Hello everyone
I know I haven’t been in touch for AGES! First thing to mention is I’m in Australia. And will be here until the end of April 2010 (if there’s no major change) To summarise my life this year, I thought about travelling abroad since the end of 2008. Initially it should be an Asian tour or just go to England. But somehow the plans went wrong and I decided to make a bigger trip. So I decided to ask for Work and Holiday Visa to Australia and I got it. Next thing I had to quit my job and I crammed to do some local trips in Thailand as if I was leaving Thailand forever! LOL Next thing you realize, I was in Sydney on the 2nd May. I manage to meet some of my old friends both Thai and non Thai in Sydney (New South Wales state (NSW)). I travelled with Josephine, my friend who were classmates 6 years ago …maybe 7 years now :-D
I met Trevor second time in the Latin Camp and third time in Brisbane (First time in Bangkok). Josephine went back to Sydney. I relaxed in Brisbane (Queensland state) and as usual I met my good friends whom I knew when I was in Sydney last time. Two weeks later I and Trevor decided to buy a campervan. Then we started our trip from there.
We headed back to NSW for a bit for registration thing. Then, we travelled around the national park and beaches in South and Central Queensland. We went back and forth to Brisbane for a few times just to sort out the van registration thing. That’s quite a pain, isn’t it?
Trevor and I have become a couple at some point and shortly after that, we almost ran out of money so we decided to do fruit picking because Trevor can extend his 2nd year visa. We got some useful advice from our French mate, Robin. We headed to Gayndah and we got a job within the first week! Phew!
We made some friends in Gayndah. Most of them are Germen and French. We found that Koreans are expert in this fruit picking business which I found it intriguing. Trevor picked the Mandarin (Orange) for a while before he changed to pack Mandarin like I did. We worked for about 1 month until the end of the season. Citrus packing is a heavy job but the money is not too bad if you have work all the time.
A week later, we got a new job, peach thinning in a neighbouring town of Gayndah called Mundubbera. Peach thinning is even harder for me. It made me missing Mandarin packing! LOL I earned pretty little as the farmer pay per tree!
One week is more than enough since we both earn less than $400 per week each. So we decided to head to Northern Territory to work in a mango farm. However, we replaced our 2 worn-out tyres before our BIG trip
East coast is amazing. I spent 3 weeks on the coast including 1 SCUBA diving in Yongala Wreck and 1 cruise to Whitsunday. Of course, we took the ferry to Magnetic Islands and Cape Tribulation. Just in case you want to travel the East Coast. You can start from Sydney, Byron Bay, Gold Coast (Surfer Paradise), Sunshine Coast, Gympie, Maryborough (Fraser Island), Bundaberg, Capricorn Coast (Seventeen Seventy, Gladstone, Rockingham-Yeppooon, Mackay), Arlie Beach-Whitsunday Islands, Bowen, Ayr, Townsville-Magnetic Islands, Igham, Mission Beach, Innisfail/Tully, Cairns, Port Douglas, Cape Tribulation. I visited almost all of the places mentioned above.
After the East Coast, I started crossing the state to Northern Territory (NT) where we found less civilization and the sky rocket price of petrol! (Including Diesel).
We began our travelling in NT basically from Mataranka. There are 2 nice thermal pool (hot spring) and then, we drove up to Katherine where we expected to see MacDonalds but no. Not available until the Christmas 2009. I didn’t go back to prove it though. The north of Katherine is great. We stopped by Edith Falls for a few days before we headed to Acacia where the mango farm is.
We finally got ourselves sort things out at the mango farm and we both worked in the packing shed. The job is alright but I found that my grading station is quite boring. In the afternoon, I almost fell asleep :-P Therefore, when I got a chance, I tried to pack the mango instead ;-)
Trevor and I spent about 1 month in the mango farm which was a pleasant time in terms of accommodation, foods and facilities. It’s just not enough noodles for me. And the accom is pricy! Hahaha After we were shocked about how short the mango season was (we arrived in the middle of the season again), we decided to leave to Darwin to find more job.
We stayed near Darwin city while we were waiting for a job. To not just wait around hopelessly, we travelled in two of the most famous national parks, Litchfield and Kakadu. When we finished the trip, our butts are on fire so we decided to go to Katherine (again) because there were more farming job there.
We arrived in Katherine safe and sound before finding out our van has serious problem with its shots. So we managed to buy and get the new ones replaced at the cheap garage.
Trevor and I signed up for a job agency which I sensed that the woman is pretty laid back and I felt we were unlikely to get a job in Katherine. My sense was right. Just 4 days in Katherine, our butts were getting ot again, eh! We really need a job before we cruise along the West Coast.
We left Katherine and crossed the state again to Western Australia (WA), the largest state in Australia. We passed the quarantine office that controls the vegetables and fruits carriage nicely. Only threw away few garlic and a bottle of honey. Of course, we prepared ourselves for this. And if you have to go into WA, you shouldn’t forget.
We arrived in Kununurra, the agriculture town which was nearest to NT, early in the morning (due to time difference). I told Trevor to go to the job agency straight away and it worked. We got a job in the same morning and we started working next day! So we quickly sorted out the accommodation and bought grocery and stuff.
We got picked up to a small mango farm together with another 2 guys. Later we found out their main business was sandalwood nursery farm. The mango took about 4-5 days to pick only. When the job was over, our boss kindly transferred us to sandalwood farm so where we work for 3 weeks more. Here we made friends with some Briton, Japanese and unsurprisingly Koreans. Sandalwood nursery is the easiest farm work I have experienced so far but because of the heat and sunshine and repetition, you might find yourself yawning sometimes :-D
Eventually, we had to leave Kununurra, our workmates and the kind boss. We wanted to work more but if we stopped moving, we couldn’t make it to Perth before New Year and couldn’t reach Sydney for Salsa Congress at the end of January.
We drove to Broome in 3 days passing little towns, Halls Creek, Fitzroy Crossing and Derby. After the magnificent Broome, we drove down south to Perth. Here we went (in order more or less) Broome, Eighty Mile Beach, Port Hedland, Point Samson (including Cossack, Wickham), Karratha (including Dampier), Exmouth (Ningaloo National Park), Coral Bay, Carnarvon,, Denham and Monkey Mia or you can call this area as Shark Bay (Xmas time here), Kalbarri, Geraldton, Pink Lake in Port Gregory, Dongara-Port Denison, Jurien Bay, Cerventes, and Perth!
So it was just 3 days ago that I arrived in Perth So far, we just sorted out our car problem, a tyre just got flat a day before our service day. Lucky us that it happened in the city! So everything was quite easy. Trevor changed the tyre for the first time in his life :-D He performed a decent job though
Tomorrow we will go to Fremantle. Then, on 2nd Jan or maybe a day later, we will go to Rockingham, head South of Perth and East. I will cross the state again. Now on to South Australia. I should be planning where and how long to visit each place really but the city keeps me busy especially our beloved Toyota Tarago!
I’ll try to update my trip more often but I can’t promise really. Only I can say is I don’t forget you guys. It’s just not a lot of time to be online. You can catch up my photos from Facebook at www.facebook.com. You can find and add me as a friend with Namrin Bussayadilokskul (the one the only) or namrinnet@yahoo.com My blog is a bit disabled right now hahaha! But I will try to catch up something in somehow. It’s http://namrinbussayadilokskul@blogspot.com My daily trip diary has failed since MAY!! Yep, that was 7 months ago! I hope some of you can finish this essay. Sorry for long story….this is already SHORT version :-D Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Lots of love! Namrin
P.S. My best Japanese friend is getting married so CONGRATULATIONS! You make it mate! XOX
