Be careful what you wish for, some say, as
it may just come true. And then some! I am a firm believer in that principle as
life constantly confirms that my thoughts create my reality. But I seem to recall
it was a warmer climate I was pining for, and not a city wide sauna. I
definitely prefer the stinking hot to the freezing cold, and the rest of
Broome's population must concur or else they wouldn't be here sweating every
bit as much as me. I'm sure the heat continues out beyond the city limits, but
I'm so fried by the time I get half way there that it will be a long time
before I can confirm it.
Broome is remote Australia
alright with a large aboriginal population, 4WD's the transport of choice, and red
dirt filling up every exposed nook and cranny. But the upscale shops selling
pearls and fine dining are more Rodeo Drive
than rodeo functional. The town itself seems to be built around the airport so
incoming planes look like they are going to land somewhere on the main street.
The population far exceeds Orbost's so not everyone would be related here, and
the numbers continue to swell as travelers pour in for the cooler, dryer and
even more expensive high season.
And the vast majority of the new comers are
attractive enough not to worry me that they could be of a similar nutty flavour
to the Orbost based bunny boilers. Being travelers and normally more open
minded, there is less chance of them wanting to marry random strangers. Not
many French have made it up this far, ruling out my 'added clause to the Treaty
of Versailles' theory. Australians and English are the majority, meaning I can
follow most of the conversations I partake in or eavesdrop on.
Contrary to the Bowen attitude, Australians
are the employees of choice which I am at a loss to explain given the lengths
they go to confirming the party ruthlessly stereotype. The temptation to follow
suit is as strong as ever, and the red eyeball squinting evidence of weed
indulgence is a common trait. Two weeks into my declaration to abstain, I am
still going strong. If 'strong' can be interpreted to mean that I probably
would have cracked last night if I hadn't have been too pissed already.
It's far too hot to be ingesting anything
that isn't cooling on the system, and at $6 a beer in the no B.Y.O. hostel,
staying sober has never seemed so appealing. Shane & I are rather ingenious
when it comes to finding cheap ways to get drunk without resorting to goon
though. We head down to watch amazing sunsets on the divine Cable Beach each
night with store bought beers that we smuggle in and out of the hostel fridge.
And after sweating my way through the
increasing heat in Bowen and saving myself $7 a week for the trouble, I've
opted to take air-conditioning whenever it is on offer. My South Korean room
mate wants to convince herself she is not in the tropics and chills the room
down to polar bear pleasing levels. The other sweet and overly friendly room
mate makes up for SK girls apparent vow of silence and has talked me to sleep
most nights.
I'm ostensibly here to cash in on the
increased demand for workers, as the weather goes from Earth scorching to just
mildly baking. My knowledgeable room mate has told me that the pearl boats
aren't hiring due to the GFC. So the Geelong Football Club lost a grand final
they shouldn't have and they are taking it out on the pearling industry? That
seemed to be the most plausible explanation until I figured out GFC was
actually the fashionable acronym for the global financial crisis.
That
should be enough to motivate me but procrastination hasn't adversely affected
my job searching too much in the past. I haven't had many job offers while
hanging around the hostel pool all day but. I will get more resume's out there
once I've figured out which interesting challenge I want to undertake next. I
haven't yet painted myself the same 'catatonic' colour as the hostel, and I'll
chalk acclimatisation up as a contributing factor to the extended decision making process.
