FINAL HELPX – STOUR CRAZY IN BARGARA
(THE COOK, THE BOSSES, THEIR WORKERS AND THE HELPEXERS)
June-July 2012
After leaving Sydney we made our way to Brisbane and stopped off at Taree, Crofts Harbour, Byron Bay, Tweed Heads and Surfer’s Paradise. Our first favourite was Byron Bay a real hippy place with bands playing in every bar. We also dropped in to see Charlie’s cousin in Tweed Heads. He hadn’t seen her for forty years so it was an emotional reunion. We also met Pascal and Ines again, who had just left a difficult placement where the host was quite abusive to them, so not all Hepx hosts are as good as ours have been. Our second favourite place was Surfers Paradise where we stayed in a real class apartment which had a gym and a 20 meter pool, we went to a horseracing meeting for the first time ever, and attended a blues festival in nearby Broadwater. We stayed in Brisbane for a few days before taking a Coral Sea Cruise which was amazing. We were surprised to see warning signs for crocodiles on the boardwalk in Cairns. We also visited the Australian zoo whose most famous patron was the late Steve Irwin. Most of our photos have gone missing so there’s not much to show this time. The next part of the blog was written by Charlie.
Well, it was back to work with a vengeance. This placement differed from all the others, as we were working in a commercial environment, which meant in return for a free cabin, food and full use of the facilities (a dip in the pool was a great way to finish our shift) the management assigned us various duties which we were expected to carry out seven days a week. We were mainly assigned the 9 – 12.30pm shift. The resort was a family owned business and their charm and sophistication left a lot to be desired. They referred to Marion as ‘me missus’ and to me to as ‘your old maaan’ obviously a quaint old Australian custom. There were another four helpx folk with us – three from France and one from Finland. These youngsters enjoyed a good party – every night . We managed to join them for one session but getting up the next day to work was tres, tres difficile. It was amusing to note that our old union background came to the fore when the bosses were unkind to our French comrades for not working hard enough. Vive la Revolution! At the start of our second week a young couple from Manchester arrived taking the place of the two boys Jean and Magnus – you get to meet lots of different nationalities by doing helpx – so now we had 2 Scots, 2 English and 2 French folk. We had a lot of fun with the young people. Apart from late night partying they also enjoyed playing scrabble and having a singsong.
So, the past three weeks have been a bit of a shock to the system and sore on the auld bones and muscles. We both started out spring cleaning the cabins (lots of stour behind the beds) and power hosing the windows but Marion was so good at cleaning the cabins the boss gave her something very precious to her called a Shark (a steam cleaner which only Marion was allowed to use) and decided to let her continue with that while I was assigned to the kitchen. I assisted the chef, who was really a cook, who basically didn’t like people (particularly kids) or his job. The ‘friendly’ waitress must have gone to the same school as the cook, judging by her attitude to life. I have to say these are the least friendly Ozzies we have come across and how bizarre that they are in the hospitality business! My duties were washing the dishes and trying not to get scalded by the cook’s penchant for throwing red hot baking trays into the sink. My final duties involved tidying up the garden while avoiding the snakes who were trying to hibernate in the winter and were less than happy at being disturbed.
The location of the resort was in a place called Bargara which was about six miles from Bundaberg in Queensland. It was a quiet wee seaside village with lots of lovely coastal walks and short drives to lovely beaches such as Elliot Heads where hundred of blue crabs come out to hunt for food as the tide recedes. This part of the world is also famous for the Turtle Rookery ‘Los Repos’ but unfortunately the main season is November to March so we didn’t manage to see anything. Almost every day we walked into Bargara after work along the beach and saw the most beautiful sunsets with pinks, pales blues and greys. There were also almost always Dolphins playing near the shore. A lot of people retire or holiday up here to escape the cold winters (which we haven’t encountered). We met one retiree who lived in the hills where he said ‘it was colder than a mother-in-law’s kiss’ – yet another new Ozzie phrase. Another night Marion had to use her counselling skills at a Roy Orbison tribute concert in Bundaberg when we got talking to a man who had recently split up from his wife and was finding the songs too emotional!
When we left we felt a bit ‘stir crazy’ as well as ‘stour crazy’. Three weeks in the same routine with no time off for good behaviour left us feeling institutionalised and we wondered what we would do with our new found freedom as we waved goodbye to everyone.
As this was our last Helpx, next week I’ll the finish the blog off with a wee summary of our trip and hopefully some more photos.
If you would like to receive my blog posts direct to your email inbox, click here and enter your email address where it says subscribe.
If you would like to see the books I’ve written, click here and it will take you to my Amazon page.
MARION MACDONALD 