Melbourne to Carrabin
Trip Start
Dec 09, 2009
1
25
30
Trip End
Dec 10, 2010
Carrabin, Western Australia, Australia
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
We'd been scrounging around Melbourne for some time. Appling for any kind of employment other than that of an adult nature. We’d been to yet another sales interview which turned out to be forcing innocent members of the public into signing up to a monthly payment to a charity, by running them through a guilt trip on their doorstep!
We were looking at going back into the countryside, pruning, picking and packing. We’d looked at every office window within a fifty mile radius of the city and been on just about every job website there was going. As yet we’d heard nothing (of any suitable interest). So when we got a call to meet a lovely sounding lady in a cafe called Phamish opposite Luna Park in St.Kilda we thought, what have we got to lose!
We saved up some change and got the number 96 tram past Albert Park and down the Esplanade of St. Kilda beach. Phamish cafe was right opposite the tram stop. As was our luck Julie Burns had managed to forget all of the information relating to this lady we were due to be meeting within the next ten minutes, including her name, which neither of us could remember. I'd say Julie had forgotten it but since I hadn’t bothered to remember it myself I could hardly get too annoyed. So we stood together outside of the cafe in what we discussed to be a 'prominent area’ so if this lady (Danielle) should show up she would hopefully recognise a pair of lowly young ladies in need of a job!
Sure enough, after about five minutes, a thirty something year old lady would appear out of the building to ask if we were Julie and Amy. We explained that we were and humbly explained our mistake and followed her inside.
Over a couple of cappuccinos and a skinny soy latte we discussed the job in question. Now whether it was due to some further miscommunication or just that the job description was indeed very misleading the promising Telecommunications job we had believed we were going to apply for turned out to be...
A roadside kitchen hand and barmaid role in PERTH!!
Not wanting to appear too shocked by this trivial detail we stayed for the remainder of the chat and looked wide eyed and eager at what Danielle had to say.
She explained a roadhouse in a country town by the name of Carrabin was in need of two barmaids with assistance in the kitchen. We would need to leave immediately and pay for own flights.
This was quite a lot of info to take on board and we decided to nip home for another dose of hot liquid to talk things over. We got back on our number 96 to head back to the hostel.
We deliberated over the idea of staying in Melbourne and facing the outstanding lack of ‘proper’ jobs or forking out on two plane tickets to get us to a guaranteed job with our food and accommodation included. Although the flight was pricey and we knew this posed somewhat of a ‘Wolf Creek’ style risk we decided to pack the backpacks and just go for it.
We got back in touch with Danielle to let her know our minds were made up and that we had booked some flights to get us to Perth by Wednesday the 11th of April. In return she e-mailed over some instructions and a map to get us to our final destination of Carrabin. We planned it down to the minute and told everyone we were moving again. By plane, train & automobile we were going to Western Australia. Within 24 hours we were on our way to the airport to catch a 10:10pm flight out of Melbourne.
The flight, it turned out, took over four hours to arrive into Perth which, inclusive of the two hour time delay, meant we arrived at 12:10am. We then had a five hour wait in the airport until our train from East Perth station at 7:30am. Perth domestic airport really isn’t the biggest airport either and is most certainly not a 24hour establishment so there was little or nothing to do within those four hours. So once we had waited beside the conveyor belt for our backpacks to arrive we plucked them off one by one and set them in a spot in the middle of the floor, got out the sleeping bags, took of our shoes and lay down to sleep.
It wasn’t the most comfortable night’s sleep I have ever had nor was it the quietest or easiest under the bright fluorescent strip lighting but it was the best we were going to get so we went for it.
My iPod alarm woke us up shortly after 5:00am, time to get up and repack the sleeping bags, put back on our shoes and pull ourselves around in time to go and seek out a means of getting us from here to the station.
I must admit I did assume it would be slightly easier than it turned out to be. The huge thunder storm which we had unmistakably flown over en route in to Perth had now descended on us at ground level and made our search for a bus that little bit more traitorous.
Through the downpour I made out the faint orange lights of a public bus pulling into the shelter , I set off at a run to go and see where this was headed and if he would take us to East Perth train station.
He was a very friendly old fella who tried his best to get us in the right direction but his bus simply didn’t go anywhere near where we needed to be - It was no use, we would just have to get a taxi.
The taxi delivered us to the front of East Perth station with little fuss, it turned out it really wasn’t all that far away in the first place.
We had a short wait for the train before the announcement to ask us to load our bags onto the baggage trolleys and report for ticket inspection.
The train was like a first class aeroplane, with TV screens and huge open seats with little tables. It was air-conditioned and cool; we got settled for another four hour journey.
Once the train was outside of the suburbs of Perth there was nothing to see out of the windows except wheat field and farms. Occasionally we would pull into a tiny town and a few people would depart.
When the train broadcaster announced our arrival into Carrabin there wasn’t even a town to speak of. There was nothing, one bus stop sized building with some benches in it and red dusty earth. Thankfully we weren’t the only ones getting off the train and followed some locals over the tracks into the car park.
Our new boss had arrived to pick us up and was standing in the car park waiting to load our backpacks into the back of his white car. His name was Bill and on the 2 minute drive from the station to the motel we briefly got ourselves acquainted.
Once we arrived at around mid-day we were introduced to the lady of the house, Joan we were given a very short tour of the building and then allowed to finally get to our room and get some sleep.
Not a lot of sleep I might add, as we were due start work that evening at 5:00pm.
So we dumped the backpacks in our very own little motel room, unpacked pyjama’s and toothbrush only and climbed into the very neatly aid beds for a much needed nap.
The alarm went off at 4:00pm and we both got up for a shower and a cleanup. Some fresh clothes for the first time in 48 hours and neatly brushed clean hair, it felt lovely.
We were just busy with the final touched of unpacking slightly when Joan came banging on the door. Sure enough she wanted us to start work straight away so get hurry on!
My first shift would be in the kitchen with the cook called Bronwyn while Julie Burns was behind the bar with Bill. The first evening wasn’t too bad, being that it was a Wednesday night and not a lot was going on! All I had to do was watch and learn, learn how to cook each meal that was ordered and make up the salad plates etc. Not too difficult but not my idea of a good job. By around eight pm that night we were allowed some dinner and a cuppa. It was a welcome break as by now we were staring to flag a little.
The night wound up at 9:30 and we didn’t hang around long, with some food in hand we plodded off to bed.
The next day meant a 7:00am start so the alarms were adjusted once more for 6:30am! Another shower and then into the kitchen for the breakfast shift. Again watching and learning as Bronwyn cooked up an endless stream of bacon, eggs, toasties and cups of coffee. It felt like it was a lot to learn as well as keeping an eye on the shop out front. Julie was asked to follow Joan around the place as they cleaned all four of the motel rooms out of the back.
After five long hours we were allowed to clock off and go for a five hour break before returning later at 5:00pm to start the dinner shift. We used the break to get some much needed laundry done and have a bit of a nap. We were joined tonight by the boss’ son Robert who had been away in Perth at a funeral the previous day. The night didn’t get any easier with dinner orders coming in thick and fast as Thursday night was trucker night and being a roadside motel that seemed to be all they catered for!
Julie Burns had a good productive night behind the bar and we were reunited by around 11:00pm this time, as I cleaned the kitchen furiously before getting some dinner.
Joan was your archetypal loathsome dragon, there was no pleasing her, even her husband Bill was beaten under her wrath. Her constant demeaning gibes made a little less painful only by the fact that she threw them in equal measure at Bronwyn who had been working there for at least two years.
The day began with me arriving for work at pre determined time of 7:00am as it was every morning. This morning however was a Sunday and as I crept around from our motel room into the back door of the kitchen I was met with Bill coming in the opposite direction, I jumped!
He asked why I was at work so early, my response was a little giggle at his sarcastic comment but his face remained stern. He explained that on a Sunday morning the kitchen didn’t open until 8:00am so I was an hour early! Furious at Joan’s rather calculated mistake I stomped back to bed for another forty five minutes. On one morning when Bronwyn had been given a rare day off and I was left alone in the company of Joan for the breakfast shift, she felt it necessary to tell me that everything I had been shown previously, from the hard working Bronwyn, was completely incorrect and not how Joan wanted it done at all! So I was left having to learn everything again – The Joan Way – from frying eggs in a frying pan rather than on the hob to making scrambled eggs with cream and putting it in the microwave for precisely 2:00mins. It got to the point when Joan was making such an issue of getting her ‘better way’ across that she ended up doing things completely wrong, burning the toast and generally winding herself up into an angry ball of stress. By the end of the shift I was physically drained and very, very fed up! Thankfully for all concerned Bronwyn was only away for one day and returned the following morning.
One of the days that passed in a blur was my 26th Birthday, spent working as normal from 7:00am until 9:00pm. Although we had dropped it into the conversation on previous occasions Joan had nothing to say to me as I strolled into work that morning, as was the same with Bill when he arrived in a few hours later. I got on with the usual tasks I did every morning, breakfasts, sweeping, mopping, cleaning windows, tables, shelves etc. In fact I worked the whole day without a single comment from anyone; I bought myself a slice of carrot cake from the fridge in the shop and took it back to the motel room to share with Julie Burns once we had finished our shift. Once the restaurant had served its last meal I continued my duties and cleaned the kitchen, scrubbed the hob, washed all of the dishes and finished ahead of schedule. I walked into the bar and ordered a beer from Julie Burns who was still at work and sat at the bar for a few minutes watching the TV. Julie Burns must have slyly mentioned it as I became engrossed in the AFL on the big screen as a few moments later I was showered with people asking if it was my birthday today and why I hadn’t said something beforehand. From then on I didn’t have to by another drink and shared a few games of pool with Bronwyn and some of the locals who were more than happy to have an excuse to celebrate. Bronwyn bought me a stubby cooler with a small photo of the Carrabin roadhouse on the front and several drinks in a gesture of apology that she wasn’t able to offer something better. The night ended well and I did indeed share my carrot cake slice with Julie Burns as I opened her hand made card which was very well constructed given the circumstances.
So it went on, for a week which seemed like a year, from Wednesday until Wednesday and our promised, very well anticipated pay day. The previous evening we had been in to ask Joan for our day off as there was no prospect of her just offering it to us. Julie Burns did have to stress the fact that our contract stated a six day week with one day off before she granted the following morning as a lie in!
We went to bed less than pleased but threw our alarm clock under the pillow ecstatic at the fact that we could sleep as long as necessary the next day.
I woke up to a sharp hammering on our bedroom door, it was light outside but I knew it was not an hour that I had hoped to be waking up. As I refocused my eyes on my watch I could see that it was around 8:00am and the knocking was ongoing. I crawled out of bed and cracked the door open to let the extremely bright morning sun in and was faced with Bill leaning again the door frame. He stammered his way through a brief explanation that himself and Joan had been discussing our employment and they felt they could no longer afford to keep us on. They had already booked a train ticket back to Perth which left at mid-day and needed us to pack and be ready outside by 10:30 in order to get to the train station in time! As I shut the door I was a little taken aback to say the least, Julie Burns who had just begun to stir as opened the door questioned whether she had heard correctly. I confirmed that what had been said was indeed true and she needed to get up now.
We made sure we squeezed in one final shower before departing the roadhouse and of course had to ask on more than one occasion for our wage packet. They handed over a small brown envelope each and bundled us off into Rob’s car for the hour drive to the train station.
We spent the four hour train ride perplexed and mystified over the entire week, we threw all kinds of reasons, rational and irrational, out there as to why they kept us for only one week, sadly none of which would ever truly be answered.
The train pulled into East Perth station by mid afternoon and we found our way to a hostel in the city centre. Tired and confused we threw our backpacks on the bottom bunk and took our wage envelope to the nearest bar for some well earned down time.
