Y'all, I'm in a much better head space than last blog post. I have 1.5 jobs, I found a room to rent, I'm meeting people and making friends, and I feel like I'm settling down emotionally from the roller coaster of leaving Perth/Perth Scuba. Thank goodness.
So I had my interview last Friday at the Potshot Hotel to work in their bar and was psyched to get a job offer on the spot! Tai, my new manager, knows Wes from when he lived in Exmouth before moving down south and starting at Perth Scuba, and Wes, bless him, put in a good word for me. I owe him a carton of beer for sure. My first day will be tomorrow (Wednesday), and I'm rostered on to work 4 days this coming week! Hallelujah!
Saturday I went out with Exmouth Dive Center on a trial run day AKA the first of my in-person live action interviews. They told me I'd probably need to do 3 or 4 of those days before they would know how they wanted to roster me, so I was mentally ready for that. It was so amazing to get to dive up here. The corals were gorgeous, the boat crew was super welcoming and helpful (which they could easily not have been since there were FIVE of us who were training), and I got to spend a day out on the water with beautiful conditions. The boat crew complained that the viz wasn't great, but honestly, they're spoiled. Just like the Perth scuba divers who complain that the shore diving there isn't amazing. Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled. They don't know what Atlantic Coast diving is like!
After work, the lead dive instructor for the day mentioned he was going to the pub so, duh, me too. Over beers, I learned that he was Best Man in Wes' wedding, so we had fun swapping Wes stories and texting him photos of us having fun without him. All in all, stellar day.
I was so pumped to be asked back the next day to go out on one of the whaleshark boats with a different crew. The company is big enough that they run both kids of trips - scuba diving and whalesharking - and the set ups for the day are really quite different from a staff perspective. Another girl who trialed on Saturday, Tash, was also invited to go out, so we very quietly celebrated being chosen for a second day's work. It was both of our first times in the water with whalesharks and it. was. amazing. These GIANT gorgeous creatures just hanging out in the water eating plankton and chilling while we swam around them. They're a little skittish, I'm learning, so the operators have really strict rules about how to behave in the water. Not just no touching them, but staying 3 meters away at all times, not freediving around them, not splashing excessively - all for fear that we'll make them nervous and cause them to take a deep dive where we can't see them at all. No one likes the asshole who scares away the whaleshark before everyone gets a chance to see them, so I get the impression that's a big part of the job - keeping people from doing those things.
Anyway, Sunday was magic. Imagine my thrill, then, when I got a voicemail inviting me to go out again on Monday! Y'all, I was hyped up. I had popped an ad on a Buy/Sell page for Exmouth locals saying that I needed a room to rent and a dude replied within just a few hours inviting me to check out his place. He and his partner rent to backpackers every year, and he still had one room left. I scooted over to check it out, the guy seemed like not a serial killer, so he told me he'd let me know. I think that was code for "lemme make sure my wife doesn't think YOU are a serial killer before we offer it to you". Good news: they accepted me! So not only was I going whalesharking again, I also had a place to live that wasn't the local backpackers' hostel. So obviously Tash and I went to the local brewery to celebrate (she was going the next day too!), and I got to meet her partner, Ben. He's working doing water adventurey stuff up here - kayaking trips and the like - and possibly also bar tending. Fun people, man.
Monday was incredible, too. Whaleshark success, moved into my new room, finally felt a little settled. It was so good, y'all. I passed out at like 8:45 (again), and I'm pretty sure Glenn, the guy who owns the house, thinks I'm a weirdo for going to bed so early. But whatever, I am a weirdo.
Today, St. Paddy's Day, is a relax day. Talked with Mom and Dad this morning, went out shopping for shorts (I need a pair of black shorts for the bar work and was quasi-successful. I got some navy blue shorts that look black in the right light. So I'm going with it.), remembered to bring my takeaway cup to get a chai latte at a local cafe (which was GOLD. SO good), stopped into a surf shop to buy a bathing suit with long sleeves so that I don't get skin cancer from spending time on the water (I've been SPF 55+ every day with a hat and I'm still browning up a little quickly for my liking. So trying to slow that roll). And now back in the new house for lunch and life updates to my loyal blog crew!
Thanks to all of you who reached out with kind words after my last emo post! And sorry for making you worry. I'm holding up well :)
The coronavirus has finally taken hold of public consciousness in Perth and apparently it's been a ghost town. Here, the cruise ships that were expected to land this week aren't allowed to let passengers off board, so local businesses are hurting. We'll see what happens in the coming weeks, but remote tourist towns without tourists probably don't hang in there so well. Sending love and healthy wishes to all my peeps! xx
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