It was Good Friday. Mel and Steff were out building a boat and I decided to checkout of our room and chill out on the top floor until they finished. We found a campsite within 3 train stops of Fortitude Valley, where we were working which was perfect for us. The others took the car to work with the camping stuff so there was no point rocking up to the campsite to sit on a naked piece of grass.
I sat and ate breakfast in full view of the random woman from Earth Hour night. This time she had a Joker (Batman) face thanks to a long strand of sour cream which ran up either side of her face. The woman was sat mumbling to herself. It was another odd sight to add to the hostel weirdo collection.
Thankfully Mac was around so we whiled away the hours by playing pool and bouncing off each other with the fight talk. I plainly won due to the fact that Mac had no idea what I was saying. He didn’t know what a git was nor did he know the word faff. I’ve used it in my blog a few times so I apologise to those who too didn’t know what I was waffling on about. Faff means to dither about and generally waste time whether on purpose or not.
Soon enough, it was time to say goodbye to the hostel.
Not a bad view for a lowly dorm in Brisbane.
It did end up being a bit of a mad rush to get to the campsite before reception closed but we made it. There were no frills and bows to this place. There was a small outside kitchen area, showers, toilets and laundry. No common room, games room or jumping bean.
Our life was dull as doorknobs. We got up, got ready, went to work, came back and rushed to the supermarket to grab some food before closing, ate and went to bed. This was our Monday to Friday cycle so even if there was a common room, we would have seldom seen it!
Weather permitting, Mel and Steff still worked on the boat and I wandered about aimlessly looking for something to do. My brain was so drained of batteries that I could barely form words at the weekend. Imagine sitting listening to yourself say the same thing repeatedly. I didn’t blame people for hanging up on me. There were many times when I wanted to face plant my computer screen.
Our only excitement came from when Mac stayed with us for a week to sample a bit of camp life. He was sorely disappointed when he couldn’t start a camp fire. It must be a popular pastime in Canada. Drama also ensued when Mel became very ill due to on-going problems related to a past illness. The treatment Mel received made us all think twice about slating the NHS in England!
Oh it was also great fun when Steff lost the car keys. I was lucky as my suitcase was in the tent. Unfortunately everything that Mel and Steff owned (bar the tent etc) was in the car. Getting a locksmith to come out and fix us up a new key was around $300. It was a good job they found it the next day. Steff had left it in a café where they had breakfast that morning.
Surprisingly that’s a day where we hardly argued. We all fell silent in defeat. Steff was incredibly hard on himself and because it was something that effected everyone and consequently could have cost us a lot of money that we didn’t have, we couldn’t laugh it off.
It’s ok though as we all lived somewhat happily ever after once we quit our jobs and left Brisbane. We booked three trips – Two days and one night on Fraser Island, a one day and one night Castaway trip at 1770 and a three days and two nights boat trip around the Whitsunday Islands. We originally booked the Noosa Everglades trip but backed out as we’d spent the majority of our time camping up the East Coast. We decided it was time for a break! Instead, Mel was able to get the voucher transferred across to the Fraser Island trip instead and the value was deducted from the trip.
As always, it wasn’t easy to begin with. After the troubles I had with STA, I felt like a jinx when we had issues with Peter Pan (an Australian operated travel company…not the fairy tale character!). It’s a complicated story but the footnotes version is that our booking was lost and the person we spoke to was actually based in the Cairns branch so nobody in Brisbane had a clue what we were on about. Mel and I are both outspoken enough to get things sorted but it wasn’t easy. Unlike the email battle I had with STA, we were able to sort things out partially over the phone and then in person.
It does make me worry about my next locations as I will have booked things for New Zealand, Fiji and America! I need to find myself a good luck charm sharpish.
The elation of not having to work again whilst travelling is indescribable. I’m so happy that I can finally get back to travelling and not have anything holding me back. The prospect of leaving and starting afresh in a new country is both nerve-wracking and exciting as always. This time it is slightly different as I’ll feel like I’m leaving family behind by saying goodbye to Mel and Steff. We best make the most of my time and hope that my final weeks in Australia will make up for time lost through working to live.
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