Further Adventures in Queensland
Time for another infrequent update!
Previously, on hwconundrum:
- I briefly stayed on a farm populated entirely by conspiracy theorists who informed me that a magnetic pole switch is going to occur in 2012, resulting in 1000km/h winds, some continents sinking while others such as Atlantis will re-surface and total breakdown of social order. It's in the Mayan calendar, so you know it must be true. Also, anyone who survives the above disasters only has to worry about providing themselves with food for five months, since after that point survivors' DNA will morph so that they no longer require food and instead can simply survive on high quality water. Oh, and 9/11 was organised by George Bush, and there is a second sun in our solar system that no-one has noticed yet, and the Egyptians ate gold, and humans were brought to Earth by aliens (who also gave us dogs and cats to keep us company). I left this farm after four days rather than the intended two weeks: not because of their beliefs per se, but because it was clear they were very unhappy that I didn't share them.
- After leaving the farm I stayed for a week, rent-free, with a South African ex-sniper who also expects global disaster in 2012 (at earliest, potentially up to 2016) but for rather more scientific reasons. During this time he randomly dispensed advice on how best to snipe, told me about military strategy, complimented me on my roadhouse zombie defence plan (apparently it encompasses all the vital points of military defence - go me?), taught me how to cook a few new meals and brought up a lot of stories about life in South Africa that involved guns and people getting shot.
- Snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, woo!
- The new Muse album is awesome. Not that I expected any less.
Now, on hwconundrum:
- I'm currently staying in Cardwell in an attempt to find farm work, because it would be nice to get an extension on my working holiday visa (I need to do 88 days in Primary Production in certain postcode areas to qualify - thankfully I already have 35 days from the crocodile farm, but that still leaves me with about two months of banana-sorting or something). The bad news: everyone else in Cardwell is looking for farm work too, and there's very little to go around. Right now everyone's pretty much waiting for the rains to come as there'll be no more work before then.
- The hostel here is... interesting. Guests are allowed free use of a car, a van and several bicycles, but the car looks like it could fall to pieces at any moment and I've been informed that 'some' of the bicycles have no brakes. Apparently the hostel owner himself cannot drive the vehicles as his license was recently suspended for drink-driving.
- I MAY have found work at the local pub to tide me over until farm work becomes available, but I'm treating it with extreme caution right now as apparently they've messed other backpackers around in the past. On the plus side, one of the other staff members there has a boyfriend whose brother works full-time on one of the banana farms, and she thinks he may be able to get me work and/or marry me in order to lengthen my stay in Australia. She sounded worryingly serious about the last part.
As for the future... well, I expect to be confused when the clocks change (Queensland does not observe Daylight Savings, in common with Western Australia and the Northern Territory, however the other states do... meaning that South Australia will actually be half an hour ahead of me, despite being further to the West. It gets even more complicated when you factor in the clock-change in the UK as well, a few weeks later!) but apart from that I generally can't see any further ahead than about 24 hours. Also, I still haven't had that little thunderbolt of inspiration for what I want to do for a career, although while living with the South African guy I was vaguely considering finding some kind of military training course 'just in case' and daydreaming a little about revisiting the farm in 2013 to do a PhD on what happens to apocalypse-related communities when their world-ending disaster never comes. Assuming I'm still alive then, of course. (Also, that might be more sociology than psychology.)
...See you all again in a month or so! ;)
Previously, on hwconundrum:
- I briefly stayed on a farm populated entirely by conspiracy theorists who informed me that a magnetic pole switch is going to occur in 2012, resulting in 1000km/h winds, some continents sinking while others such as Atlantis will re-surface and total breakdown of social order. It's in the Mayan calendar, so you know it must be true. Also, anyone who survives the above disasters only has to worry about providing themselves with food for five months, since after that point survivors' DNA will morph so that they no longer require food and instead can simply survive on high quality water. Oh, and 9/11 was organised by George Bush, and there is a second sun in our solar system that no-one has noticed yet, and the Egyptians ate gold, and humans were brought to Earth by aliens (who also gave us dogs and cats to keep us company). I left this farm after four days rather than the intended two weeks: not because of their beliefs per se, but because it was clear they were very unhappy that I didn't share them.
- After leaving the farm I stayed for a week, rent-free, with a South African ex-sniper who also expects global disaster in 2012 (at earliest, potentially up to 2016) but for rather more scientific reasons. During this time he randomly dispensed advice on how best to snipe, told me about military strategy, complimented me on my roadhouse zombie defence plan (apparently it encompasses all the vital points of military defence - go me?), taught me how to cook a few new meals and brought up a lot of stories about life in South Africa that involved guns and people getting shot.
- Snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, woo!
- The new Muse album is awesome. Not that I expected any less.
Now, on hwconundrum:
- I'm currently staying in Cardwell in an attempt to find farm work, because it would be nice to get an extension on my working holiday visa (I need to do 88 days in Primary Production in certain postcode areas to qualify - thankfully I already have 35 days from the crocodile farm, but that still leaves me with about two months of banana-sorting or something). The bad news: everyone else in Cardwell is looking for farm work too, and there's very little to go around. Right now everyone's pretty much waiting for the rains to come as there'll be no more work before then.
- The hostel here is... interesting. Guests are allowed free use of a car, a van and several bicycles, but the car looks like it could fall to pieces at any moment and I've been informed that 'some' of the bicycles have no brakes. Apparently the hostel owner himself cannot drive the vehicles as his license was recently suspended for drink-driving.
- I MAY have found work at the local pub to tide me over until farm work becomes available, but I'm treating it with extreme caution right now as apparently they've messed other backpackers around in the past. On the plus side, one of the other staff members there has a boyfriend whose brother works full-time on one of the banana farms, and she thinks he may be able to get me work and/or marry me in order to lengthen my stay in Australia. She sounded worryingly serious about the last part.
As for the future... well, I expect to be confused when the clocks change (Queensland does not observe Daylight Savings, in common with Western Australia and the Northern Territory, however the other states do... meaning that South Australia will actually be half an hour ahead of me, despite being further to the West. It gets even more complicated when you factor in the clock-change in the UK as well, a few weeks later!) but apart from that I generally can't see any further ahead than about 24 hours. Also, I still haven't had that little thunderbolt of inspiration for what I want to do for a career, although while living with the South African guy I was vaguely considering finding some kind of military training course 'just in case' and daydreaming a little about revisiting the farm in 2013 to do a PhD on what happens to apocalypse-related communities when their world-ending disaster never comes. Assuming I'm still alive then, of course. (Also, that might be more sociology than psychology.)
...See you all again in a month or so! ;)