I actually wished that the guy needed a third person as I’d never sniff at extra money. It seems like you can never have too much money in Australia. Alas, it wasn’t to be so I spent the day writing on the top floor overlooking Brisbane city interspersed with episodes of Mad Men.
For the most part, my mood was so relaxed I was practically horizontal. It was only as I went to have breakfast that I found myself foaming at the mouth with rage. Someone stole my milk. The pisstake was that, sat next to my bagged stuff were three unmarked cartons of milk ripe for the taking. Instead, someone decided to untie the knot of my bag and take mine.
At that point I really did feel like going all Michael Douglas (film) and letting loose on the kitchen with a baseball bat. I am sick of hostel thieves dammit!!
Instead, I spat expletives under my breath and watched another episode of Mad Men to calm me down. It is a good show.
Thankfully there was a miniature carton of longlife milk on the free stuff shelf. That wasn’t the highlight of my day though. I went to Coles supermarket for supplies and was served by someone called Jediah. His name badge read Jedi. Yes, I grew up watching Star Wars with my dad so I thought this was pretty cool. For you geek slayers out there, it did remind me of my dad so think of that instead.
Later on in the day I received a couple of phone calls from Mel. The first one told me of how difficult the job was. The boat turned out to be a massive metal ship and, due to the intense heat of the day, Mel and Steff fried inside. The second time Mel rang to tell me that they got on the wrong train and ended up going out of the city. It took them well over an hour to get back to the hostel.
The owner of the ship kindly gave Steff and Mel some fish to cook for tea. Mel gave me some calamari and a couple of giant prawns so I put together seafood marinara. I was incredibly thankful as I had no idea what I’d have for tea plus it was fresh that day so tasted fantastic.
What started off as a normal night turned into something very very strange indeed. Firstly, it was the night of Earth Hour. It’s an attempt at being all green and such like. We’re supposed to turn out all the lights and light candles. Singing kumbayah was optional.
Mel and Steff didn’t realise this so I wound them up by saying that all the electricity will be cut off. They weren’t happy. Some weird woman with a mouth full of food wittered something next to us. We didn't dignify the grossness with a response. Instead we ended up sharing a lift. Lovely.
Once we reached the top floor, we made our way to the kitchen to cook some food. When the Earth Hour began, the lights switched off but everything else kept running. We all laughed and looked outside to see that no other buildings had switched their lights off. People on the rooftop did a countdown for nothing. Oh dear.
I was pretty worn out from doing nothing all day so I watched a movie in bed and nodded off to sleep. Mel and Steff stayed up and Dave was out drinking somewhere.
I noticed that someone entered the room and jumped on the top bunk. He kept shaking the bed which annoyed me but I plugged in my ipod shuffle and continued my quest in sleeping.
Suddenly I was jolted awake by Mel. She whispered something to me but I had music playing. Mel gestured to the door and we went out. I was still half asleep so I didn’t register what she had to say to begin with. Mel kept asking me if I knew who was in the bed above me as he stinks.
We both figured that he must be a drunken mate of Dave’s and perhaps he wasn’t supposed to be in that bed. At first I really didn’t care, I just wanted my bed. I couldn’t smell anything and went back into the room and couldn’t smell anything so I couldn’t see much of a problem at first. But then I thought about it a bit more and I didn’t want to be sleeping below someone who shouldn’t be there!
Fortunately one of Dave’s friends came past and we asked if she could see if she knew him. Dave’s friend did not recognise the guy. This wasn’t looking good. Mel and I went down to reception to see if he was meant to be there. At least he could get chucked out if he wasn’t supposed to be there.
It turned out that bed was designated to him. Damn. What’s more is that the night manager couldn’t do anything about it in case the guy uses the discrimination card and complains. He came upstairs to check out the smell. At this point Dave came back and we explained the situation. Both guys said the room stank.
We all said we didn’t want to sleep in there with him. Mel went as far as to say that she would sleep in the TV room rather than there. The night manager offered to open the fifth floor for us to sleep in the TV room but I refused. I paid for a bed so I wanted a bed.
The night manager compromised and said he would ask the guy to take a shower. He came out and said that the guy started to kick off so he asked all the guys to take showers. Steff walked out with nothing and the “Hi” guy walked out with a towel around his neck and shower gel in his hand. The stranger didn’t move. Aw shit, which is exactly what the room stank of.
Nobody could stomach the smell enough to go back in the room. I asked the name of the “Hi” guy. Mackenzie was blissfully asleep and unaware of the commotion which was taking place outside. I could definitely empathise with him as I couldn’t smell anything until I was woken up.
Eventually the stranger left the room to get a shower. Now I didn’t have my lenses in or glasses on so when he did creep out of the room everyone around me gasped and then darted round the corner giggling. I was still stood there squinting away. All I could see was a short guy with massive feet walking towards me. One leg was walking normally whilst the other was dragging along sideways. It was all rather eerie.
I joined the others and everyone looked baffled by the sight. As we didn’t know his name, we pegged him as the Hobbit. He did have oddly large feet for his small frame. I certainly had no sympathy for a guy that smelled that badly.
A plan was hatched to get him out of the room. Someone had to bargain with him and ask if he can swap rooms with our “friend” who just checked in. It was a terribly false excuse as it was something ridiculous like 2am. Nobody else would talk to him so I did it. Jeez, nobody has any balls!
It was surprisingly easy. I explained the fake situation and he agreed to move. Perfect. I went down to reception to let the night manager know. My heart skipped a beat when he told me there might not be anywhere to put him as they’re almost fully booked. He will have to go to another dorm and not a private room of course. After a few wrenching moments, the night manager found a place to stick him. I felt sorry for that room but I just wanted him out of there.
The others followed me down later and wondered what the hold up was. Whilst we waited for the night manager to sort out a room key, a drunken Irish man came into reception and started throwing random compliments in mine and Mel’s direction. A moment later I twigged that he was actually aiming them at Steff! Apparently he’s a “sexy bastard” and a tirade of similar blasphemous compliments fired their way across to Steff.
Poor Mackenzie too was shirtless and exposed and the guy thought all his Christmas’ had come at once! Mel and I were in hysterics. This night just got stranger and stranger.
We got back to bed and I checked my watch – 2:30am. The room stank. The guys ran in and attacked it with aftershave and turned the air con on. Everyone wound me up saying that he’s probably peed through the bed onto mine. Great.
We stayed up a bit longer and had a laugh about it all. We found out a bit more about Mackenzie. He’s Canadian and happened to come from a small town that’s adjacent to where Steff’s father lives.
The conversation moved swiftly on to ribbing me endlessly. I felt like a complete loser as I rose to every dig. I’m so easy to wind up it’s not funny! Ah well.
*****
On the evening we went to the cinema across the road. There wasn’t much out so we decided to see Mirror Mirror. The cinema was incredible. They had a bar and sweet treats too. What’s better than to watch a great movie with a cocktail and cake? Well the movie was pants and I didn’t end up getting a cocktail and cake, but still…in an ideal world where I wasn’t on my last dollars, I’d do that. Ha.
*****
Steff and I got dressed up in our smarts and made our way over to Fortitude Valley AKA Chinatown. There’s a Chinatown everywhere I go and it’s always dodgy with a capital D.
As there is a heavy night scene, it always seems like those from the night before are still tottering around the next morning. Some ask you for change to get a train home whilst others just stare at you like you don’t belong.
We arrived quite early but there were others there also. I felt incredibly overdressed. I was wearing a clingy grey dress which was pinned in at the waist with a skinny black belt. I also straightened my hair so I looked the part. Steff wore dark jeans and black jumper. Everyone else was wearing baggy jeans, old leggings and hoodies. I hoped we got extra points for making an effort at least.
The interview was pretty swift. I was hoping it was more of a personality test as the ad said you didn’t need any experience. Mel got her answer straight after the interview but we didn’t which made us nervous.
I guess that was that then! We went back to the hostel to get changed and headed out to take advantage of the beautiful day. At first we were going to go to the Science Museum. It looked quite good but it was full of kids. We went to the gift shop instead and got distracted by all the contraptions and toys. Steff particularly had fun with a claw. He had no qualms in what he grabbed.
To calm down from all that excitement, we took a nice stroll along the river and through the botanic gardens. Ahhhh...
A beautiful view of the city.
A pagoda in Brisbane? The Nepal Peace Pagoda to be precise.
Makes for a nice view up close.
Oooh, I knew there'd be a catch!
The gardens lead through to the beach. The big fake beach in the city.
If you're stuck for things to do on your break at work...
Steff being the big kid that he is ran across to the fountains where all the kids were. He splashed about and drank some of the water, the little weirdo. Everyone was watching him but he didn’t care. It’s a good job isn’t it?!
We made a new friend near the kid's pool.
My full dip in the pool refreshed me and cooled me down. We took a slow walk back to the hostel.
Steff and I were stirring as we still hadn’t heard anything about the job and training was supposed to start the next day. I called a couple of times but there was nobody there with an answer for me.
A distraction for the evening was bingo and another time to don the competitive hat. I wanted to win but I didn’t. Mac won…twice. The luck was not on my side. I got cheese and crackers though. Something one backpacker wanted without playing bingo. When the worker said it’s only for bingo players he wasn’t happy. He was so rude. Man, I hate backpackers sometimes.
When the losing session ended, Mel and Steff went to bed in our new room. We decided to move to a trio room. The Hobbit traumatised us and we didn't want the risk of history repeating itself.
I stayed behind with Mac and we waffled on for ages about all sorts. It was getting late and Mac needed to go as he had an early start the next day. It was 11pm as I slipped back into the room and Mel and Steff were asleep! What? Previously we were all up quite late. Whoops. I got a lot of grumbles and a few swear words were thrown my way. I guess I should have had an early night too as there was the possibility that I'd be starting training the next day. I was a little nervous as I had no idea what to expect.
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