Musings & Feelings

I’m interrupting the tale of the Southwestern Adventure with Wiebke to do some processing of thoughts/feelings. If that sounds boring, this isn’t gonna be the blog post for you! Hold steady; the second part of that story will continue soon.

When I started working at Perth Scuba in November, my boss, Dom, pitched a plan to me. Work for PS for 6 months, get my instructor’s license, migrate north to Exmouth to work for the high season (based around whale shark migration timing), complete my 3 months of “regional work” required to renew my visa for a second year in Exmouth, and then return to Perth next summer to work for their sister company, Blue Destiny. There have been some hiccups, but I’ve been basing a lot of my long-range mental plans around that framework. Which brings us to two weeks ago. On the Southwestern Adventure, Wiebke and I did a lot of soul searching out loud together. Her hunt for farm work (her visa is slightly different than mine and she HAS to do farm work… my visa also allows me to do hospitality/tourism work to qualify for a second year) really got me thinking about prioritizing getting my regional work done so that I don’t have the same scramble she was doing. When we got back to Perth from the trip, I had decided I wanted to head up north.

There were a few reasons for that, but the most important one was that high season in Exmouth begins in April. Which means that businesses are hiring in Feb/March to fill positions for the upcoming season. If I waited much longer, I’d miss the boat on seasonal work. So when I got back to Perth, I told Dom about my plan and he wasn’t thrilled. You see, his plan called for me to stick around for another two months – to use up the full 6 month allowance my visa allows me to work for a given employer. Also, several other employees were already in the process of making plans to move up to Exmouth, so the ranks were getting thinner… I’d be much more likely to get steady hours in the last two months because there just aren’t that many folks filling shifts. Dom’s a persuasive fellow (and my friend), so I told him I’d stick around for an extra week and leave on Monday, March 9^th rather than March 2^nd. Bless him, he scheduled me for 5 shifts over the week so I could make some $$ before the move. Also possibly to prevent me having time to pack, but why quibble?

I worked my buns off last week, got the chance to say goodbye to lots of my customer pals in the shop, spent lots of time with friends doing the exact kinds of nothingness that make for comfortable, wonderful friendships, and generally avoided thinking about departure. My last day in the shop was really tough. I realized that news of my departure never quite made it to the GM of the shop (because I am an idiot and didn’t tell him myself) and jammed in a quick phone chat with him trying to talk me out of leaving. Dom and I were in the shop together Sunday and he spent the whole shift teasing me and trying to talk me into staying. A bunch of us went out for drinks after work as a farewell to Matt (one of my coworkers who’s also relocating up here) and me and I got really mopey and distant. With departure impending, I wasn’t feeling at all ready to go.

Simon, Braedon, Helaina, me and Dom on my last day! Definitely almost cried when this was happening.

I took more solace than I should have from the fact that I needed to chase down some car info before I could leave town (short version: the dealership that sold me the car in December didn’t actually have possession of the title to sell it to me, which I only discovered when I tried to update the registration. And then they proceeded to give me the run around for two weeks). I used that task + pre-departure errand running to delay by a day but over the course of all that running around (needed to buy dry goods, a vessel for storing emergency water for the drive up God forbid I should break down and get stuck in the desert for any length of time, had dinner plans with Nat and Mick, etc.) I realized that I was ready. Or ready enough. I was gonna just do it. So I did.

Left Tuesday at noon (because obviously packing didn’t get finished Monday because, hello, I’m Kate Moran) and made it to Geraldton before deciding I needed to stop for the night. Slept in my car (thanks, Grant, for my self-inflating travel mattress! It works like a charm!) at a homestead campground for, like, $10. 

Next day I touristed around Shark Bay (an emu ran across the road in front of me as I pulled off the main highway into the area, and then saw two baby sharks within 15 minutes of wandering out into the water – so cool!) and got most of the way to Carnarvon before stopping at a particularly nice rest stop to camp out with all my fellow cheapskates (honeymooners and backpackers) in their camper vans. 

First wild emu sighting!

Since Tessie and I are traveling together I figured we should take selfies together, too. She got me down to the beach with panache. 

Shark Bay

Second wild bush chook sighting! (bush chook = rural area chicken = emu)

Bricks are all made of seashells that naturally compressed at a local beach made entirely of shells!

Closeup

The aforementioned Shell Beach

Tessie

Then Thursday I was up to catch part of the sunrise and get rolling before the flies started doing their thing in earnest. 

Sunrise at the cheapskate campground

Made it north!

Ant hill? Termite mound? Unsure, but they were EVERYWHERE on the road into Exmouth.

Seriously, it looked like the poop emoji was just scattered across the landscape.

I poked my head into Coral Bay for a snorkel (reef structure just 50m off the beach!) and then had to get on to Exmouth for an interview at 2:30pm. The shop I interviewed with seems pretty cool, I have to say, and having a connection here through Wes (he and Nikki lived up here for years, so his name has opened doors for me, bless him) definitely helped. Wes also put me in touch with a manager at a local bar, so I popped in there for a cold one and a chat, so again, his named opened up a door and I’ve got that interview in a few hours. If either of these work out, I’m gonna owe Wes a carton of beer. After doing my networking for the day and booking a bed at the local hostel, I sniffed out the two micro-breweries in town (surprised?) and chatted with folks at both.

I’m not good at change. I crave stability. But I also left all the stability of home to move across the world and try new things. Got myself settled in Perth and now I’ve upended that, too. Now I’ve moved to a new town with no job, no housing, and 2,500 residents. Yesterday was really hard. I texted a couple of friends to tell them I’m worried I’ve made a mistake, but I am also trying to remind myself that patience is a virtue that I’m never gonna get a hold of if I don’t practice it. Bless them, they all encouraged me to suck it up, buttercup, and reminded me it will get better (except Wiebke, who volunteered to come and rescue me because she is a gem). Making connections with people yesterday, however tenuous, made today feel a little more secure. Chatting with people at the bars was fun and felt normal. Asking how to apply for work felt less natural but was made easier by the laid back attitudes of people here. They were gracious, though several mentioned that they’re fielding lots and lots of emails asking about jobs. I spent this morning wandering along a beach that turtles nest on, beating away the flies and hoping that I can learn to get used to them. I’m trying to remember who I am: an upbeat, happy person with resiliency and curiosity and drive. I’m trying to forget that I didn’t sleep so hot (the dorm room at this hostel was super clean, didn’t smell, had really nice girls in my room, but it was still a dorm room), so I’m a little tired and cranky, that I’m nervous so I’m probably acting weird, that I can’t believe I left a stable job with an amazing community of people down in Perth (I’m starting to sound like a broken record). But it’s hard.

These two little nudges were looking for food handouts

Tried centering myself at the beach. Jury's out whether it worked, as this emo post aptly demonstrates. 

Since I started writing this post, I got a call from the dive shop inviting me out for basically a test day tomorrow. I’ll go on the boat, get a feel for how they do things, and start getting to know the staff. It’s the real interview, I’m sure, to make sure I’m not a psychopathic serial killer. I convinced them at Perth Scuba, so I’ll just do it again here. What I need now is a hot cup of tea (and probably a nap, but that’s a little trickier, not having housing), an attitude adjustment, and to talk a guy into hiring me at his bar despite having zero experience working in food service (unless the hot dog booth at the St. Denis Fun Fair circa 2002 counts). Wish me luck!