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Hello my friends. Please forgive me that I haven’t written here for some time now. I know that I could have sat down at one point and wrote something, but my life has been … interesting and busy at the same time and I really haven’t had a time/chance to actually sit down and write. But here I am and writing to you. Hopefully I can give you an overview what has been happening here, what am I doing now and what’s for the plans for the future.

Let’s start where I left off last time, I updated this blog, I was in Brisbane. I was just about to depart to my adventure in the middle of the Queesnland state, into Carnavorn Gorge National park, to a place named Takarakka Bush Resort. If there is anybody who remembers my last post I mentioned there I turned town a job in Sydney to actually go to Carnavorn. Let’s just say that I might be regretting that only a little bit. Just let me explain.

Well then – I reached to Takarakka at the end of June, beginning of July. There were many backpackers there already before me (Andrea, Alessandra, Francesca and Ricardo from Italy and Daniela & Rainer from Germany) and a lot of semi-local people as well – people who had been discovering Australia with their caravan and had made their way there. At first, I got along all of the people in there. And I really liked it. You know, new place new people.

I was plunged headfirst to the job, cleaning, cooking, park care – whatever needed to do. Most of the weeks I did about 40 hours of physical labor – which isn’t too much but when you are running around so much that your ass is frothing all the time (with sweat), it’s not okay. It was hard at the beginning for me, because I had come from Norfolk Island where I ended up doing non-existant hours in the last few weeks of my stay – I had gone soft. But in the end, it was okay, because that was what I wanted – work my ass off and earn money. And earning money I did. With the pay I got there, I could smooth my monetary issues and buy myself tickets home and much other stuff. To be honest I bought stuff for me as well, but it was necessary. Sometimes you have to soothe your girly soul with new purchases.

But around august-september, everything started to rot in Taka. One pair of my friends quit their jobs and left almost overnight, because they had an argument with the manager. I still don’t know the details what happened and to be fair, it’s not really my business, but it was weird. And very sad, because we just started to get along with them. Few weeks later, a second pair of my friends were fired. By e-mail, mind you. They had to leave almost immediately as well, which was double sad for me (I miss you Roma and Alan). I got along with them all and before the couples left, I spent time with them, chatting and just hanging around with them. Of course they vented some of the frustration from their situation but they never really went to the details what happened so I was okay in the end. Had I known that being friends with them will fuck me up later on, I would have maybe spent just a bit less time with them. But what is done is done. After those couples had left, there was a peace in the compound. Everybody worked and everything seemed okay. Fast forward few weeks later, I was called in to the office one day for a chat. They told me I talked to much (gigglesnort – people who know me, they know that this is one thing that DEFINES me) and it was hurtful for the community. They basically said that I had been talking shit about them and people and being rude and stuff (which I really hadn’t been) and that I was the next one to go if I didn’t stop. Funnily enough, they did know that I had no way to escape – I had no car and I was really dependant on other people – MIND YOU – I had not left Takarakka the whole time I was there. Anyways, getting sidetracked. In that moment I knew if I don’t find a new job for myself, I will be screwed. I didn’t want to wait until they were finished playing with me and fired me. I wanted to leave, head held high and not giving any fucks. And in the end, it was exactly what I did.

: Italians making italian food

: A lotsa wine

: Cuddles

To just comment here – it wasn’t because I was a shitty worker. No. I did everything they asked me, I tried to be as fast I could and work with everyone I could. In the end, they couldn’t really whine about my work, I was okay employee. (I later found out that they regretted a little bit that I went away, but that’s what you get for being an asshole). The whole thing boiled down to an emotional and psychological level – I didn’t bend my knee (unlike Jon Snow). Mentally I mean. The manager there tried all kinds of psychological tricks on all of us. For me she used isolation. She used to tell others shit about me so they wouldn’t be friends with me anymore, isolating me physically from others. They made me feel shit about myself and my work, trying to beat me down to the bottom of my emotional state. But I didn’t let them. I didn’t spend last five years of dealing with myself to get mentally stronger without a reason? I mean I built myself up from the scratch and they expected me to lay down and roll over. Nah, dudes. It won’t work. I was a backpacker. The beauty of being a backpacker is that you can always move on and not take any shit. And that’s what I did. After the school holidays ended, I packed my bags and hitched a ride with Pauline and Barry (glorious, wonderful people) to Roma and never looked back.

Okay, I have to mention here that I actually loved to work in Takarakka – it is a wondeful place in a wonderful spot – in the middle of a National Park. There were so many animals and birds everywhere and I spent wonderful time there walking around in the nature. I mean I even saw platypuses. I am just sad that this beautiful place got ruined for me because of nasty people.

Where I am now? Not too far away from the Carnavorn National park. Just a few hours by car in a town called Roma. It’s a small town in the middle of the crossroads of two big highways. For me it feels like a great civilization, after spending 5 months in Norfolk Island and 4 months in Takarakka. I am enjoying the fruits of civilization – like stores and shopping and hairdressers! Just wonderful. I am working here in one of the motels as a cleaner and restaurant worker. The work is not too hard, but of course it has its own challenges. But all in all, I really like it here.

The only thing that makes things hard for me here is the heat. Its almost summertime in Queensland and it starts to get crazy with the heat (over 40 C – over 100 F). BUT I AM NORTHERN PERSON. I am not used to the sunshine and heat. I will melt! Every time I open the door of my room it feels like I am stepping to a sauna. I thank the gods for the fact that where I live now, I have an AC in my room and its glorious. I have figured out that my optimal temperature is 22 degrees and I love it. When its too hot outside, I spend most of my days inside, ignoring the heat. I imagine I will be shit traveler in the countries close to the equator. And I have to say, heat is one of the reasons why I don’t do photography anymore. I have no will do go outside and start sweating my ass off.

For now, I have about a month of work to do in this place, before I have to go away. After Roma my plans are to catch a bus to Brisbane and stay with my friend Sille for a week or two. We are planning to go driving around Fraser Island and I think it will be fabulous. After Brisbane I should be heading off to Sydney, hopefully to visit my friend Prue again. And from there I have a ticket to Los Angeles in the end of January. I am going to spend two weeks in LA and Santa Barbara with my friends in there (Danielle & Alicia) and after this I am going to fly to Oklahoma, to visit Suzanne whom I haven’t seen for years. After OKC, I will head to Buffalo, to meet up with my friend Caitlin and after that I will spend few days in New York, before heading to Europe – to home.

: Route to NZ

: From NZ to OZ

: Route home

What happens to me after that? I have absolutely no idea. But that’s what’s exciting about this kind of life – I will see when it happens.

I do hope I have time to write more but they way things are going right now, I am guessing my next post will be either when I am travelling in US or when I have already reached home.

But until next time. Thank you, my dears!