The Martians Are Coming

It's not uncommon to encounter aliens in Australia. I came across this one the other day at Flinders Station in Melbourne, but he wasn't from Germany.

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Merry Christmas from Down Under

This Christmas tree captures the peaceful spirit of Byron Bay, a laid-back town about 12 hours north of Sydney.

It's Christmas morning in the States, but here in Australia the day has already come and gone. I know I haven't been faithful with this blog lately, but I just wanted to post a quick note to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Quick update: Earlier this month I left my job at the casino and have been traveling down the east coast of Australia for the past few weeks. I finally made it back to Sydney on Christmas Eve and spent the holiday on Bondi Beach with some of my travel friends. Even though I wish I could have been home, the weather was perfect (it's summer here, but it wasn't too hot), and I had a fabulous time. I'm used to warm Florida Christmases, but somehow it still doesn't feel like Christmas here.

Tonight (Boxing Day) I'm headed to Melbourne, my final stop on this trip. My tentative plan is to stay put and work there for a few months.

Even though I haven't been updating this blog lately, I've kept up with my personal travel journal so I don't forget all of my crazy adventures. I'll edit some of those entries into something coherent and share them here when I get a chance.

I miss you all and hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Castle Hill

I am fascinated with Townsville's landmark, Castle Hill. The red, rocky mountain looks like something you might see out in the desert in Arizona, but it seems so out of place here in the middle of a tropical climate with the beach only about half a mile away. Even though it doesn't seem to match its surroundings, I think that makes it all the more beautiful.

When I first saw Castle Hill, I thought there was something oddly familiar about it, but since Townsville isn't exactly a major tourist destination, I was sure I had never seen a picture of it. I hadn't even heard of Townsville until I inadvertently ended up here. But after more than two months of observing it every day in the background, I finally figured it out--it reminds me of Big Thunder Mountain at Disney World. All that's missing is the roller coaster.

October in Queensland

I love these little statues that sit outside of the guest house where I'm staying. The seventh dwarf isn't pictured. :(

At home, no matter where I've lived in the States, October brings crisp weather that is always a relief after the summer's unrelenting heat. I love the breezes that hint of the winter ahead. I get giddy when I start digging sweaters out of my storage bin (and buying some new ones) and putting my summer clothes away until spring.

I love how the trees begin to show their colorful displays and the way the fallen leaves crunch beneath my feet.

And even if nature isn't cooperating, the stores let you know it's October by featuring orange and black displays full of candy, ghoulish laughs and pre-made costumes. At most restaurants and cafes, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin and sweet potato are featured on the menus. I'd be in heaven if I could have a fried sweet potato pie (a la mode, of course) or pumpkin spiced latte right now.

But there are no signs of October here. I haven't seen any tacky, plastic costumes for sale, Halloween candy or any real attempts to market this holiday. I haven't been able to find any homes decorated with jack-o'-lanterns, black and orange lights, cobwebs, spiders, witches or black cats. I asked a few of my co-workers, and apparently Halloween isn't really celebrated here in Australia. One of my friends told me that some of the kids try to trick-or-treat in the suburbs, but it hasn't really caught on. Maybe we Americans are just a bunch of heathens? (As a side note, it appears to be perfectly acceptable to say "Christmas" here instead of the generic "holidays.")

There are no cool breezes (I take that back, we had a lovely wind gust today that made the walk to work much more enjoyable). Instead of replacing my tank tops with wool sweaters, I'm buying more tanks (they call them singlets here) and shorts in an effort to stay cool. We've had the air conditioning on for the past month as the temperature has been hovering around 30 degrees (86 Fahrenheit--I'm finally getting this Celsius thing down).

For some reason, I'm also attracted to this poor, disabled pig, who also lives outside of the guest house.

It's funny how little things can make you homesick. OK, I've admitted it--I'm slightly homesick. I'm not going to be ashamed of it or deny it. I think it's natural for most people go through this when they live in a foreign country for an extended period of time. Besides, fall is my favorite season, and it's spring here, though it's starting to feel like July.

I never thought I'd miss the land where toilets have only one button and one cent is still used as currency (no pennies here--5 cents is the lowest denomination)..

But this, too, will pass.

Just so you know, I still love Australia. I'm happy here and glad I decided to take a year off in the land down under. I could do an entire post on things I love and hate about this country (most of them involve the lack of free wireless Internet and edible Mexican food*!), as well as the US. I'm still enjoying my job and actually look forward to going to work most days. I think I'm learning more in my year living abroad than I ever did in a semester of college.

I'm here to experience a different culture, not live in the one I've been immersed in for the past 30 (almost!!) years. So, take any complaints or comments with a grain of salt.

* I talk about food a lot because that's one of the things I miss the most about home. The food, especially the vegetarian food, is rather bland here. In fact, the best meals I've had haven't been at restaurants, but the ones I've taken hours to cook from scratch.

I Am Not a Waitress*

photo by angelanoel

Or maybe I am. I can carry three plates without my wrist buckling. The drink tray no longer seems unwieldy, and I can balance it on one hand without fear that it will topple into a customer's lap.** I can make a mean cappuccino and finally understand exactly how it differs from a latte or flat white. Maybe these skills don't require a degree, but they are underrated.

One reason I haven't been faithful about updating this blog lately is because I've been so busy working at a North Queensland hotel and casino. The hours I can go to the library are limited, so I only check my e-mail about once or twice a week now. I have a feeling my employer would not approve of me sharing my stories on the job, so I will not disclose the name of the hotel for now.

I started working there last month as a server in a different department. I can safely say that was the worst job I've ever had. I thought it would be easy enough, but serving is only a small portion of the position. Most of the job involves setting up and breaking down everything for special events, so if you're not doing heavy lifting--moving tables, chairs and buffets across fields--you're stuck with mundane tasks, like counting cutlery (we needed 1,300 knives one night).

My first day I worked 16 hours with only two half-hour breaks. I didn't even leave work until 2:30 a.m. My entire body ached--my neck, back, shoulders, feet--and I could barely walk when I got out of bed the next day. Needless to say, two days and 28 hours of work later, I decided to call it quits. It was just too physically demanding. On the bright side, I had a great pay check!

After my first two days, I was pretty much turned off by the whole hospitality industry and resigned myself to getting another boring office job, something I wanted to avoid doing while I was here. But when I told my supervisor I was leaving, she generously offered to transfer me to the restaurants department. I was skeptical, but decided to give it a try.

And I'm glad I did. I felt a little bit out of my element when I started, but after seven years of working in journalism, it's refreshing to try something completely different. It's funny because the reason I like this job is the same thing that frustrates me so much about it--it's challenging. I don't know everything, make lots of mistakes and have to ask questions. I learn something new every day. Although some days I have my Bridget Jones' moments, I'm at the point now where I feel confident in what I'm doing most of the time.

photo by voxphoto

If only my coffees were this pretty. I'm still working on it.

I'm usually too busy to chat much, but I enjoy interacting with the customers. Most of them are Australians who are on holiday or locals who are out to have a nice meal, so they tend to be in a good mood and more forgiving if they have a long wait.

As a bonus, it pays well. In fact, I'm making twice as much as I did at my first journalism job. I'm thankful Australia requires employers to pay a decent, living wage.

I wouldn't want to make a career out of this, but it's fine for a temporary job. It's better than being stuck in cubeland, sitting under florescent lights and being bored out of my mind.

* The name of one of my favorite OPI colors makes perfect sense now. A waitress doesn't bother painting her nails because they'll chip within a few hours of work. My nails are a wreck now, but I really don't care.

** Since I wrote this a few weeks ago, I have had a few issues with the drink tray. I knew it was bound to happen. The worst one involved spilling Corona down a bridesmaid's back. Ooops! But it's reassuring to talk to others and find that everyone has these stories. It's all part of the experience.

It's My Kind of Town

The most I ever intended to see of Townsville was the bus/ferry stop, but I've been living here for more than a month and am now happily employed. It's a charming town. I wouldn't want to stay here more than a few months, but I think it's a nice place to work and take a break from the crowded, fast-paced city.

And since Townsville isn't a popular stop on the backpacker circuit, it's also the perfect place to escape the backpacker scene and meet real Aussies. The town is small compared to what I'm used to, but it has enough to keep me occupied. It's only a few blocks from the CBD (Central Business District, basically what Australians call downtown), complete with a Woolworth's (popular grocery store in Oz) and a bunch of other shops. It's also about a 10-minute walk from the beach, which is never crowded. The town also has this great saltwater pool that borders the ocean, but is sealed off to keep the stingers out (stinger season doesn't start until November though). A few weeks ago, they had a huge screen out by the pool showing Olympic coverage.

The climate here is similar to what I'm used to in Florida, which is perfect now during the winter--we've had plenty of great beach days, and I haven't had to wear more than a light sweater on some nights--but it won't be so pleasant when summer arrives. My tentative plan is to move south before the holidays, so I hope to avoid most of the unrelenting heat and humidity.


And while there isn't as much culture compared to Sydney, DC or other cities I've lived in, I think the town does its best considering its size. A few weekends ago Townsville hosted a jazz festival, and we had a wonderful time listening to everything from ragtime to fusion jazz. Just last weekend there was a cultural festival here, which featured, dance, music and food from around the world.

On Sunday mornings, I love walking to the weekly market. I rarely buy anything--though it isn't always possible to resist the baked goods--but I love to look at all of the handmade jewelry, art and other crafts and knickknacks. I'm so impressed with people's creativity.

Townsville also is a bizarre place. Most of the shops in town close at 5 (at least the grocery is open a few hours later), so it turns into a ghost town at night. Sometimes it feels like a ghost town in the middle of the day. It only wakes up on weekend evenings and Sunday mornings.

I am happy here for right now, but I miss so many things about city life--24-hour shops, museums, shopping, big parks to escape to in the middle of the city, decent public transportation, a variety of cheap ethnic food--so I'll need to return at some point.

Small town headlines

I love small town papers. After working at one for a few years, I have a special appreciation for them. The stories usually tend to be more entertaining than the ones you find in the larger newspapers. Judging from the Townsville Bulletin, even stranger things happen in Australian small towns (I use the word small town loosely. Townsville actually is the largest city in North Queensland with a population of more than 140,000).

I purchased the paper yesterday just for the employment section, but after I finished circling ads, I turned the paper around to see a headline in the largest point size that I've seen used since September 11: "370 pets in one home." How did I miss this when I was purchasing the paper?

The headline is a little misleading though because when you read the article you find out that 250 of those "pets" were rats and the rest were dogs. Maybe the definition of family pet is different in Australia, but I didn't know an infestation of rats could be considered your pets.

There were a number of other gems in this issue, including:




As you probably guessed, this mayor made the mistake of urinating in public.



This one is about a book full of photos of Australian roadkill. Perfect for the coffee table or a gift for someone who has everything.



A university student created new toad traps that contain black lights and loud speakers that blare mating calls to lure them in.



The Pug Olympics are coming to town. I couldn't wait to see this one in person, but unfortunately, the article didn't tell us what time the event took place so I missed out.


Awww. They sure love their animals in Townsville. I counted at least eight stories or photos about pets in just this one issue.

Other interesting items include:

• Town sounds like F-word--This one is about a New Zealand town called Whakatane was censored in cyberspace.
• Man taken to hospital after fork stabbing
• Clown doll pulled from showbags--Apparently it contained more than 30 times above the acceptable level of lead

It was a well-spent $1.80. I can't wait to read the headlines tomorrow.

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