deathlunch & hazy tuesdays

Tuesday nights at Friday’s were meant to be awesome. As strawberry workers we get many “weekends” so to celebrate our Friday we decided to spend the night out at Friday’s.  Lately people haven’t really been going out that often but yesterday we managed to get a maxi taxi and a half out to party.

Goon and drinking games are the typical start to most evenings at the hostel and yesterday was no exception. I hadn’t been to Friday’s on a Tuesday before and was suprised to find they had roped off the main area of the bar and it was full of tables the whole bar seemed to have been turned upside down.

The good thing about a Tuesday night is that it’s cheap. No cover and the charge to get into the ‘club’ section of the bar that’s upstairs and normally $15 was only $2! I had never gone up there before and it was cool to go and check it out. I was busy dancing my heart out..  or getting a beer when someone came to tell me something was wrong with Ivy. Then I spent the next hour or so trying to calm her down and deal with her drama.

I was chatting with a cool Aussie guy who had been to Van and Whistler and loved it when I found Micheal and had to ditch to go bring him to Ivy. Too bad, I think he was hot and I didn’t see him again after that.

Micheal said that Martin and Phillip were looking for me (or Ivy) I’m not sure which anymore and after that all I could think about was Phil. I went back inside found Jana and Jens and the YHA people and Josh the Kiwi guy from Strawberries and CottonTree! That’s one good thing  about strawberries whenever you have a day off everybody goes out so you always meet tons of people you know at the club!

I kind of blacked out somewhere around talking to Phil upstairs in the club and came back halfway to Maroochydore as I trudged along in the middle of the night alone. A stupid idea I know. By the time I got to McDonalds I guess I was hungry because I got a large Quarter Pounder Meal and chicken nuggets.

I got back to the hostel arms full of McDonalds and looked at the locked gate and thought I can’t be bothered getting my key out so instead I climbed through the hole in the fence. Which isnt as easy as you might think because the hole is about waist height and my arms were full of McDonalds. I’m not really sure how I did it. I went to eat in the TV room where I passed out and woke up with ketchup all over my hoodie thinking where am I? What’s going on? Then I went to my room climbed into bed and slept until 11 when I went downstairs and we all gossiped about the night before.

I felt like a bit of an ass because Jens had been trying to get with me all night and I totally blew him off and I just wanted to hook up with Phil all night for some reason even though I don’t even know him. And he’s little. I hadn’t thought it was a particularly awesome night but everyone else seemed to have had a lot of fun and recollecting the night’s events I started looking  back more favourably on the night.

Jens tried to walk home but ended up at McDonalds in Mooloolaba where he asked which way to Parker Street in Maroochydore. They looked him up and down and said he looked too drunk it would probably take 3 hours and called him a cab. Bart left the bar at midnight and didn’t get home until 5. He won’t tell us what happened but he also ended up at McDonalds in Mooloolaba.

Todays highlight was Sizzler! From the time I got out of bed [and stopped feeling like complete shit] it was all I could think about. We got there at 2 and stayed until about 4:30. We ate waaaaaayyyyy  too much. I was pretty full after the first plate but that didnt stop me from going back for more and more and more and then desert and then more. Then I was so full and I thought I was going to explode and then I had some ice cream and then I stopped and felt really sick and thought I would throw up but it passed and then I wanted cheese toast.

It was really funny because Heidi and Yu took small plates and ate slowly and we all loaded our plates up and ate soo much and by the end we were all passed out and feeling like death and they were sitting there happily drinking coffees and still eating. The contrast was really funny.

We joked later about making a horror movie based on our lunch at Sizzler. We wanted to spend the night crashed out on the couch watching movies but of course Arthur, the cleaner who has lived in the 10 bed dorm for 10 years, was in the TV room. He let us watch one movie but we have to wait for later to watch the scary one.

We decided tomorrow night we will go to 240s.

Bart’s Erotic Massages – $5 a pop

Leaving the Internet yesterday I was totally down in the dumps depressed. But instead of being lame and hanging out in my room playing spider solitaire I decided to go down and see what was happening at the picnic table.

Turns out a lot was going on at the picnic table. Sasha was trying to get Bart to agree to marry her and Jens was trying to get a massage from anybody and we were all joking around and laughing. I told him for $20 for 1o minutes I could give him one. Then Bart comes out and tells us he’s taken an erotic massage course. Yes I’d like the um…  erotic massage please. I asked my wife Inna if she’d like an erotic massage later and Sasha was upset because nobody wanted to marry her.

We reminded her that her wife Sarah was in Germany, yes but I can’t get an erotic massage from her. You could phone erotic massage her, then we all joked about how the call would go. I’m taking off my shirt, are your socks off yet? Soon after this Bart went to his room to set  up his new erotic massage business (or just to be depending on who you hear it from). Not too long afterwards Jens gets up and walks away. Guess he’s gonna give it a go. He came back a few minutes later and Jana said that was quick. We all burst out laughing.

He was confused. Worth the 5 bucks? I asked. I noticed you’re walking kind funny? [more laughter] Yeah it wasn’t good he replied. A few minutes later Marvin comes walking in with the same funny kind of walk – another happy customer. (The boys had actually just gotten back from trying to walk a 50km beach.) We all laughed some more, and laughed and laughed. The boys got up and walked away and we laughed some more. Then Adrian got up and walked away (another beach boy) and we laughed some more. Then all 5 of the boys who had gone on the walk came back in and we just cracked up even more, I was crying I was laughing so hard. It was really really good. Then we made a sign for Bart’s new business. Jens was not pleased as he was in the same room as Bart but we made it anyway and set it up by the stairs.

Later when I was brushing my teeth to go to bed I heard Max going where’s Bart? Room #5 I yelled out and come over. He knocks on the door asking Bart for a massage. Too good.

Today work was really good as well. The new girl Mary who stands across the belt from me is really cool. She was out at the Sands Tavern thursday night and we started talking. She spent most of the morning trying to convince me to move to the YHA and I have to say I’m tempted. It would be a nice change of scenery since I want something new so badly it might be exactly what I need. There seem to be a lot of pluses – if I could keep my job packing since I got it through the hostel. But at the same time it’s nice being in the middle of things, the YHA is kinda in the boonies.

Tonight I think we will all go to the Beach Hut for the $8.90 steak or fish and chips. Most of her hostel is going. I think Inna and Sasha from my hostel want to go.

Then we were told to stop talking because we were offending people! Really? All we were doing was asking each other where we were from and where we were staying. We decided on our next weekend off to go for a night out in Brisbane because the nightlife here sucks balls.

Jens said he wants to read my blog. I said that was never gonna happen. He wants to know what I say about the hostel and the people in it. I said maybe when I leave.

dog days of winter

I spent an awesome day in bed today. Last night we played drinking games and I got smashed. I think I had to drink 2 glasses of goon within half an hour or so and I was done. So I went up to bed washed my face, brushed my teeth but I don’t remember going to bed. I was completely toasted. Apparently Michael came up to check on me but I don’t remember.

Luckily I woke up this morning with only a slight hangover and to find out that somehow during the night I had knocked my favourite yellow happy face mug off the bedside table and smashed it. Gutted. And it was only seven in the morning. I felt pretty awake and slightly hungry so had some toast, watched Harry Potter on tv for a while but then decided I couldn’t be bothered and went back to bed.

Just after I climbed back in Jana came back to the room saying how weird it was – she woke up and was the only one in the room – and nobody was in the hostel. She decided to go back to bed too. I woke up again around eleven and read in bed for a while, then went to the cheap clothing store around the corner where I picked up a cute dress for $10 then Jana lent me the laptop to watch a movie. I decided on James Bond and painted my toenails and did pore strips on my face while I watched, the movie turned out to be really boring but it was a great girly day anyway.

Then tonight was Meg’s going way dinner party. It was really good with steak and chicken, sausages and dumplings and some really good stew and salad. Tonight Inna and Sasha are getting drunk but I tried first with goon, then a beer off Bart and then Sasha let me have some Jim Bean and Coke but I just wasn’t feeling it. I just want to go to bed.

And the boys who went off and decided it would be a good idea to walk the length of this 50km beach near Noosa came back with stories of woe from their adventure. Apparently it was a really stupid idea. Could’ve told you that. But despite the agony and inability to walk properly I think they had a really good time.

Tomorrow is back to work. Hopefully there will be more strawberries and we will work longer days. Or more days.

oh my!

I decided recently that I haven’t made out with enough boys in Australia – and so a great night out with Carlie at the Sands Tavern was made even better when I got to kiss someone whom I’d recently dreamt had kissed me. Not that I even really knew him or anything I’d only met him a couple times in passing, never really talking to him but that didn’t stop me from having a dream about him kissing me. The dream kiss was very nice and I wondered what it would actually be like. Then I saw him at the bar.

I didn’t go to the bar to find someone to kiss, I find when you go somewhere with the intention of doing something often you end up disappointed, but I thought it would be nice. I had just pretty much given up on the idea of finding a nice boy to kiss when Phil came up and told me to show him my dance moves. We got close fast and before I knew it we were making out on the dance floor – until Carlie & company dragged us out of the bar.

He wanted me to come back to the YHA but I didn’t really want to so he ended up coming back to mine and we continued to make out on the picnic table, against the wall, against the pillar… then went up to the TV room and cuddled and made out and kept each other warm for the rest of the night.

He seems like a good guy, he walked me home from the bar and we got a chance to chat. I think he’s young though but really cute. I don’t know if I’ll see him again, I didn’t get his number and he didn’t get mine. I’m not sure if he would have but I kind of told him last night that I had to work in the morning and that was why I couldn’t go back to the YHA with him so instead of cuddling on the couch with him and keeping him warm all morning I thought that I should probably carry through with my lie and ‘go to work’ at 6:30.

I kind of want to see him again but I think it’s more for some male companionship than that I’m really that into him.

three’s a crowd

Yesterday I went to see Transformers with Jens and Bart, the guy who I made out with at the bar and the guy who told me that he likes me as more than a friend. This could be awkward I thought but thankfully it wasn’t well maybe just the tiniest little bit. I don’t think Bart knows about Jens and so it was fine.

We had to buy tickets3 hours ahead of time and our showing sold out. It didn’t start until 8:45 and I was exhausted so I decided to combat sleepiness I needed snacks! And snacks I got, not only did I get popcorn and drink but I also got the Snickers Pods ad on. Yum! Nobody else really got any snacks. I felt like bit of a pig and they laughed at me with my arms full of junk food.

When I came back from the toilet before the movie started they were both laughing. What’s so funny? I demanded. You are. Bart replied. Ok. The movie was ok. The first one was better. But maybe I was just too tired and sick from eating so much crap.

The next night Jens, Bart and I were sitting talking at the picnic table and Jana came down. She said to me the next day that she thought it was funny that the three of us were sitting there drinking together considering the situation. It kind of is, but more for us than them – I don’t think they know about each other.

Oh yeah, I completely forgot it was Canada Day. Am I a bad Canadian now?

so happy

Yesteray I dropped $450 on a laptop and it’s so great. It doesn’t have loads of memory but it gives me something to do and one thing that I really miss from home is my computer so it’s really nice to have one. On my day off instead of watching TV or going to the Plaza and spending money I can just zip down to the library and download music or watch videos on the internet or skype!

It’s perfect timing too because with my recent calculations if all our days off don’t count towards our days worked and things keep going how they are I will be stuck here until at least the 20th of July then I can apply for my visa and then once the Visa is either granted or denied I can finally leave. Either going north to Cairns or back to Melbourne to grab my stuff and say bye to Candice before going home.

So it really sucks being stuck here even longer, again but I’ve pretty much reconciled myself to the fact that I have to stay. Some days  I deal with it better, some days not so good but the laptop helps.

I still hope for more strawberries though…

still with the suck :(

So I know I’ve probably said it all before but I feel like I’m never going to get my VISA. I’m stressing out about it so much the last couple of days. Basically we work for 3 days have 2 days off, work for 3 – 2 off and it’s never gonna end. Not to mention the last three days were all really short and they are the only ones that will be on next weeks pay week. At this rate I won’t finish my 88 days until right before my first visa ends I just want to apply and know if I have to buy a ticket home or if I can stay. Some girls at the packing house say they asked immigration and if you work full time hours at a packing house then your days off count towards your days worked and we are working full time technically but are only casual employees so I don’t think they count so it sucks.

And now we have 2 more days off and I don’t know what to do. And my latest new best friend left and now even though everyone at the hostel is really ‘nice’ they just aren’t really friends. Carlie is still around and thats good but she’s at the YHA with her boyfriend so I don’t really have anyone to hang out with. I just really want to go somewhere new and meet new people, I’ve been here way too long and I’m ready for travel and new people and new places all the time. Argh!

Boo hoo poor me. At least I’m still in Australia although at the same time I’m trying to prepare myself not to be upset if I end up not getting my second visa and think that I still have things to look forward to going home as well. And I think I might be getting rid of The Haybird when I leave here, it will be very sad but I just keep putting money into it and I think it might be fun to take the Oz Bus up to Cairns – if I’m still around that is. We’ll see what happens. I’m not sure what I would do with my surf board in that case, probably try and leave it with Glen for a while.

Feel sorry for me. My life sucks right now.

BrisVegas!

We spent yesterday in Brisbane. Florence and I had been planning on going for a while and we’d been trying to convince people to go but nobody seemed really keen, so imagine our shock when we woke up at 6:30 yesterday to find out that Jens and Devon were in fact coming with us! It was hard to get out of bed and I hadn’t been sure I really wanted to go but I didn’t want to let Florence down on her second last day in Maroochydore so we went. And it was awesome.

It took a while to get there, about 3 hours first on the bus, then the train, then another train. We mostly napped but did see some kangaroos lounging around in the grass when we passed the University. Finally we were there, in Brisbane, and despite my reluctance to go I was so excited to see all the people and the buildings! It was so good. First we went to Anzac Square.

Walking there Devon had stepped on a rock that fell over and there was a policeman standing not far away and after he knocked over the rock the policeman headed our way. So we walked faster. Then we were at Anzac Square taking photos and before we knew it, there was the policeman! So we finished up our photo taking and headed down the stairs to the street, stopping to take a photo on the stairs with the memorial in the background and who else was in the background? The policeman. We were starting to get worried and thought the policeman would be following us all day so we quickly crossed the street thankfully the policeman left us there. Close call.

After that we stopped off for some coffees at Starbucks and lunch at Hungry Jacks before heading to the museum at City Hall. We were told the view from the Bell Tower is amazing. So we got there and the bell tower was closed for maintenance. Bummer. But there was still the rest of the museum so we go in and turns out it’s this whole thing about wood. Silky Oak to be exact. Wow. But we had fun taking photos. Then we went to the other side of the museum but it was closed to put up another display. And the balcony was also closed today. The only other option open to us was a concert in the main auditorium at noon. The large crowd of seniors that had gathered in the atrium led us to believe it may not be such an awesome show but we lined up anyway and crowded in with the rest of the seniors when the doors opened. Then we sat down and waited but the show didn’t start for another half hour!

We left and walked towards the river, well at least that’s where Jens said we were going. Really we were walking parallel to the river towards a bridge where we could cross. The view from the bridge was nice and we took more photos before going to the Art Gallery where there was some kind of China display happening. It was all really nice but after a while I’d had enough. I wanted to go to the Museum but we ended up inside another Art Gallery but we didn’t really stay long none of us were really up to it.

Afterwards we walked down by the river towards the Ferris Wheel because Florence really wanted to have a ride and see the view but it was $15 for a ride! And we decided not to. We went to the beach but it was mostly closed for construction so we decided to see about taking the City Cat for a cruise down the river. Luckily the bus passes we’d bought that morning included the boat ride so we hopped on for a nice hour long cruise to the end of the route and back. By the time we’d gotten off the boat we were all pretty tired and hungry and the sun was setting so we went for a bite and a beer at the Down Under Bar that’s part of the Base Backpackers right across from the train station.

They had a $10 steak and beer deal so we all got it, well except for Devon. He was waiting for $5 pizza back home. The steak was amazing and the beer was so nice after a day out in the City. But after that it was time to go and we hopped back on the train home to the coast. It was really sad to leave because I didn’t realize how much I missed the City, civilization, or being somewhere different. Actually I knew that one. We got home around 10 and it was really anticlimatic being back at the backpackers.

We had planned on going surfing today (Florence and I) but then I got called in to work at Keith’s passionfruit farm. Which was good, but very hard work and made me $40 and finally got me to go to the doctors to find out about the stupid rash I’d had forever. Keith thought it was a fungal infection that would make me loose all my hair if it spread!! Yikes! But turns out it’s only excema. Thank god.

After that I went to the Plaza, thought I’d do a bit of shopping but when I tried to check my balance on my Westpac account I forgot the pin #!!! It told me I’d have to go talk to my bank. So I did. Got a new pin # and it was supposed to be all good. But then when I tried to use the ATM to check my balance it ate my card!! So I ran back inside – help me! It ate my card! It should be ok, Colin Green my bank helper and the ‘Toast of the Coast’ told me so I checked with the teller in the bank at it seemed to be working. So Colin thought I should try the machine once again just to make sure it’s still ok. But it ate my card again! So Colin ordered me a new card. He was very nice. It should come in 5-7 business days.

I decided that I have to make an effort to do more fun things. Even when I don’t feel like it because it always turns out worth it. Thanks BrisVegas! Until next time!!

who said there was a drought?

It has been pretty much pissing down rain for the last 3 days. I’m worried that everything will be washed away and me along with it. It’s terrible for the strawberries. And for the pickers. And for us packers because all the strawberries have water damage and you have to throw so many away…   The road home today was flooded and only one person knew the alternate route so when 2 o’clock rolled around and it was time to go home we all had to form a convoy of cars to find our way across the motorway and back home. Crazy.

Yesterday we watched Wolf Creek. The Australian horror movie about some backpackers who get murdered in the Outback. True Story. One guy survived somehow and told police and the bad guy was investigated but in the end all suspicions were dropped and he now lives in South Australia. Crazy. The movie was pretty good but more the blood and gore I can’t believe he’s doing that! Type of horror movie. I prefer the suspenceful thriller kind of horror movie.

Now we have two days off of packing. Again. I just had two days off. Maybe I’m getting more money for this but it is not helping my VISA happen at all. It sucks. And what am I gonna do for 2 days in the rain? I was supposed to go to Brisbane with Florence but I think after I pay my rent (that I haven’t paid for a couple weeks) I won’t be able to afford to. Disappointing because I wanted to see Tina and Caroline again as well.

I can’t wait until it’s all over and I can go north where it’s hot. I thought I was over the beach but I’m not. I don’t want to be cold anymore!!

creampiethis.com??? Really? At the library??

There’s a really creepy guy watching porn on the computer next to me, when I sat down he looked over and was like hey how’s it going? Please just go away.

Other than that things are good! We had the last two days off of work which despite the black mood that fell over me when they told us at the end of work on Wednesday has been really good. I got to work in passionfruit yesterday which was awesome and then last night we went out!! To 240s and Carlie and Caroline went! It was awesome! I really miss Carlie so it was great to see her again. Lots of dancing and drinking and I think The Make-Out Bandit has struck again. Last week the Kiwi guy, this week Jens from the hostel, what will next week bring? I can only guess.

I was a little hungover this morning, thank god I didn’t have to work on passionfruit today. It would have been awful, instead I got to sleep in then sprawl on the couch watching TV before eating lunch and going shopping with Florence at the Plaza. There were big sales everywhere!!! I bought a new hoodie and two new long sleeved shirts. It was pretty awesome. Then we went to Coles!

That’s pretty much the latest news. Carlie and Caroline are coming over tonight. I wonder if this means more drinking?