First of all....I'm going to be an AUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok ok. So we arrived on the 12th to broome in western australia and were met with 35 degree heat in the worlds smallest airport (though I have since experienced smaller). We decided to stay at Cable Beach, a decision that was not regretted. Unlike the cramped and crowded beaches in Sydney, Cable beach spreads over kilometers and kilometers of white sandy beaches. The water is blue and the warmest I've ever been in (made thailand seem like a joke).
So we spent a couple days relaxing and exploring this small town (the biggest in Norhtern WA) and then on Monday headed to Grunt Labour Services to talk business.
We were disappointed to hear that our dreams of being pearl divers would not be realized. One, because they don't hire women, and two, because they don't hire travellers. So we put our names on the list for getting work as chippers/deckhands on the pearling boats and were told we would find out in a week or so if we can get in on the next "swing".
Money was tight, so we decided to get jobs - me at a cafe/restaurant and jimmy doing laundrey at the backpackers/resort we were staying at. Finally we were told that they got us work with Kailis, one of the larger pearling companies, and we were leaving the 23rd. The pay was 150 a day and food and accomodation were included. We would would two weeks on the boat and then get a week off. Finally things were starting to work out again.
We were met on the morning of the 23rd by a small seaplane, which would take us on our 90minute trip to the boat, the Capricorn Lady. The seaplane trip was an experience in itelf and the view was amazing.
I dozed off a bit and Jimmy shook me awake and pointed out the window. I saw blue ocean dotted with hundreds of little islands. All completely uninhabited and covered in red rock and green bushes most about a half kilometer across if that.
On the boat things were a bit hectic. We were shown our bunks (me and jimmy were in the 8 person bunk in the bottom level) and given a tour of the boat, which was much smaller than expected. We spent the day get the boat ready for a 24 hour steam to the farm we would work this week (we would steam back and do the farm we arrived at a week later). I was nervous and felt out of my element. But i quickly learned how to tie the various knots and what needed to be done to prepare the boat.
We were supposed to steam that night, but the anchor chain got knotted up, so we were given our beer rations (a carton of mid strength beers, for $35, which was to last for the week at a limit of four a day - a loosely enforced limit). and had a couple of beers and went to bed.
We woke up at 5am, fixed the chains and headed off... it was nice to get paid to do nothing, but was a bit boring...all there really is to do is read or watch movies.
Blah, blah, we arrived...so i'll go ahead and paint you a picture of my average day.
I wake up at 5:30 and throw on my work clothes, brush my teeth and have a cup of tea (if there are any mugs). At six, we head onto our individual cleaning boats and head to our lines. Each line has about 85 or so panels with 6 to 8 shells in them. One person pulls the panels, which can weigh up to 13 kilos out of the water, but there dropper lines, hoists it onto the boat and puts it through the cleaning machine wich rinses it with hi powered jets of saltwater. It comes out the other end and the other people on the boat use wood chisels to chip off the barnacles, jelly like sea creatures, oyster shells, itchy fire weed and other crap that grows on them .then one person tosses the panel back in to the water. This goes on until the last panel is done. then the line is taked off the winge and and we go along and count the exact number of panels, and move on to the next line. At 8 we have Smoko, where we get a 15 minute break and some food is brought out (ex:spring rolls, yogurt, sandwhich and fruit...a lot of food). Then back to work and then at 12 we are taken back to the Cap lady for lunch (45minutes and just as big as smoko) and then back on the boast and we finish at about 3, head to moor up the boat and back to the big boat to enjoy a much needed mid strength beer.
The rest of the day is spent fishing, going to one of the beaches, watching movies, reading, chatting, having a couple more beers and watching the sharks, dolphins and crocs that hang out by the boat waiting for scraps or the schools of fishes that swarm the boat in the evening attracted to the lights.
So after two weeks (14 days of working) I am covered in little scratching, sandfly bites, have a shooting pain in my now only parshally mobile fingers and soar arms and shoulders and have a rash on my fingers and upper arm. All in all it was a good, time, the people on the boat were cool and the work was not that hard...a bit messy but i bet i'll have really toned arms.
So a fortnight later, we were on the plane headed for our week off. Back in broome, we are just rlaxing and I am going to start taking some big chunks out of my debt. It's nice to be on land. We are going to stay in broome this week off. But we plan to hire a van and travel and camp around the rest of WA.
So i'm off to relax by the pool and do some much needed unwinding.
