres an Aboriginal funeral tomorrow. Apparently, they get paid around $100 a person to attend this funeral, plus get their fuel money paid for as well. Not sure on how it all works, but wow, what a great money spinner. It will apparently be massively busy, so hopefully all will go well again tomorrow.
Today was absolutely massive. All the people who told me that it would be really busy all day due to the Aboriginal funeral were entirely correct. My collegue chucked his usual multiple tantrums today, but weirdly offered to make me a burger after seeing that I had not eaten. I stupidly ate said burger and it tasted like shit. My burgers are shitloads better than his and he's the (supposed - well...so he says) five star chef. Blah. Then again, perhaps I am wrong, and the burger itself was made perfectly - it was just the rat poison he put into it that made it taste funny. Oh well.
Tomorrow is Sunday, which is the only day that we open later in the day. Usually we open at 7am, but tomorrow morning, it is open at 9am. I am tempted to sleep right through until 830am, but the thing is that theres other shit to do, so I might get up earlier. Not sure. We also close from 3pm-5pm tomorrow, but I may still have other work to do, so I don't think I will have the break. Again, will see. It would be a lot easier if my collegue would co-operate more, but it just isn't going to happen. I am dying to know if he is really going to resign!
I freaked out massively last night. First freak out was leaving the building making sure I had absolutely every key, and that everything that needed to be switched off was switched off etc. Second freakout was at around 1am in the morning when I heard a noise outside my room. I was all set to call the police, but looked out the window first and saw a couple of dogs had knocked over a bin and were going through the rubbish. I wasn't sure what to do, so I sort of just switched the light on and they ran away. A few minutes later, I saw a man outside and went omg shit. shit. shit. It turned out to be one of the guests though, who was kind enough to place the bin in an upright position. Yay.
Um...yeah...I'm going to have a bit of a read - which I haven't had much time to do the last couple of weeks, and then I am going to go sleepies. Goodnight!
My sleep-in didn't happen today, as I heard what sounded like a couple of guests getting ready to leave early this morning, just after 7am. I ended up going into work, checked the guests out, and then went to clean the one room that needed to be cleaned that had a guest arriving today. Later in the day, that guest called up to cancel their booking, as they could not make it into **** due to a road being closed.
Since very early this morning, it has been absolutely pissing down rain here. I had intended to get a stack of laundry done today from the motel units, so it was my fault that it rained...or so I've been telling everyone! To make matters worse, I got a motel booking from Western Power today for two of their employees to come to ****tonight to fix some power problems. A couple of locals said that there was a line sparking up the road somewhere and they saw a couple of other lines bashing together. Thankfully, we did not lose any of our power whilst we were open!
On Sundays, we close between 3pm and 5pm, and since I could not do the washing as planned, I finished work, went home and had a shower, surfed the net for a while, and went back to work. When I got there, I was like oooh shit. Right in front of the counter, where everyone walks in the front door, there was a big puddle of water. Above said puddle of water was a light, which had water dripping out of it. Given that water conducts electricity, and given that all the lights in the shop, including this one were on, this was not a good thing. I switched off the lights in the shop.
Unfortunately, the one light switch covered all the lights, so the shop was left essentially in darkness, other than the lights from the drinks fridge. The Western Power blokes convieniently arrived to check in, so I asked them if this was essentially a safe situation, provided that the lights were left off. They said yes, and to not switch the lights on again until an electrician had had a look at it. Cool as. Sooo...yeah, just finished the rest of the day at work, and went home at 930. I'm now up to 62.5 hours for the week so far, with two more days to go in my working week, which ends each Tuesday.
This last few days have been incredibly intense, busy, and a massive responsibility for me, but I seem to thrive on pressure, so they have been great. My charming collegue reiterated today that he was leaving. He said that he would be walking out the moment the managers arrive tomorrow. Given the amount of rain that has happened today, and that a number of roads have already been closed, I am hoping that the managers will even be able to get into ****!
I've set the alarm clock for 5am tomorrow morning, so I can hopefully get some washing done (if the rain has stopped!), and clean the one room that needs cleaning, then open up the shop. Anyhoos, I am now going to watch the rest of the Big Brother eviction now, do some reading and hopefully get a good nights sleep :)
My favourite collegue told me today that he was not really leaving. Of course, he found telling me this news highly amusing. Hopefully he won't be here for much longer, as if he is I have no desire to stay here and cop his abuse. I have now done 75 hours this week and am working again tomorrow. The tax man is going to love me. I still haven't got any news on the house, but hopefully will soon. I don't start work until 11am tomorrow, so will hopefully get some shit together. The managers got back today, so I got a chance to finally walk up to the post office and pick up my parcels. They contained a stack of books that I bought on eBay, so I am ecstatic that I now have a heap of new reading material. I also did some washing in the afternoon after I finished work, but as it was so late in the day, the washing hasn't dried yet. Grr. Um there's more to talk about, but I am tired...
I officially have clocked up 150.5 hours over the last two weeks. Today, I decided to discuss the possibility of getting more money for the time that I spent here managing the place essentially alone. This was met with a look of disbelief and disdain by my manager, but I believe she will look into this with the owner. I just figure it was a hell of a lot of extra responsibility to take on board, and $15 an hour, nor my original job description hardly covers it. My pay will go up to $16.50 an hour from tomorrow - or, at least, that is what I was told that it went up to after I had been here a month. If it does not, I will not be a particularly happy camper.
I still may resign from here, but I am giving it a bit longer to see what exactly unfolds in regards to the other collegue. I have found out that there is a bus that leaves here and goes to **** every Wednesday, so yes there is a way out, if I need it! I don't particularly want to leave though if I can help it. If I go back to Rockhampton, I can hopefully pick up the job in the call centre for the electricity company I worked for late last year. Each year, they recruit temps to assist in their call centre during storm season, which starts around September. The people there are great, the pay is unbelieveable, and the work isn't too taxing on the brain. Perfect.
The bloke who asked me if I wanted to come to his place for a bong came in again yesterday. When he walked in, I was talking to a large group of tourists who were looking at seeing some of the sights of ****. I said to them, "This is the friendliest man in town". (Meaning it in a sarcastic way, given that the majority of the words that come out of his mouth are swear words). They all were like, "Wow, pleased to meet you" (etc etc). He was stunned for a minute, not really sure what was going on. Then his brain managed to spit back a perfect come back line..."Yeah, by the way you left your bra at my place the other night". I told him that he wishes. Apparently he really likes me. Ick. Ick. Ick. Apparently he also has a wife and three kids. Ick.
I have recieved some advice regarding my post on the 8th of July about the road crew bloke, and figured I would put it here for all to see. It's always interesting to see the perspectives others have on things. One person has said, "slap* get rid of them morals girl!!!!! You need to just enjoy yourself OK!!!!!". Another has said, "I would'nt say your morals held you back, you want more than a fling. That is a choice. That is all.". I also spoke to the lady in the shop up the road, and she said that I should have walked into the room, and if he was doing anything inappropriate, I should have asked if he wanted a hand...um yeah. Okay, I will remember all that next time...
The manager has continued to give me the shits today, and I am almost officially *over* it. I've been really pissed with both of them ever since they arrived back from their holiday and did not even say thank you. All they could do was complain. Even though it would have been quite obvious to anyone else that I was exhausted, when they got back, they did not immediately relieve us, they went home for "half an hour", although it turned out to be more like an hour. By the time they got back, it was around 4pm when I was told that I could go home, and still had no thank you. I was then asked to come back at 6pm to work. When I asked if I could possibly have the night off, it was met with sarcasm, which was not appreciated. I full on ripped into the manager today when she had a go at me in regards to something she had not even taught me to do. I then mentioned that I didn't need to put up
with shit like this and that the resignation was coming...as soon as I work out what is best to do that is.
Before they went away, the manager had already pissed me off a bit with her attitude, but it was nothing compared to what I was dealing with from the bloke, so it wasn't a huge deal. Now, it has got 100% worse. The main problem is that the owner was apparently calling them telling them of all my and the blokes altercations whilst they were on holiday. I think that him doing this was a shithouse thing to do, but really it was not my fault that he did it, and I can hardly stop the bloke I am working with from being a shithead!
I have my first day off in over two weeks tomorrow, and I am really happy about that. It will give me the chance to do some stuff that I haven't had a chance to do as I have been working so much. I am looking at going for a long walk, as well as finding out the exact times/costs of the bus into ****. I can get home fairly cheaply (around $500), so I am happy about that. I am still considering looking for another job over this side of Australia though. There's a job that is $24 an hour in Karratha that I had originally seen advertised before I came up here. It is described in the job listing as "a dirty, smelly job, with 12 hour shifts". It is cleaning mud boats. Whilst I am not sure exactly what it entails, I figure at $24 an hour, it is perhaps worth a go. Karratha isn't far from **** and I can fly or catch the bus there. I will see what happens! Blah.
I think I have worked out what to do though if I go back to Rockhampton. Number one priority would be to get the job in the call centre. If that didn't work, however, what I would do would finish up my lease - which will be running out shortly, put all my stuff in storage, and then go and find a job somewhere in Australia until my Norseman house is (hopefully) sorted out...which reminds me that I will have to call my real estate agent to see if there are any updates...
I have not yet handed in the date of my resignation, however, today I did purchase my plane ticket home from Perth to Rockhampton. The ticket was only $268, and I fly back into Rockhampton on the 10th of August. I still have to get from **** to **** - by either the bus that runs Mondays and Wednesdays, or with the help of a friendly local. Then I need to get from **** to Perth. I figured out that I would buy those tickets closer to the time I know that I am leaving, cause I'm still not sure how long I will be here.
I had a stupid idea today that I should try to find the bloke from the road crew. So...yeah, that is my latest mission. Yeah, I could call the company he was working for, but that would be kinda unprofessional and creepy. Instead I have started a thread on the eBay chinwag, which is still kind of creepy but ah well...blah. Of course, I could have just asked for his email or details before he left, but nooooo I was too shy and embarrassed. *slaps self*.
I have had the day off which was great. I work at 10am in the morning and apparently there are only two rooms to clean, so that should take me an hour and hopefully then there will be bugger all to do, and I can go back home to sleep! Today I didn't do much except for go for a bit of a walk to check out this ladies place who I met a few weeks ago. She has a heap of kangaroos in her yard that she looks after, so I thought I would check it out. I wanted to go inside and say hello to her, but figured I didn't want to be surprised if there were any dogs or so forth hiding in the yard.
Umm..yeah...thats about all I have to write about today....
The managers seem to have gotten over their shitty holiday and were both in better moods today. I do like them, and really think that any problems I have had with them have been minor and would have gone unnoticed had I not already had the shits already due to my fellow collegue.
I was talking to one of the ladies who works in the Telecentre here about a job that was advertised there. I kind of only passively mentioned I was interested, mainly because Norseman also has a telecentre, and that it would be good to get some experience working in one. Today the lady asked me if I wanted the job, and I said, "yes please!" I ran it past the managers, who also said it was okay. It is only for a week and for four hours a day, so yeah it will be interesting to see how it goes!
I spoke to yet another manager at Keystart loans yesterday in regards to yet another problem I was having with them, as well as the original problem I had with them considering my application. When I was speaking to him, it sounded very promising in regards to perhaps getting reconsidered for the loan, but I still was a little unsure of what the outcome of the conversation and my subsequent email would be. I have recieved an email from him today, and although I have emailed him to clarify that I have understood it correctly, it does appear that my application *may* be approved. If that was the case, it would be unreal!
If that is not the case, I have the money needed to pay for the house, but it will be a great start to the renovations of the place :)
I worked for a few hours today, looking after the shop alone. A customer came in and asked for me to switch the diesel pump on, so I did. All our petrol pumps are switched off at the wall inside the shop until someone asks to use them. The theory there is that it would prevent people just filling up and driving off. When people fill up, they come back into the shop and tell us how much the petrol was, and then we just take the money at whatever amount they say it is (we don't have a computer that tells us). Now, this bloke seemed a bit odd to me, so when he came back in and said that he got $10 worth of diesel, I thought I would just double check that that was what he got.
As he was walking out the door, I walked out after him to glance at the pump. The pump had $32 something worth of petrol on it, not $10. When I said, "Um, hey wait a minute, thats $32 worth of petrol, not $10", he did the bolt back to the car. I quickly had a look at the number plate, and there wasn't one, and they just drove off. I know this stuff happens frequently, but wow it did leave me stunned. I called the police and they knew immediately who it was, although I don't know if they can do anything, given that they require proof that they actually stole something.
Admittedly, I did think that perhaps I had made a mistake purchasing my plane ticket home, but after a few days, and much thought, I do think that I did the right thing, and I will be departing **** as originally planned. There's just nothing here that has really convinced me that it is worth staying for, other than perhaps the isolation - which I love - and also the money to be made. That money of course can be made elsewhere though, and I have now applied for the job that I did last year in Rockhampton for the call centre. I will make around the same amount of money, and it will be for less work, and in a more positive and friendly enviornment.
I have been avidly scanning the jobs websites looking for these call centre jobs to be advertised, and as luck would have it, there was an ad placed on Friday, 15th July. I have already sent in my resume, and will be calling the job agency first thing in the morning. I have set the alarm clock for 7am, so when I call, it will be 9am Queensland time. I have tomorrow off, which was a bit of surprise...but oh well, I have a lot of stuff to do, so it doesn't concern me too much. I need to organise another asthma puffer from the nurse, have a chat about the telecentre job, make some phone calls, and stock up on my supply of Nutri Grain. All very important stuff...*cough*.
I think I may go for a big walk tomorrow as well, or perhaps just sleep and read all day. As usual, no idea.
I spent most of the day sleeping, eating, reading, and feeling sorry for myself. I got up at 7am and made the phone call to the job agency in Rockhampton, then went for a walk to get another asthma puffer from the nurse. I then walked home and went back to sleep, until I was woken up by a phone call from my boss asking me what time the tour bus was getting in today. I said I did not remember, but it was whatever time I wrote down on the piece of paper I gave her when she came back from her holiday. Although I was annoyed at being woken up to be asked this stupid question, she called conveniently right on 12pm, so I stayed awake and watched Dr Phil. Then I read some more and had lunch.
After that, I went for a walk to see a local lady who looks after a heap of kangaroos. We had a chat, and then I took some pictures of the kangaroos - some even had joeys in their pouches! I was going to walk back home, but the lady offered to give me a lift, which was appreciated - even though I should have walked, as I really need the excercise. I have been feeling so morbid here and I have gone disgustingly overboard on the chocolate and coca cola recently. Being me is not a lot of fun at the moment.
I got the dates I am working in the telecentre today. I will be there for four hours a day from the 24th to the 29th of July. I want to leave **** right now, but am really going to try to stick around until the bus leaves town on the 8th of August. I am still unsure though of when I am going, so I have not yet given a date to the managers, and have only told them that I will be leaving sometime before the 9th of August. It will cost me about $50 more to leave about a week earlier, and it is so very tempting...but I just don't know. *cries*.
I walked into work this afternoon, and noticed that the magazine rack had been restocked. The magazine rack usually has magazines like "That's Life!", "Tv Week", and other harmless family type favourites. Not any more. Today, I could have sworn that I walked into an adult shop. The rack was totally filled with mens magazines - Ralph, Penthouse, and about 10 others with names I can not remember, but heavily wrapped in plastic. Too funny...to me anyway...
I had massive problems sleeping last night. It took forever, but I eventually got to sleep in the early hours of the morning. Leaving earlier, say on the 1st of August has been running through my mind. I didn't want to tell the managers though until I was sure. This morning, my mind was made up though.
I had the washing to do, plus seven rooms to clean - which was to take me 3.5 hours, working alone. The manager told me that my charming collegue would be down to help me. When I asked what exactly did she want me to do, she shrugged and just indicated that we both would have to work it out together. This is despite the fact that she knows how well we get along, and really 3.5 hours is hardly a massive amount of hours anyway - ie I did not require any "help". I didn't waste my breath getting into an argument about it though, I simply told her that I have decided to leave on the 1st of August.
He didn't end up coming to help, which was good. Perhaps she just said it trying to stir me up? I don't know. So...yeah...I finished the rooms, and went home. I then got to start work at 600pm again. The manager took great delight in asking me to clean the blokes toilets where some kid had bled all over the sink/wall etc as he had had a nosebleed. I was about to say, "Do it yourself", but yeah...I just went and cleaned it up, wishing I would throw up, giving her something to clean up. Unfortunately though, my stomach seems to be stronger than I thought it was, so I managed to clean it without being sick.
When I finished work tonight, I asked my manager what time would she like me to start tomorrow, and she said "530". I looked at her for a second and said, "Um, so you mean 530pm right?"...she then said, "Yeah"...so...essentially, I have another day off. When I work in the evenings, it is usually only for a couple of hours anyway. I am not really concerned how many hours I get before I leave, but it is interesting how my workload has dramatically decreased so much since I have given them the news.
My minor concern is that perhaps they will ask me to leave earlier, but hopefully it will not happen. The main reason why this concerns me is because I have the job in the telecentre until the 29th of July, and I would hate to let them down if I had to leave earlier. I have a few ideas in mind though if I am told to go away - one being to literally walk out of ****, into Port **** rather than wait for a day when the bus is running. Yes, it is crazy, but it's not like I have not wanted to go on a long walk before! I would post most of my stuff home to Rockhampton, so that I wouldn't have a massive amount of shit to carry. It could work!
It seems that I may be getting my home loan, however there's a few issues - Isn't there always? Anyhoos, I will be talking to the person at Keystart tomorrow again, and I will hopefully have an actual amount which they have pre-approved me for.
In case you hadn't guessed, I didn't want to hang around **** any longer than I had to, so I was happy today when I convieniently got out of working in the telecentre next week. It would have been great...but...well...maybe not so great combined with the stresses of working here as well.
I am now leaving on the bus on Wednesday, 27th of July - exactly a week away. I don't work until 6pm tomorrow night, so I am ecstatic. I am soooo over this place. It is not good to be unhappy almost all the time, so I am really looking forward to leaving town next week! I spotted a bus that was leaving town this morning, and longed so much that I was on it.
I answered the phone tonight at work, and the chick I was speaking to requested to speak to the manager. I asked the caller what it was in regards to, and she said, "I am calling about the job advertised in the paper today". Omg. It took all my willpower not to tell this poor person that working here was not the best idea due to the managers shithouse track record with staff - most last less than a week here, and most leave without notice!
Later in the night, my manager reminded me that I had not paid my phone bill. I reminded her that I have paid it on Friday every week, and that last week I had offered to pay it and they didn't want to take my money as their phone system was screwed up. She said that there was no need for me to be so defensive. I told her that I did not appreciate the tone she used when suggesting I pay my phone bill, and that she would most certainly get her money before I left. She said that she did not appreciate me bad mouthing her around town. I said that people already had very fixed opinions on what the management were like here - from their own experiences with her and her boyfriend, and that nothing that I would have said would have changed them. She was less than impressed, but oh well...blah. I won't be needing a reference.
I am still working out what to do once I leave ****. I think I will spend a day or two in ****, then fly to Perth. I can change my flight over to an earlier date (say Monday or Tuesday in the first week in August), and only pay a price difference of around $50 more than my original ticket. I will then hopefully get an interview for a job at the callcentre I have been writing about, and all will be well and good with the world. If I don't get the job though, as my lease in Rockhampton runs out in mid August, my plan is to put everything into storage, and go somewhere - I don't know where it will be yet though! Hopefully, I will get this job in Rockhampton though *crosses fingers*