Back to Exmouth

My travel plan was to leave Perth by noon on Monday and I have to say I did fairly well. I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at Salsa Rossa and really did almost no packing or departure prep short of purchasing straps and a tarp to hook my newly purchased bike to the roof of Tessie. But even that was more of a social outing because Nat and I took Cooper to the dog beach and then decided to stop at Bunnings, the monopoly hardware store chain, on our way back home. Either way, it was a to do list item done in advance!

Gisela had the good sense to give herself a few days to pack and get her life together before departing for Newman, I did not. Same story, different day in Kate world. Sunday night after work I really didn’t A. feel like packing and B. want to miss out on time spent with my housemates, so I instead stayed up til 3am with them, watching Dirty Dancing and then having our own dance party in the living room. Around 1am I remembered it was Father’s Day at home, too, and got to catch up briefly with the Papa Bear. Then off to bed for an early morning hangover and wake up!

Because my body thinks I should have the privilege of enjoying every moment of a hangover, I was up by 8:30 (early for me these days) and got my butt in gear with the packing I’d been avoiding. By the time the other girls rolled out of bed I was pretty well on my way, so Weronika’s offer of French Toast for breakfast sounded perfect. We got to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, I got the car loaded and myself showered, and was ready to go by 11:50! Hit a few delays because Wiebke was on a work call and I obviously couldn’t leave without a hug, and then I was out, car gassed and properly on the road by 12:30. It started raining about 1:30 and intermittently poured the whole way to Geraldton. It was starting to get dark, I was starting to get sleepy, and it was still pissing down rain, so I pulled over, did some quick Googling, and found a former convent that has new life as budget travelers’ accommodation to stay in for the night. Not only did I get to sleep horizontally (which wasn’t gonna happen in my car with my bike tucked in the back – didn’t even need the straps and tarp after all), but also had some really hearty leek and potato soup at the hotel next door. Good plan, Kate!

"The Old Convent" in Northampton, Western Australia

I was in bed by 8:30, awake around 7:30, and on the road about 8:15 on Tuesday morning. 11 hours of sleep will really get a girl motivated for a long day’s driving! Thankfully I had the foresight to get a free Spotify trial, so I downloaded a bunch of Road Trip themed music mixes (my favorite was 70s Road Trip Classics), so I had the windows down, the music blasting, and had the early morning joy of remembering that people in the north wave at each other as they pass on the highway! Love it. With one stop for fuel in Carnarvon, I made it to Exmouth by 4pm. I texted some friends to let them know I’d arrived and was on a couch, catching up on the last three months, by 4:30. Have I mentioned before how very lucky I am?

Travel weather: Day 1

Travel weather: Day 2

On my way into town I stopped at the roadside memorial for Operation Potshot figuring it'd be good to have a basic idea of the history of the word since I'm going to be working in a bar named after it. Apparently Operation Potshot was a WWII endeavor to create a US submarine base in Northwestern Australia so that subs wouldn't have to go all the way south to Perth and Fremantle (or even further to Albany) to have surface support. Lots of US servicemen who tried to defect were sent here as punishment since they basically couldn't escape (even today it's basically the middle of nowhere, so I can only imagine how desolate it was in the '40s when the base was operating). There were some cool stories of devil-may-care Royal Air Force members who just decided they were going to relocate up here without the military's permission, did so, and ended up convincing the RAF that a full-fledged base here was a good idea. They were only partially correct because cyclone season here is a real bear, but for the few months per year when the Exmouth Gulf cooperates, it was a good idea! 

Anyway, after hanging out with Matt and Kayla, I grabbed a pizza for dinner at one of the local breweries, Whalebone, and then made my way to a coworker’s house. When she first heard that I was coming back to town she reached out and offered me a place for me to stay while getting settled into town rather than have to stay at the local hostel – so, so nice. I spent most of the evening hanging out with her, her partner, her father in law, and their three dogs (heaven), and then got a text from my friend Corinne saying she had a lead on a two-bedroom apartment for us! So at 9pm I went to check out a little two bedroom apartment right in the center of town with – get this – a view of the ocean from the kitchen sink. Corinne put in our application this morning so keep your fingers and toes crossed that I have a more permanent rental in just a few days!!

This morning I took advantage of the chance to sleep in a bit – Corinne told me she hasn’t had a day off since arriving in town two weeks ago, so I get the feeling I’m going to really hit the ground running. Chatted with M&D, then grabbed some shorts and a tee (it was already almost 70° when I woke up!) and went to a café, The Social Society (SoSo for those of you who are hip to Exmouth shorthand) for an oven-warmed almond croissant and chai. Basking in the sun over a hot baked good and tea was a really, really great reminder of why people love it so much here. After a bite to eat I stopped by the dive shop that I had been training at in March before Covid scared me back to Perth. I chatted with the owner and he put me on the roster for a training day on the Whalesharking boat this weekend! So I’m back to having a job and a half in Exmouth; it’s like I’ve stepped straight back into March with hardly a blink.

My friends Kayla and Matt said the same thing when I visited them yesterday – the last three months have been a whirlwind, but it also feels a little bit like nothing has changed. Western Australia’s Covid restrictions are easing even more as of this weekend – no caps on how many people can be in a bar or restaurant beyond a 2m² per person rule, bar-goers can drink standing up (they had been required to be seated for the last two weeks), and all the travel barriers within the state are gone. The last change will be to undo the hard border with the Eastern states, but Victoria, the state that includes Melbourne, is in the middle of a Covid outbreak so now it’s sounding like it won’t be until August at the absolute earliest.

I miss my housemates and my friends in Perth, but this is a cool adventure, too. I feel so fortunate to be in a place where Covid is under control enough that some semblance of normal life can proceed. I’m so glad I was able to get work, and the promise of enough days to complete my 88 days to stay here for a second year. I wish I could travel home (I’m supposed to be in California with my parents, brother, aunt, uncle, and cousins RIGHT NOW, but am obviously missing that), I wish I could hug my people who are stateside, but I’m also so very lucky to be where I am. I guess life is always weird, but how fortunate am I to not have to wait 3 months for letters from home like Dad did while he was in the Peace Corps in West Africa? I can just video call when I need a verbal hug.

My first shift at the Potshot is this afternoon at 4, so I’m hunkered down at the Visitor’s Center using their 1 hour of daily free WiFi to post this. I rode my bike (and wore my helmet!) to get here. I’m sitting in a warm, sunny spot, realizing I need to start carrying sunscreen around in my bag all the time again. Life is wonderful.

I may be pale as a sheet now, but I don't think that's gonna last too much longer!

New beginnings

I'm employed! I've been working as a waitress for the last three weeks at an Italian restaurant in East Fremantle (after work I can drive home in 6 minutes). As my boss, Shannon, put it when he hired me, "I don't care if you have experience, I just care if you're intelligent enough to learn how to do things the way I want them done" which is pretty perfect. I had been losing hope that I'd find work, knowing that I was going to be heading north again at some point. I still need to complete my 88 days of regional work to qualify for a second year on my current visa and potential employers did not, I discovered, like to hear that I'd be leaving in 4-6 weeks. Reasonably, they didn't want to re-do the hiring process in 4-6 weeks and have to re-train someone. Anyway, Shannon needed someone right away and my landlord told me to check in with him. Worked a charm!

My first shift I only had a handful of screw ups so, God help me, I was working solo on my second day ever working as a waitress. Shannon is not only the owner, but also a career chef so he supported me from the kitchen, reminded me to pick myself back up after a mistake and keep chugging along, and told me that I'm really being too hard on myself for someone who's brand new. All really lovely sentiments to hear when I was panicking about running the floor by myself. So we muddled through and now, three weeks later, I finally am starting to think I've got a handle on things. I worked 9 days in a row this past week (Shannon was always quick to remind me that if I have the day off I can ALWAYS say no to late asks for help, but it's so nice to be out of the house and making money again that I've said yes. Plus it's earned me his gratitude for showing up when they're slammed with numbers - always good to have in my back pocket when I need a job again after getting my regional work done!). I've been dreaming about waitressing, and forgetting to call tables away for their next course to be prepared by the kitchen, but by and large I'm just glad to have work and to be trying something new and, above all, to be working for a really solidly good dude who took a chance on a 29 year old American girl with no hospitality industry experience. The universe continues to look out for me!

Anyway, Shannon hired me despite my plans to head north again, but I'm getting itchy about heading north so I can start the work. I can't remember if I've explained this breakdown before, but I need to complete 88 days of work in either agriculture or hospitality/tourism to qualify for a second year visa. The caveat is that if I choose to do hospitality work, it has to be north of the Tropic of Capricorn.

Helpful map of the Tropic of Capricorn

The last two days have been hectic with making plans to go north. For most of the last few months I've been planning to return to Exmouth for my regional work and hoping to work for the same employers who hired me three months ago when I was there. One of them reached out and asked if I was still keen to work, the other said he'd love to chat about having me back once I returned to town - said I should pop in for a chat when I arrived. All good, right? Except I only have 135 days to complete 88 days of work (less, really, because I wasn't planning on arriving up there til June 23 or 24) and started to get worried that the work will dry up. 

So my newest housemate, Gisela, is on essentially the same timeline as me. She arrived in Australia one week after I did and she also needs to complete her regional work. She hatched a plan to go to this hotel in the middle of NO WHERE (on that map up above it's basically under the "T" of Tropic) that would guarantee 40 hours of work per week - ensuring that we can get the 88 days done and dusted in plenty of time. The town is called Newman and it's a little mining town in the Outback. I interviewed with the manager there and for two hours I was convinced I was moving to Newman... but then I got a text from the second boss in Exmouth, completely spontaneously, asking when I would be arriving in town so we could chat about when I'd begin shifts at the bar. WHAT. So I explain the Newman thing to him, explain it's not that I don't WANT to be in Exmouth but that I, practically speaking, need to go with the sure thing in terms of which job can guarantee me a second year visa. I thought he'd really kindly say "okay, good luck, see ya never" but instead he told me he would find a way to make it work!! The next morning he texted me again confirming that he was willing to make things happen, so anyway, long story, I'm going to Exmouth again. I'm really bummed that Gisela and I won't be doing this Outback adventure together, but I'm hoping that I can find a time to get out to visit her before she leaves Newman. There's an apparently spectacular National Park that's maybe 2 hours drive from Newman so fingers crossed I can visit her so we can explore it together!

Everything about my life in Perth is really peachy at the moment (pretty much all the moments, actually). I haven't been diving too much recently, but I did make it out for an AMAZING dive a few weeks back with my friend Grant and we saw 12 weedy sea dragons. TWELVE OF THEM. Grant took a whole bunch of photos and will hopefully send them along, but I pestered him mercilessly until he sent along this one:

Me with my Weedy friend!

All the schmutz in the water was actually alive: it's little critters that the weedies eat, so this fellow was just scooting along munching on basically underwater gnats. 

One of Weronika's many wonderful qualities is that she really loves making meals as much a visual feast as a gustatory one. She is so intentional about setting the table and bringing in flowers and plating things nicely where I usually work along the lines of "it's all going to the same place, so I don't much care what it looks like." Anyway, she's been attempting to train me in appreciating the beauty of an intentionally presented meal and so the day after my last blog post I set up a table for us to enjoy breakfast on our front porch together and I did a damn fine job of it if I do say so myself. *Weronika agreed*

She made the waffles and I set the scene and we had this lovely leisurely breakfast on the veranda! She's slowly convincing me that her way is the right way. 

We also all decided we'd take turns making dishes from home which came about because I mentioned my love of pierogi. Weronika was not only shocked that I knew what piergoi are (shout out to Uncle Jim!) but thrilled to hear that I wanted her to make some. She'd never attempted it before but I finally, finally convinced her to give it a whirl and the results were AMAZING. 

This rainbow has nothing to do with pierogi but was equally beautiful as the potato dumplings

Whenever possible, we try to get down to the beach to catch sunsets. A few weeks back Weronika and I both had the night off and caught this one:

It was VERY chilly and windy (and I need to get her a Phillies cap)

North Mole lighthouse (also a great dive site!)

One day last week Wiebke and I were the only ones home so we took a bottle of wine to the beach and caught one together:

One of the world's cutest creatures

Because I'm leaving in a week, I'm trying to spend as much time with my various people as my schedule allows. This is complicated by the fact that Wiebke and Nat both work days, Gisela, Weronika and I work nights, and Simon works both, depending on the day. So yesterday Nat and Mick and Simon and I went on a double date to an Irish pub in the city so we could have a properly poured Guinness and some gorgeous Irish stew. Totally worth listening to Simon complain the whole drive in about how much he hates going into the city. 

Two Irish girls

The four housemates all agreed to try to take a day off on the same day so we could spend it together and today was that day! We're just home from a day spent eating pizza at a beach side cafe, sipping beers at a beach side bar, and taking photos under the Fremantle Rainbow. 

Me, Weronika, Wiebke, and Gisela at Scarborough Beach

Wiebke Voguing

Me, Weronika, Gisela, Wiebke

Me, Gisela, Weronika and Wiebke in front of the rainbow!

We divided for a bit post-outing with promises to get back together to continue watching Pitch Perfect 2, so I need to scoot so they don't start without me! Next post will be from Exmouth!!!