BLAH.

Im currently on my lunch break. I get to come home for lunch because I only live 2 blocks from work which is particularly convenient. Things have started to become pretty boring here. Half of our staff disappeared over the weekend - apparently thats normal. And theres only me and one other girl working. And the shop has been crazy quiet which is unusual. Although this may present for a nice break from the usual craziness I'm totally bored out of my brain. None of the customers ever talk to you because they are black and dont talk to white people. And the white people are in too much of a hurry to have a chat.

So all I do all day is work. Which is boring. Come home. Eat. And watch a movie. Then sleep. That is what everyday entails for me. At this stage im wishing that I could just put my body on auto pilot and wake up when I'm done here. I know I need to be here to save money but its just such a hard slug at this stage. Im only a week and 3 days in. Not even half way. Theres a ridiculous amount of work still to be done. I dont know what to do to make things more interesting. My poor Ipod is getting a thrashing. Im allowed to listen to it at work and its just on constant.

Hopefully something exciting happens soon. 

The Weekend

So its my first weekend here and to be honest its quite boring. As for working I'm required to do one half day a fortnight which is paid at double time so thats pretty decent I think. I went fishing today (sunday) for a little bit but I lost interest quite quick which is a bit unusual. I had to use my mums rod which is pink and pretty flimsy. We didnt have any bait because the shops arent open on Sundays, so we just used lures. It wasnt too bad. The scenery here is amazing. It would be a thousand times better if I knew someone with a boat thought. I have heard stories about people catchin Barra off the shore and crocodile basking there but today wasnt our day. We then decided to head into the bush a little bit here and we found this awesome spot where theres heaps of rocks and stuff but I wasnt to keen to head into the bush any further as some of the land is owned by certain families and you have to get permission to go on it. I dont know where that is so I wasnt to keen to have an Aboriginal family chasing me for payment.

I think I am getting more used to the community life. Theres way more white people here than I expected. It takes a bit to befriend them though. They all kinda stick together. The ones I work with all came into work with a hangover yesterday so they obviously all get on it together. To be honest I dont even feel like drinking with them all. The ones I have come accross are pretty up themselves. God knows why.

The Aboriginals here are ok. Some days I cant handle their smell. And I dont think they will ever stop suprising me. I had a guy asking me what he can put on his scabies the other day. Its things like that, that we dont have to even consider in our everyday life. The way these people live is nothing compared to anything I have ever experienced. Now that I see this I can fully understand why they are the way that they are in the cities, its so different from anything that they have ever known. I'm not saying I am agreeing with them though. Some of them that I have come accross are pretty funny. One of the guys I work with was telling me how he was going to go turtle hunting this weekend. He thought it was hilarious when I reminded him that I cant catch them because I'm white. Even though he seems to be one of the more decent ones, they all still have their ways about them. Alot of them you will see wearing the same clothes for about a week straight. Another one of the guys I work with wore the same shirt for 4 days in a row.

My second day at work we had to shut the shop because some one in the community had died and they were bringing the body back in. Every business in the community has to close down until the body goes through and certain prayers are said and that work place is smoked. Its to help move the soul onto the next world. So basically they just come in and burn gum leaves and chant etc. I was shitting myself when I heard this. It was just weird. In the end they didnt end up smoking our shop. We dont know why. But if we were to open before we had permission from them we would have had to make some sort of payment to the family. Basically if you do anything here that they dont like you owe them payment. It can be in the form of money, food, anything. They are a very taking culture. Im not sure if it is because of the white influence. One thing I do find hilarious is that they all mostly live off damper. I didnt think they did that anymore. They come through work and buy like 20kg tins of flour.

I did my finances this week. At this stage I will have made $10k by early December. So I get to go home in 14weeks. This has made it alot more bearable. And the fact that Im actually going to get to go to Europe is definatley helping. The one thing I cannot wait to get back to is my bed. I am sleeping on the floor here and its annoying. The dogs lick my face at like 5am. Its feral. So yes I am so exciting to get back to my bed and my mates in a few weeks.

Hopefully time will fly by!

Until next time.....

First Day on The Job

First day of work today was pretty cruisy but ultra crazy at the same time. My place of work is basically a general store, they sell everything from basic groceries to washing machines and car parts. There isnt much to do so everyone kinda just bludges around all day. I felt like I spent most of the day on breaks. Very chilled. I will be taking my Ipod tomorrow so I can listen to it while I work, like most others do. It doesnt matter what I wear to work, some people dont even wear shoes.

My department today was the cigarette department. I was also in charge of selling phone re-charge, power and water cards (they have to pre-pay their power her - they being the Indigenous) and fuel cards (same deal as the electricity). The best part about this department is that I get to be in a cage all day. Which is awesome because I feel super safe in there. I had one customer spend over $500 on cigarettes. Apparently its not pay day until tomorrow so god knows where they get the coin from. Things seemed to be going pretty smoothly most of the morning, until one of the older ladies came in, in a rage and threw all our paper bags off the counter (they only have paper bags here because of the rubbish problem) then picked up the dustpan and broom that was on the counter and threw it on the ground and smashed it and walked out. I was baffled. Everyone just put their heads back down and kept working. A little bit later on another one of the ladies came in just screaming at everyone and picked up the paper bags and walked over to where my cage is and whacked her mother over the head with them who was using the ATM. Her mum just stood there and kept using the ATM like nothing had happend. The crazy daughter then went and got a trolley from the other side of the store, and ran while pushing the trolley towards her mother trying to ram her. The mother saw what she was doing and just turned around and kept using the ATM. The crazy lady ended up completely missing and ramming into the brick wall right in front of me. Then walked out screaming. The police came. And that was it, everyone went back to work. All before lunch.

Some of the people here have their money controlled by the government because they have sniffed too much petrol while they were younger and now have brain damage. Nothing here is out of the ordinary.

Walking to work this morning I could hear the song "The Fall of Rome" absolultely blaring. this is at like 7:50am. Then next thing I see this bus go past and notice that the song is following it. My brother then tells me how the bus driver drives around the whole community playing the music as loud as possible as its the only way to wake the indigenous up for them to go to school. After she does the first lap of the community she then does another to actually pick the kids up. Its totally crazy!! Possibly one of the most entertaining thing ive ever seen.

Aside from these spikes of entertainment I find myself uncontrollably breaking down and holding back my tears constantly. I never thought I could miss my friends so much. I always knew how close we were but I just thought I'd be sweet. At this stage Im totally not. I think my biggest fear is that I will go home and my friends will have forgotten about me and I will have nothing there. Realistically I know my mates will always be there for me but the isolation I am feeling here is feeding my paranoia. I am hoping this is just the instant hit of emotions as its all happend so quickly. I really hope I will get used to this super quickly and deal with it all quite well.

Only time will tell.

Community Life.....so far.

So I arrived in Maningrida this morning. The air-port is a small building crossed between a shack and a cage. The roads are dirt. There are what they call camp dogs everywhere (dogs which belong to a family but dont get taken care of and roam freely). From what I saw of any Indigenous housing it is all shacks. Some wouldnt even be good enough to be called shacks, some are just sheds. There is garbage totally everywhere. Its pretty extreme.

My mum took me to the shop where I will be working this morning. As we pulled up there was a lady going rank in the street just screaming and swearing to herself. She looked at me and told me to "fuck off". Its the funniest thing. At the school the children have to eat in a cage so the camp dogs dont come in a attack them for their food.

The beach here is ridiculously amazing. Its the most inviting beach I have ever seen. Mum then continued to tell me how a kid got eaten on the beach earlier this year. Think I might stay away from there.


So far I have found most things pretty entertaining. You  just have to look at it that way I think. I have my first day of work tomorrow and I have to walk there. Its a 2 minute walk. Im pretty nervous though. My mums house is situated in the area where most of the white people live. Its nice and quiet and really clean; also fenced off with Crim-Safe mesh everywhere. I havent spent much time in the actual community so far so tomorrow will be the huge eye-opener I think.

The flight over Kakadu today was awesome. The counrty is pretty amazing. I have taken quite a few awesome photos, but I just remembered that I forgot to bring my camera cord.

Its really strange being so far away from everything that I know. The trip here was pretty emotional, there were a few times when I had to hold back tears. But I find pushing it away from my thoughts makes it easier.

But anyways wish me luck tomorrow.

Catch.

Pre - Outback Thoughts.

We all get to that point where we sit back and realise that maybe we arent really getting where we want to go in life. For example I am hoping to head to Europe in January and have not managed to save a cent towards it. A job had come available in Northern Territory which meant a huge change to my lifestyle but the possibility to reach my goal. And I figured to just go for it. Theres is not much going on in my life at the moment and this could be the opportunity of a life time. Turns out I was able to get a full time job on a decent wage with no rent or expenses. Sounded pretty good.

Basically I have decided to start this blog so I can record all of my experiences in the Outback and share them with my friends.

At this stage I feel I must mention that this is in an extremely isolated part of Australia. So isolated in fact that for a majority of the year you cannot even drive there due to the wet season flooding. It is a "dry" community meaning no alcohol is allowed without a permit. Not even bitumen roads. My brother who also lives there informs me that there is a Water Buffalo who frequents the back door of the general store (where I will be working) that is so tame that he comes in and eats the bars of soap. I went to the animal park today and saw a Water Buffalo and they are considerably larger than what I pictured.

I am in two minds about the move as it draws closer (I leave tomorrow). On one side it is the chance of a lifetime. I will get to see things that alot of people dont. I will live amongst another culture, experience isolation, and getting back to nature. The fishing is sure to be awesome, and im surely going to get to see a wild crocodile. I also get to see my family.
On the other hand, I leave my life behind. My friends, my car, my dog and everything else that I am used to doing. Also the community life could be quite hard to adapt to and possibly terrible.

So the stress is starting to build particulary when I think that my plane leaves in 18hours. I have not packed. I have not finished cleaning my car. I have not moved all my stuff out of my house. I havent purchased the stuff I need to and I havent organised a Sim Card. I havent signed my Lease Break paper work and I havent handed the keys back.  Feeling quite pressured at the moment.

I have an image of me getting off the plane, on a dirt runway with dust flying everywhere and me just standing there thinking "shit, what have I done". So I'm hoping I'm wrong. Hoping that its going to be an awesome experience.

I will let you all know when I arrive and what it is like. Until then I will continue to remind myself "Life is too short to be living someone else's dream" (Hugh Hefner)