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Hi y'all,
It is 25 April 2015. I have been living for over 3 weeks in Walgett in the house of my girlfriend Tiphaine. The house is part of 'payment' she receives for working as a housekeeper for the Ricardo family.
My last few days in Merriwa were... 'weird'. The closer my departure date came the more I started to become nostalgic about the place. Every time I did something I realized I could be doing it for the last time. When I was driving my Ferguson (Fergy) tractor next to the tractor pulling the chopper I started to feel sad because it was something I really enjoyed doing; just sitting in 'my Fergy' and driving around the chaser bin and feeding the lambs on the feedlot. I started to realize what I would miss most. It weren't the people, although they were all very nice. I would miss the Ferguson, feeding the lambs in the trughs, walking through the pens to check for dead lambs and unusual things and just being on the feedlot with the lambs. I especially liked to clean out the deep water trughs of pen E, because after having it cleaned and having it drained it needed some time to fill up again. You 'had to' stay next to it because otherwise some small lambs could fall into the water while trying to drink. I will remember sitting on the edge of the trugh surrounded by 'scared', careful but very curious lambs. And the longer you stayed the more used to you they became and the closer they got to the point they would start to snif your hand. Ocasionally they would even let you touch them. Magical and awesome! The job itself was awesome.
On my second but last day something 'exciting' happened. All the rubbish of the farm got collected in a hole, the 'tip'. On that Monday the tip was full and needed to be lit. However a small accident happened. Lets say a lot more got burnt than the intention was. I refer to pics on my facebook page. Sensation at Brindley Park.
Eventually Wednesday 1 April had arrived and I was super excited because I was on the way to move in with my awesome girlfriend, Tiphaine! I was also nervous. I am naturally a big believer in Murphy's law so I always assume the worst and hope for the best. But I arrived at 6 pm (on time!) in Walgett where I got picked up 10 minutes later.
I started living with my Tiphaine who had several jobs: 2 days a week housekeeper for the Ricardos, 2 days a week working as a nanny for the Collins, (normally) once a week cleaning Jungle's house, once every fortnight cleaning a store in town and every Thursday voluntary teaching in the women art group in town. Plenty of things to do while I was looking for a job which turned out to be pretty much mission impossible. Walgett was in a drought which meant farms were not operating which affected the businesses in town so almost nobody was hiring. Because of Tiphaine and her contacts I had half of Walgett looking for a job for me. Still finding a job would prove difficult.
I didn't sit still though. I made up different CVs, went to practically every shop, job center, motel, sport club, etc. in Walgett but I still found nothing solid. Along the way I got a few 'maybes'. I searched the internet (gumtree, travellers at work, etc.) for a job and still nothing. While looking for a job I joint Tiphaine in her activities such as: going to the art group, going to the sport club, going to the horse races in Lightning Ridge (which got cancelled), etc. On Easter we got invited for a lunch at the Collins residence which was a lot of fun. I loved playing with the kids, meeting the family, driving around in the motorized go-cart, etc. Jim Collins told me when we left that if I didn't find a job he would find something for me to do.
That was some kind of a comfort. The week after that we spent looking for a job for me, but we also looked for a car. The 'maybes' that I got would only turn into something concrete if I had a car which would enable me to be very flexible. Tiphaine arranged that I could clean Jungles house once every week. It wasn't a lot but it was something. During our days together, apart from looking for jobs and cars, we did some sightseeing. We went hiking in the Warrumbungle National Park between Coonamble and Coonabarabran which was super beautiful. I really loved it.
After that weekend I went with Tiphaine to the Collins where is cleaned walls for a small payment.
The search for the perfect car had been proven difficult. We had special requirements: It had to be big enough (it had to fit a matress), it had to be economic, it had to be in good overall condition, it had to be registered for at least a few more months, etc. Peter Ricardo had an old Nissan Patrol in one of his sheds. It was not registered as it had been standing still for over 2 years, 3 of 4 tyres needed to be replaced and it felt auite rusty (which is normal after 2 years but it also doesn't give a lot of comfort). Our budget was 5000 dollars at most and we estimated that the Nissan would cost us more so we kept on looking. Finally I found a car which I liked. It was a Holden Commodore VT V6 Executive Wagon. It looked good for its age (1997), it had not that many ks (+/- 255.000), it came with second hand camping equipment, it had a roof rack, it was an automatic (don't have as many problems as manuals), etc. The only satback was that the car was in Newcastle which meant for me a car ride of 2 hours to Narrabri and then 5 hours on the train to Newcastle. Because the price was reasonable (3200 dollars) I went for it. The car turned out to have a few negative points: the battery was on its way out, the windscreen would probably have to be replaced due to a large crack and a few small ones and some rubber was missing here and there. Because of that I bargained a bit and got the car in the end for 2900 dollars. I hope to sell it, after repairs, for 4000 dollars. But we'll see about that later.
On my way back to Walgett I spent the night in Merriwa and catched up a bit with Wendy which was nice.
Around that time Terry from the Walgett Sporting Club let me know that if I got my RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol), which is mandatory for everyone who wants to work in a venue which sells alcohol, I would get some shift as a bartender. So on Saturday 18 April I went to Dubbo to get my RSA through an RSA course. However I realized that 2-3 shifts a week would not be enough to be able to save up enough money to be able to travel in July and August so I kept on looking for something else.
In the meantime I went again on Monday with Tiphaine to the Collins house where I helped Jim with collecting fire wood and I played with the kids. Tuesday we were supposed to work there as well but it started to rain and as they live on a dust road we had to get out of there before we would get bogged.
In an effort to find a job I broadened my horizons and I applied for a few jobs far away from Walgett (Victoria, Queensland, far west NSW). An hour after I applied for a job on a sheep station in Theldarpa near Cameron Corner in NSW I got the job. FINALLY! It would mean I wouldn't see Tiphaine for a few weeks but it sounded like my dream job: mustering sheep on a quad bike! It would be a long drive (+/- 800 ks) on mainly dust roads which could be risky but I AM ready for it. The REAL Aussie experience! I'm leaving tomorrow and I hope it will be everything I hope it to be. If everything goes well I will stay there 2 upto 4 weeks. I will let you know how it was when I'm back here in Walgett in the beginning of June!
Catch you later!
Thomas
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