Australia

---

AustraliaMalachy Burke©

So in the absence of being able to Skype young Mr. Lynch asked me to write an essay on my experiences so far in Australia and being that I am on a cattle station 200 kilometres from anywhere I figure I have nothing better to do on my day off. Here goes..



So it all started on the 9^th of November 2010 as I boarded a plane in Dublin which would take me to that far off place down under they call Oz. 27 hours in a tin can later and I landed in Sydney International Airport, tired, excited and still trying to figure out how the toilets in Abu Dhabi Airport could smell that bad. Upon arriving at Steve’s house and meeting his housemates ( All Irish of course) I crashed out and waited for the weekend festivities which landed me in a casino and a couple of pubs.



Induction to Sydney over, I proceeded with the job hunt. Let me just say recruitment agencies are quite difficult to deal with and I hope never to deal with them again! I decided on a job as a landscape labourer and never looked back. Not making millions, but outdoors in the sun doing “good honest work” as the Mexican said in the Magnificent Seven. So for six months I worked at landscaping which I really enjoyed working on a number of different sites from parks to government housing to planting in lakes to building playgrounds. Awesome stuff I must say.

After settling in in November this is what happened.

December was mainly working but I did go to the races to celebrate one of the guys birthdays which ended being a good night out, unfortunately though we got in at three in the morning and got a call four hours later to say” guys we have to go the Santa Run starts in half an hour”. Not good! But we did manage to dress up in Santa suits and run the 5ks from Darling Harbour to the Sydney Opera House in full Christmas combat gear, followed by a day at the pub of Mark and Neil saying “we’ll just have one more”. When this continues for eight hours you know it’s time to leave.

Christmas Day was certainly a different affair waking up to glorious sunshine to have the customary fry up and then heading down to Bondi to hang out on the beach before heading up to the lad’s flat in Bondi for beers and Christmas dinner.

New Years day was fairly relaxed and only a couple of beers were had that night whilst watching the famous Sydney Harbour fireworks, which in fairness were quite an impressive show but they did not send a shiver down my spine as I would have expected. None the less a good night out.



01 January 2011 started early as we left for the ferry from Cronulla to Bundeena to start a two day hike across the Royal National Park south of Sydney. The first day a tough 7.5 hour walk across spectacular scenery, open sandy roads which lead on to windswept cliffs and then back into rainforests filled with the chattering of an army of kookaburras. We pitched our tents at North Era by the beach and just crashed out after the days hike. The second day was a much easier affair with just a short 3.5 hour hike to Otford train station and a journey back to the city. Legs were aching but a spectacular walk!

Before I forget I moved apartments early January. I am now living with Daniel from Dubbo and his girlfriend in an apartment in Redfern. He has been christened Giggs by the lads due to his uncanny resemblance to the Welsh playboy.

Whitewater rafting broke up the mid January blues when a group of us drove to the old Olympic course near Penrith and tested our skills against the raging currents. Nothing like the currents of uncontrolled rivers but an experience none the less despite being kicked several times in attempts to send me overboard. James revenge will be had!

Australia Day was quite impressive as I was unsure what to expect when I strolled down to Darling Harbour to view the festivities. An amazing lights show which I could only describe at the time as being a bit Celtic was being put on, I had visions of Grainne Mhaol sailing about on a foggy night when I saw it.

Most of February was spent working in the coastal suburb of Cronulla planting Spinifex in efforts to conserve the sand dunes. It involved getting a train at 5 in the morning but on the plus side it included a half hour walk to the greenhouse where I could watch the sunrise over the water, never grew tired of it.

Early March was a good night out for my birthday with a few beers and a bit of criac. The night went on and after arriving back at the flat and trying to Skype home I passed out on the couch when at 6.45Am a wave of realisation struck me in my drunken stooper.” I told everyone to go to the water park today and I’m getting picked up in ten minutes” Crap! It turned out to be a half decent day! Enough said.

Saw my first NRL game where Russell Crowes Rabbitohs were beaten by the Roosters, 24 hour session on Paddy’s Day, Tropfest 2011 which is a short film festival won by a guy who listed off a bunch of animals in a rap. Gotta love it. Trip to Canberra for work.All notable highlights of the month. At the end of the month though I finally got out of Sydney proper and took a road trip to Melbourne to watch the Formula 1. Such a chilled out city for nights out and just exploring.



Most of April was spent working on labouring on a site where they were constructing a new park and playground and with 16 hour work days, seven days a week I was a happy madra. The park turned out pretty damned good and on the 20^th April I said I’m leaving this weekend. On the 22^nd after some drinks in the Cock n’Bull and clearing the flat I boarded the train to Newcastle with my rucksack on my back and a big smile on my face as I relished the prospect of getting out of Sydney and exploring at least some of this great land. A few days in Newcastle with Giggs and his buddies was followed by a few days in Nelsons Bay where Giggs’s family has a house and boat. After the rat race that was Sydney it was nice to chill out and do some fishing, some tubing and 4WD driving on Stockton Beach where apparently they filmed some Mad Max scenes!

A night in Port Macquarie was spent chatting to some Welsh girls and drinking games with some Germans and an Aussie. Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut! They found it amusing though. After recovering and talking a walk around the nature reserve I boarded a bus to Coffs Harbour which turned out to be much more of an experience than I had anticipated.

So my plan was to hit Coffs Harbour to start my WWOOFING experience, get a few weeks of that done for Visa qualification and then move on. WWOOFING is basically helping out on farms for your room and board and some proper Aussies. So I get picked up in Coffs and travel to Coramba about 30 kilometres away and stay with a family who grow Christmas trees and sell fruit. The work is easy and no stress and get to do a bit of travel with the family, most notably through Waterfall Way on the way to Armidale where their kids go to uni. Even get to stick around and work as barman at their daughter’s 21^st. I really enjoyed my time there but it was to get better.

After leaving the farm I booked into Ausitel hostel for a night just to check out the town. That night a few of us set off for the beach to light a campfire, sing some songs and drink some beers. The Danish guy Kris tells me that he has signed up to do the PADI Open Water scuba dive course with Banana Coast Divers and needs someone else to sign up before they will run it. I jump at the opportunity and two days later we are sitting in a classroom being told not to hold our breath otherwise our lungs will explode. Excellent! Next day we don our wetsuits and jump into the pool to get familiar with the gear and practice out of air techniques, hand signals etc. Really interesting stuff! For the next two days were brought out to the Solitary Islands Marine Park in an Ex Special Forces rib and we go diving to a depth of 18 metres with Nemo and his wobbegong shark buddies! After we surface on the second Sunday dive we are qualified and can dive anywhere. To celebrate we had another camp fire, sing song, beer session on the beach and then just slept on the beach. Coffs Harbour was one of the best times I have had in Australia so far and the people I met there were just the most chilled out I have met in a while.

All good things must come to an end so I hopped on the bus to Byron Bay to see what all the fuss was about. I checked into the Arts Factory Hostel which is basically a big hippie commune. It took a while but it finally grew on me and I stayed a while longer. Also the fact that there was a promise of work on a pecan farm weather depending I figured I’d stick around. One place you must visit is Nimbin which is Australia’s equivalent to Sweden’s Kristiansand. Everyone smokes weed and nobody cares. It is a quirky place but well worth checking out. The hostel itself is very chilled and there is a guy there called Cockatoo Paul who is a one man band and also does bush tucker walks showing you what plants you can eat and how to survive in the wild. I even tried to play the didgeridoo but couldn’t figure it so I’m going to attempt the harmonica instead. So the weather was not in our favour in Byron Bay and therefore the farm work was limited. Fortunately though I got a call to say that there was a job on the cattle station for me if I wanted it, my replying was a resounding affirmative! After waiting around for a dive at Julian Rocks for a few days that was cancelled due to weather I said adios to Byron Bay.

Surfers Paradise was a quick stop on the way to Brisbane and is basically a mini Ibiza, not overly impressed but it was good fun.

So an hour up the coast to Brisbane for a few relaxed days before hitting the cattle station. Chilling out at the Down Under Bar I managed to get to the final of the pool competition before miscuing the black. Damn 100 bucks lost or was it? Went to casino after and having an ok run at the roulette table when a chick from Northern Ireland who I was talking to earlier in the night came over and said “My birthday is on the 25^th put it on 25 red”. Boom 400 bucks and I left happy. Never saw her again.

08 June 2011 I depart from Brisbane to travel 10 hours west via Toowoomba to Bollon. On arrival in Bollon I meet the boss and the other girl I will be working with, a Canadian named Shannon. From there we travel a further 100 kilometres to the cattle station down dirt roads. It is quite isolated, staying here in a nice wooden cabin with kangaroos and emus all around. It is a 400km round trip to a proper town so basically drive to Dublin via dirt roads to do the shopping. The work is pretty easy just checking the feeders and troughs all around the property, some fencing and he has even thought me how to weld. We have a kick ass work jeep that will just plough through anything in front of it as we have found out a couple of times when the brakes have failed. We got to go to camp draft last weekend and sleep in the back of the Ute. Camp Draft is basically where all the farmers meet up and compete as to who can herd cattle the best on horseback. Interesting to watch and then everyone just sits around the campfire telling yarns and drinking beers. Good times.



So that’s about it so far. Australia is a vast and varied land. Just stay out of the cities they are just like any other and you won’t get a feel for the real Australia. I have enjoyed the coast and the outback much more. It went a little over a thousand words but it should hopefully have given you an idea of my Australian experience so far.



Until next time....

---