crocadilly

Drew Dow arrived last Wednesday.
On Sunday we went to the Crocodile Farm.

It was quite a nice little day. Clint drove Gav, Amy, Drew and myself 18km's out of Broome to the Farm. We walked through a giant croc's mouth and into the lobby. Just outside the lobby was one of the lakes, which is home to seventy salt water crocodile's. We had an hour to burn before the tour started, so we walked around and looked at the other animals. Dingos, roos, peacocks, snakes, emus, owls, bats, wallabies ect. There were a ton of different kinds of animals. The tour started at the big lake, where he started throwing big fish onto the beach. Then it really started. The croc's came flying out of the water for a feed. Crawling over each other, snapping at each other, kind of like the scene in 'Indiana Jones'.

The next few stops were at specific croc's pens. Croc's from movies, croc's captured for murder and so on. One of the croc's was 5.5 metres in length. It was a giant. All in all it was an awesome day, and I made it to work afterward just in time.

We moved out of the M.C.G yesterday because they close it for the wet season. We moved outside the fence, where we are no longer safe from the sun in the morning. But there is a plus side. Adam, a buddy from camp checked into a hostel and hooked me up with some goodies. A giant 6 man tent, which I can stand up in, and a double size air mattress. I slept great last night, but the sun was pretty terrible at around 8:30 this morning.

October 15th is the target date for leaving Broome and heading to Darwin. Hopefully I can save up a nice amount of cash before then.

you could be next.

"Why are you guys dressed like pirates?"

"BECAUSE WE AHHRRRRRRRR!!!"

Pirate night was awesome.

When I showed up for work on Saturday night, I was already wearing tattoo's underneath my uniform. I told Brian about my predicament and asked if I could go as early as possible. He said he would see what he could do. Things were looking up when he got me to show one of the girls what they should do if i go, then he sent her home early. I was a little bummed, then he sent another one of the girls to me. This time, after I showed her some stuff, I was allowed to go. I peddled home so fast.

We didn't play Centurion, but we did slam some beers and yarr'd a lot.

We first went to 'The Oasis', one of the nightclubs here in Broome. When we got there, I asked one of the bouncers if he knew if we would get into 'The Bungalow' after, still dressed as pirates. He assured me that we would not get in.We partied like pirates, or at least what we thought pirates might party like. We got quite a few strange looks, but I just looked back at people as if they were the ones dressed as pirates, and I was the normal one. Like most events, we took lots of pictures, and drank drinks until it closed. Most people were tired, drunk and sleepy, but since I had been working so much, and didn't have to work the next morning, I insisted in trying to get into 'The Bungalow'. I walked over with Liam, who looks like he's a pirate even if he's not dressed as one. We waited in line for awhile, then when we got to the door, we were let straight in. YARR! Bungalow is pretty hazy, and since me nor Liam had a camera, we aren't really sure what went on. When we got back to camp, after a stop to Mcdonald's it had to be near 5am. There were still people in the camp up carrying on from the night before. We tried for what felt like an hour, to levitate this guy sitting in a chair. One guy thought he knew what he was doing, and was coaching us, but everyone was confused, and doubtful when it didn't work the fifth time.

I eventually decided to go to bed at an unknown time. At 10am, my phone rang. "Steve, its Brian, do you think you can fill in a shift at 11am?" I scrubbed off my makeup and tattoo's in a hazy shower. Luckily, the girls' at work took care of me and forced lots of coffee and liquids into me so I would feel better.

I am now 'The' bartender at Lustre. The other 2 guys are gone, which makes me numero uno. Last night I trained a new girl behind the bar, and this morning, I trained a new guy to sandwich build. This week I put in 52 hours, would have been much more, but we closed pretty early a few nights. Tonight I have the night off, and tomorrow morning off, so I am going to enjoy myself. Today marks my 18th day in a row without a day off. The new schedule is out for next week, and I work every day. Two Sandwich shifts, and six bar shifts. Cha-Ching. I really don't mind working that much, it's pretty fun work, and I know by sacrificing a little bit now, means a little more fun when we get to the east coast.
Yarr.

gettin' the hours.

W.A, stands for Western Australia.

For me, it means Workaholics Anonymous.

This week, I have 10 shifts.

The sandwich making was going great. Then Brian, the manager, asked me if I'd like to do a shift behind the bar. I said "Sure!". I had already worked from 7am until 2:30pm. My bar shift started at 5:30pm. I ripped home, ate, showered relaxed then headed back into town. I worked until 9:30, giving me a nice 11.5 hours for the day. The next day, Jaz came up and asked if I wanted to move behind the bar full-time. "But what about my sandwiches?"

For the moment, I'm doing both. I'll probably do about 60 hours this week. Starting next week, I'll be full time bar, and filling in on sandwiches when the new sandwich maker has his days off.

The bar is awesome. I've done 2 shifts so far. It's a pretty classy place, so I'm blending together lots of new cocktails, and daiquiri's. It's also a lot more chilled out then The Shed. Most of the drinks I make are for the waitress's tables, so I don't have a line up of people waiting for me.

A major investment I made was buying a bike. One of the girls at the M.C.G. was leaving and was asking $30. I haven't seen a bike go for less than $50 yet so I think I got a pretty sweet deal.It takes about 15 minutes to bike into town so it's pretty essential as walking takes about 40.

Pirates night didn't happen because Lee was still on a pearling boat, and we weren't really ready for the extravaganza. Supposedly we are doing it tomorrow, but I work until about 10pm, so I'm hoping it gets put off again.
that's how i roll.

Steve Pearson, Sandwich Maker.

At the moment, I have 2 jobs.

Kitchen hand at the Black Pearl Restaurant, and a 'Sandwich maker' at Lustre's. The job at Black Pearl is pretty much being a dishwasher, but I needed a job so i took it. Fortunately, Lustre's called after 2 shifts at the BP and offered me a job. I have 2 shifts left at the BP, then I'm leaving, although, if I don't get to wrecked working at both places on Friday, I'll ask if I can just work on Monday nights.

The job at Lustre's is wicked. I start at 7am, 6 days a week(7 if I wanted). First task is to make toasted breakfast sandwiches. Next is to make approximately 30 various sandwiches. After that I make 6 bagelwiches, 6 Turkish bunwiches, and lastly 10 rollwiches. Once I've completed that, I help the kitchen out with whatever they need done. Usually it involves rolling out pizza doughs, but today they had me preparing garlic bread, and peeling vegetables. Since I'm busy the whole time, the shifts have been flying by.

Every Tuesday night, Murphy's, an Irish bar, goes off. It's open mic night. I've got up the last 3 Tuesday and rocked out. The last 2 times I've played some of my own songs. While I was in the washroom someone walked in singing my song 'Leah Tequila'. It was a moment of triumph. Every time I get offstage I get bombarded with people telling me they really liked it. Next Tuesday though, I may not be getting on stage. Our family at the M.C.G. has something planned for Tuesday;

Step 1: Dress up like pirates.
Step 2: Play Centurion. (100 shots of beer, in 100 minutes)

Step 3: Drink Pirate drinks like Captain Morgans.

Step 4: Go to Murphy's.

Step 5: "Yarrr" until we can't "Yarrr!" no more.

After all that, I don't think I'll be able to put on a show without embarrassing myself.

English Rob bar tends at Oasis. We go there on Thursday, and sometimes Saturday nights. Those nights usually get a little crazy. We take turns buying rounds. Many rounds get bought. Last Thursday, Ben, Lee, Joe and myself ventured down. Rob was hooking us up with 10 middies for the price of one. We were getting the equivalent of 5 pints for $4.50. It works like that every week. No wonder we get crazy.

Tonight is an important night for me. I haven't eaten fast food in a whole month. The last time was the day I left Perth, when we took a stop at Hungry Jacks. Tonight at 6pm, my 1 month is complete. I'm going to Mcdonalds for dinner. Big Mac meal. I've never had so much control. On numerous occasions, we've all been walking back from the bar, and passed by Mcdonalds. We walk through the drivethru. Everyone orders but me. They offer bites, fries, and tastes, but I haven't cracked once. Dodey figures I'm going to feel sick after eating tonight because my body won't be used to it, but I will worry about that after I consume the tasty goodness.

I pinned up some pictures of Al in our camp at the M.C.G. I see him everyday looking at me from the tree. I still miss him, but I'm not depressed like I was before. I have some great friends here that helped me get through it and made me laugh so I would forget I was sad at all. That's the thing about travel friends. You get to know them so fast. For instance, I see some of my best friends at home for about 10 hours a week, most likely, Friday and Saturday night. Here, I see the same people for 10 hours a day. So in the last few weeks, I've hung out with friends here that at home would add up to 3 months or so.

The world must be a really small place. Not only is Gavin from Burnaby, but while I was on the phone with my mom a few days ago, we discovered that Gavin's dad graduated a year before my mom did at Burnaby North. But, it gets smaller. I met Marc at Murphy's last week, hes from New West and he is staying at the M.C.G. We discovered our dads both play oldtimers hockey for Port Moody. When I emailed his name home to my dad to see if he knew him, my dad said he knew him and had actually phoned him to see if he wanted to go golfing the last week. How weird is that. Freakin weird.

Other than that, life in Broome is good. Word on the street is Drew is flying up here in about a week and a half, yet another Canadian to join the family.

yep. only $4.50.

Al.

Today I received the news that I had been expecting for the last few days.

Al, who was more of a brother than a cat, passed away. He had been really sick the last few days, which had been diagnosed as a tumor on his kidney. He was one month shy of his thirteenth birthday.

The last few days have been rough on me, and I expect the next few to be much of the same.

I woke up at 8:13am this morning, and wondered if I should call home to see how he was, or should I wait a few hours until the time I designated my mother to call if something had happened. I went back to sleep for awhile longer. When I woke up the second time, I wanted to get it over with so I could stop thinking about it. I called home and was informed that he had passed away. My parents were by his side. They said he went peacefully at 5:15pm, Vancouver time. After sometime, I thought about the time zone difference. 8:13am(Australian), is the same time as 5:13pm at home. Now, I know some people say that when they lose a loved one, they feel it whether or not they are there. I wonder if it was a sign?

I'd like to think he woke me up to say "bye".

October 12th 1995 - September 5th 2008.

M.C.G

It's funny how plans can change so quickly.

I'm not going to Darwin any time soon. In fact, I'm on a job hunt, that isn't going to well at the moment, but I'm not in desperation mode yet.

The M.C.G stands for the Mango Campground, located in the Roe Buck Caravan Park. It's the backpacker part of the park. It's home, and I love it. Gavin, who happens to be from Burnaby, hooked me up with a tent. It needs repairs every few days, but it's all good.In the campground, there's different groups of people, that hang out in different circles. There's little France, Little Britain, ect ect. Our group consists of Gavin and his English girlfriend Amy, Dodey from Halifax and her English boyfriend Rob, Lee and Joe from England, Clint from South Carolina and myself. There's a few others that are around at times, but that's the back bone. It's like a never-ending camping trip. Wake up in a tent every morning, then go sit in the circle of chairs. We're like a family.Gavin's gonna drive me to Darwin then to Cairns as soon as he saves up enough money to buy a new ride. Hopefully I can find a job in that time so I can have some more cash to fuel the adventure. I think we will be here for then next 6-8 weeks or so, but who really knows.
Me, Lee, Gav, and Joe. Look out.