Turns out the limes were a bit of a damp squid in the end. (Yeah, yeah, I can almost hear you all saying "no...you just told us they were limes". Shush! :P). Well, actually the whole hostel... We got there, and there was this hot, but f***ing C-R-A-Z-Y Canadian bird in charge. Amanda. This has no bearing to the story, but I just thought she was worth a mention.. :P).
Anyways, we got there, spent an hour filling out all these terms and conditions on the paperwork. The rent starts off at $150 per week, but keeps going up in $50 increments for every 5 hours per week you work, you have to give one months notice of your leaving, otherwise you lose your $200(!!) bond. That kind of thing...so we're already a bit sus (id just like to add we didnt pay them $200. We told them to sod off, and had to part with $50. Which took 5mins to take, but 2 months to get back!). THEN this woman who owns the hostel charges us $30 EACH to sleep in the campervan outside, without power (though we plugged in anyways!). So we've decided that one day picking limes is all we're going to do in this place.
So we wake up the next morning...its had a bit of rain overnight, and the limes didnt happen at all. Cant pick them because it leaves marks appparantly. Well, the lady who owned the hostel (who was already massively patronising) gave up pretending to be nice as soon as she realised that she couldnt get any more money out of us, and turned into a complete bitch. I could put down the stuff she said, but id be here all week. Suffice to say that shed pissed me off to the point where, If I stood around much longer, id probably just push her over and walk off, and Alex...well, he'd got to that point after the 1st 5mins.
So yes, after much protest ("how can you just f*** off? Its my job to find the farmers work [erm. actually, you run a hostel. its your job to keep us happy and find US work. which involves finding the farmers work]. Your screwing me over! [well, actually, we only came for one day, and that didnt happen, so we're not screwing anyone over] You wont get your bond back! [oh yes I bloody will. thats theft.] Ive offered you another possible job at the end of the week. [Someone wants a day weeding! and if its raining, which its going to do all week, then it wont happen again, will it?] Piss off then, Theres always more backpackers coming through! They wont be so fucking lazy! [whatever. Goodbye.]) we left.
Ended up going through the tablelands (they're a really nice part of Queensland if anyone ever gets a chance to look. Awesome views and some really nice towns), and then across to the Gulf of Carpentaria. It was a really good drive, although the road there had been mostly washed away in last years floods, and was almost non-existant at some point. We passed this old tunnell, which was the only remains of the massive gold mining industry in the region in the past, and stopped in this really cool little town called Croydon for a bit.
It had a massive tourist information centre, must have cost billions, with a film in it linked to holograms, and puppets popping up on the side of the tv, and timed lights, for a town of maybe 1000 people, if that, in the middle of nowhere! :P We walked in just to break the drive, and the two people there was almost fighting each other off to come and help us...we must have been the only tourists in there in months! Very interesting place though...they had a population of, I think, close to 100'000 people when the gold was in town, then when it ran out, everyone just put thier houses on the back of horses and carts, and buggered off! youve gotta love the aussies! :P
After that, after driving over a flooded road. The van almost cut out a few times. We went over to Normanton, and slept there for the night. There wasnt that much there really. A giant statue of an 8m crocodile, the largest one ever shot and recorded (its in the Guinness Book of Records), and a plaque to Kris the Crocodile Hunter who shot it it, and a purple pub. That was about it..
Anyways, we got there, spent an hour filling out all these terms and conditions on the paperwork. The rent starts off at $150 per week, but keeps going up in $50 increments for every 5 hours per week you work, you have to give one months notice of your leaving, otherwise you lose your $200(!!) bond. That kind of thing...so we're already a bit sus (id just like to add we didnt pay them $200. We told them to sod off, and had to part with $50. Which took 5mins to take, but 2 months to get back!). THEN this woman who owns the hostel charges us $30 EACH to sleep in the campervan outside, without power (though we plugged in anyways!). So we've decided that one day picking limes is all we're going to do in this place.
So we wake up the next morning...its had a bit of rain overnight, and the limes didnt happen at all. Cant pick them because it leaves marks appparantly. Well, the lady who owned the hostel (who was already massively patronising) gave up pretending to be nice as soon as she realised that she couldnt get any more money out of us, and turned into a complete bitch. I could put down the stuff she said, but id be here all week. Suffice to say that shed pissed me off to the point where, If I stood around much longer, id probably just push her over and walk off, and Alex...well, he'd got to that point after the 1st 5mins.
So yes, after much protest ("how can you just f*** off? Its my job to find the farmers work [erm. actually, you run a hostel. its your job to keep us happy and find US work. which involves finding the farmers work]. Your screwing me over! [well, actually, we only came for one day, and that didnt happen, so we're not screwing anyone over] You wont get your bond back! [oh yes I bloody will. thats theft.] Ive offered you another possible job at the end of the week. [Someone wants a day weeding! and if its raining, which its going to do all week, then it wont happen again, will it?] Piss off then, Theres always more backpackers coming through! They wont be so fucking lazy! [whatever. Goodbye.]) we left.
Ended up going through the tablelands (they're a really nice part of Queensland if anyone ever gets a chance to look. Awesome views and some really nice towns), and then across to the Gulf of Carpentaria. It was a really good drive, although the road there had been mostly washed away in last years floods, and was almost non-existant at some point. We passed this old tunnell, which was the only remains of the massive gold mining industry in the region in the past, and stopped in this really cool little town called Croydon for a bit.
It had a massive tourist information centre, must have cost billions, with a film in it linked to holograms, and puppets popping up on the side of the tv, and timed lights, for a town of maybe 1000 people, if that, in the middle of nowhere! :P We walked in just to break the drive, and the two people there was almost fighting each other off to come and help us...we must have been the only tourists in there in months! Very interesting place though...they had a population of, I think, close to 100'000 people when the gold was in town, then when it ran out, everyone just put thier houses on the back of horses and carts, and buggered off! youve gotta love the aussies! :P
After that, after driving over a flooded road. The van almost cut out a few times. We went over to Normanton, and slept there for the night. There wasnt that much there really. A giant statue of an 8m crocodile, the largest one ever shot and recorded (its in the Guinness Book of Records), and a plaque to Kris the Crocodile Hunter who shot it it, and a purple pub. That was about it..
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