Our Big Explore: Last weeks working!!!

Thursday 11th September

We were lucky to get another day off, together. This time we went to see the famous and gorgeous gorge, called Katherine Gorge. It’s located 30 km east of Katherine town.

There’s a big tourist boat from which you can explore the gorge, but we decided to do it by ourselves, so we hired a double canoe for half a day and ventured out in the gorge. During the first 200m we already saw two freshies (freshwater crocs) hanging out on the river banks. It was a bit intimidating to pass them in the little canoe, I felt very vulnerable in the little boat, meanwhile Erik felt like the king of the world and was dying to paddle back and get closer to the freshies, to get a good picture/video - that leaded to a smaller discussion about safety and dangerous wildlife! Erik was disappointed and upset with me for not letting him paddle back!

When it comes to paddling we’re not exactly agreeing on how it should be done, so very quickly we arranged that only one of us were paddling, while the other could relax. It worked out best for us.

The gorge was stunning and very peaceful. In the end of it, we left the canoe on the river bank and went for a little walk around to explore some aboriginal rock art, and dip our overheated bodies in the cold and refreshing gorge water.

On our way back we were hoping to get another sight of the freshies. The big tourist boat, in front of us, spotted a croc on the river bank. They pointed out the croc for us, and then pointed at us. All the old people on board looked like they were gonna shit themselves any moment, when we passed by in our little canoe, between them and the croc. It was a funny moment.

The croc didn’t seem to care about us, and Erik got (almost) close enough to be satisfied with his adventure. So in the end everyone was happy and we had enjoyed our day off and away from Emerald Springs.

In the night we tried some of the food and drinks that we make and serve each day in the restaurant, while celebrating that we have been away from Denmark for 1 year!

Spot the bats?

Katherine Gorge

Beautiful day off

Old Aboriginal rockart

Cowboy babe

Hasselhoff #2

Everyday sights in the Outback

Sunset at Emerald Springs

Katherine Gorge Video

Friday 12th September – Friday 26th September

It’s getting considerable warmer from each day passing by. The air is more humid and during the mid-day hours it’s unbearable hot in the restaurant and kitchen.

One thing that we will never get used to, is all the god damn flies. They are really annoying!

Another thing that gave us the headache was the Aussies laid-back working attitude – it drove us crazy! They really don’t know how to work, and seriously wouldn’t last long in any given place in Denmark or northern Europe.

In a small remote place like this the atmosphere get a little intense from time to time, everyone is getting on each others nerves, and you feel that people are talking behind your back. Just like an episode of Big Brother.

It’s not really fair to anyone (seen from a bigger perspective). So after too many speculations and smaller arguments we decided to move on. We gave Dallas our two weeks notice, and were then supposed to leave the 3rd of October.

Some new staff members (an Irish couple – Megan & Johnny) arrived a few days after our notice, and they were really lovely. We enjoyed their company a lot.

For the first time since we got here we actually sat down and ate dinner together all of us, thanks to another great staff member - Faye. It was great, she cooked all of us a very nice thai curry dish.

I also got to practice my massage skills on one of the truck ladies one day, and after just an hour massage she gave me $200. See that’s a good business!

Local gas station & shop in Pine Creek

Faye - Erik - Johnny and Megan at our "family" dinner night

Saturday 27th September

The last saturday of the month it’s again time to participate in the cowboy/country party, held at Grove Hill Hotel.

It’s such a special experience to be there in the middle of the desolated outback, and get pissed with all the locals.

We had a blast this night and luckily we were both off sunday, so we took advantage of the free camping and stayed out there for the night.

When we got back to Emerald Springs, Dallas (the owner) showed up in the staff house and told us he didn’t put us on next weeks rooster, and he wanted us to leave his property immediately. There was really no reason for him to kick us out like that. It pissed us off that he treated us this way.

I mean he could have given us a few days warning, so we would have had time to pack our stuff together.

He knew that we were tired this day, so he just showed us once again, how big an asshole he really is. We refused to leave before he had paid us out. He didn’t pay the previous staff members their last money, so we knew it could cause us troubles if we didn’t react on that fact.

Monday he told us he would charge us $150 if we stayed another night, so we were forced to leave. Although we still hadn’t seen any money rolling into our accounts for our last 2 weeks working. After telling him about our contact with Fair Work Ombudsman (a independant statutory office, that helps regulate Australia's workplace relation system.) He ensured us that we would get our last payment before friday.

It was actually a big relief to leave that place and never had to deal with him again, it felt good to move on and continue our travels around this massive country, but on the other hand we were still so upset with that guy.

Our time on Emerald Springs had been very disappointing, and we didn’t even have high thoughts about it to begin with. I can’t remember another time in my life where I’ve had so many worries and constantly have had a stomach ache, caused of speculations, worries and wonders about all kinds of stuff.

With that said we have to remember that we are actually living a dream right now, and during our 5 weeks of working we earned enough money to make our dreams come true, for the rest of our journey.

So we raise our heads up high and praise the life we have been given! Now it’s time to see some more of this massive and spectacular country. Western Australia is up next!