Well, it's now the 8th of November and time has flown in an odd way. Each day creeps by, but the week has moved swiftly. I have three jobs in Cairns; I work reception from 9:30-12:00 at my hostel in return for free accommodation, then I move to Travel Bugs to stand outside and hand out flyers from 12:30-3:30 for $16.50/hour; finally, I work as a bartender and drink runner at the Rattle & Hum for 6-9 hours each night for $18/hour. In conclusion, I often work 16-hour days and am therefore living on the bare thread of sanity as headaches, muscle exhaustion, and mental exhaustion wreck me everyday.
It has only been a week and a half of this so far and my body is starting to surrender to the abuse I'm giving it. It is no longer torture to get up in the morning after going to bed at 1:30am, nor do I feel like my back is going to break as I keep up with the frantic pace of happy hour at the bar. In fact, I really enjoy my job at the Rattle. I feel right in my element as I serve and laugh with customers and make friends with my co-workers. They often go out at night and I have joined them once so far and had an excellent night of Rugby and a random mascara war (we found a tube of mascara on the ground and decided it would be hilarous to coat each other with it - washing it off the next day was not so hilarious).
Let me ease your worries in letting you know that, despite working like mad, I am having a lot of fun in Cairns. My hostel friends are the best I've made yet and I truly enjoy every minute with them. Emily and Martyn from England, and Alex from Canada, are never boring, even if we just sit and do nothing in the commonroom. I have never laughed so hard.
I have not yet been out to the Great Barrier Reef yet, nor have I seen the jungles and waterfalls that surround tropical Cairns, but I will most definitely do that before I leave! I won a two-for-one trip to the jungle at a pub crawl the other night after dancing my face off against several other girls. Now I just need to find someone to go with! Martyn leaves tomorrow (sad face) and Emily leaves on Friday; Alex's friends have just joined her here so she is making travel plans with them. Time to make better friends with my co-workers!
I really don't have much else to write. Working keeps me busy and out of trouble; I'm often too tired to go out at night and I'm busy all day so I don't have time to go shopping or spend any money. So, all I'm doing is saving and spending precious minutes off with friends. Hopefully I'll have enough money to have an amazing Christmas in Sydney with Benji - with enough left over to see the Great Ocean Road, do some surfing, and fly home at the end of January!
I look forward to seeing everyone two months sooner than planned. It has been an incredible trip so far, but I'm already planning my final blog, putting together a list of everything I have learned in Australia thus far.
Hopefully my next blog will come sooner than this one did. Sorry for the silence, but I have been adjusting to my new lifestyle of having basically no life at all!
Until next time, love to everyone and hope you're enjoying Christmas preparations at home! You have no idea how weird it is to see Christmas ads on tv when the sun is beating out a 30 degree day. I have not put on a jacket or long pants in goodness knows how long. Even at 1:00am in the morning, it's hot and wonderful! This is why I came to Australia : D
xoxo - Katrina
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