Home Hill, Queensland, Australia

The journey to Home Hill only took about six or seven hours by bus, which is not that long at all. The three of us were embarking on one of the biggest milestones of our travels. For myself and Jason, Home Hill is going to be our new home for the next few months as we both knuckle down and do a bit of farm work! Hopefully we won't be waiting too long. Luckily enough we had our accommodation sorted before we had even left the lovely Cairns. When we reached the town , it wasn't a long walk to 'The Home Hill Backpackers.' When we arrived at our new home, we didn't know what to think! Could we really stay here for the next few months? We were in the middle of nowhere and all three of us were in separate rooms. The only upside was that we were all in the new building that had only just been built. The rooms in that block were a lot more modern and spacious than the older building. The Great thing about staying in a working hostel is the stress of finding work is lifted off your shoulders as someone else has to do all the searching for you! For us, the responsibility lies with Shelly, the owner. She can be nice, but she is money mad. Everything is about money! The following morning everything seemed a lot better. Two guys that were in my dorm were leaving, which left two free beds for Jason and Katharina. Our angels were definitely looking out for us. That evening while enjoying some 'Goon' (It's cheap!) in a lovely cup, (I know, wine in a cup is just wrong, but we're backpackers!) the lovely Katharina got offered a job in 'NQ Fresh' which is a big shed where they sort all the produce out from the different farms, pack it up and send it to different retailers. We were only there a day and she all ready had a job lined up. Jammy bitch! The next day, our roommate Marko who also works there recommended me as the supervisors were looking for an extra person, especially someone that was tall. I think I fit that description perfectly. Thankfully, I started work the foklowing day. I never thought I would be back in work on a Sunday at 8am again, but there you go! At least now I can start counting down to my eighty eighty days to getting my second year visa and I'm getting paid €15 an hour. Not bad considering all I'm doing is stacking boxes of either melons or capsicums (peppers to you and me). To be fair, it's not as easy as it sounds as they have to be stacked a certain way and you have to be very fast. It's certainly a lot more physical than I'm use to but its also a good way to get fit. Hopefully there is enough work there for me! Fingers crossed! And everyone seems very friendly which is an added bonus. One the few things to do here is to go for a swim in the lovely Olympic size swimming pool which is only two blocks down from our hostel. It's only AU$2, which is not bad at all. The pool is outdoors so you can go for a swim and then relax on the grass while enjoying a picnic. Could life get any better? Katie who looks after the whole place is very friendly. She even leant us some tennis rackets so we could play a game of tennis. Katharina asked her if she wanted a deposit and she said no, she trusts us. Honestly, the best thing about this place is that everyone is so friendly. It's certainly growing on us. Also, there isn't very much to do here so you can't really spend any money, which suits us perfect! Poor Jason had to wait a little bit longer until he got work. But, one week after arriving, the perfect job became available for him. He was offered a job working in a different shed to myself and Katharina cleaning butternut squash and pumpkins. At least this Halloween we will have a nice big pumpkin. Crazy Jo-Jo will be very happy with us! Walking along today, myself and Katharina saw the most amazing birds that had a lime green body with a bit of red. They were absolutely stunning! With wanting to start a new fitness regime, Katharina and Jason decided to take advantage of the excellent tennis courts on offer in Home Hill. Of course, I was the referee, perched high up in my chair so I could see everything. After a couple of games, Katharina couldn't play anymore so it ended in a draw. I think she was afraid of loosing to Jason, but, I could be wrong! Back at the hostel, everyone (Ok, not everyone) was gearing up for the exclusive launch of the brand new hostel bar 'Nuggets Bar.' It's not exactly what I call a bar. Definitely done on the cheap! After having only one drink, the three of us decided to retire to our room. There wasn't that many people there and it was kinda boring. A lot of people don't want to give shelly anymore of their hard earned cash as all she wants is money, money, money! Her favourite thing to do is to roll around with all her many dollar bills! When the bar closed at twelve, some people refused to leave the garden area. Some people were even drinking in a public area as they weren't ready to stop drinking. Of course, Shelly being Shelly spends an hour mouthing off at them and then eventually rings the police. They arrest one guy and before putting him into their van, they smash his face into the side of the vehicle. Definitely uncalled for! Did they arrest Shelly for being intoxicated, NO, even though she was serving alcohol during the evening herself! It's going to be a fun few months! After only working two days last week, hopefully this week will be a lot busier so I can continue to tick off my eighty eight days and start counting all my money again! Unfortunately, it was the coldest winter in forty years and the worst season in ten years so hardly anything has grown, which is just our look. Hopefully, things will pick up, fingers crossed. One thing that we are guaranteed is that Shelly will of course continue to rant on, especially when it comes to all the new rules she has. One rule that she tried to bring in was no bringing in soft drinks into the hostel, that changed to no bringing in soft drinks to the bar. One of the days they decided to empty everyone's food bag in the bin as there was a bad smell in the cold room. Luckily our bag had a lock on it. Of course, while it sounds bad, Home Hill isn't the worst. Everyone is very friendly, even Shelly on a good day! There may not be very much to do but that's a good thing because we can't spend any money. But hopefully we both get our eighty eight days sooner rather than later. Poor Katharina was sacked from her job packing melons as she had one, yes one slow day! How fair is that? So now she has decided to leave two weeks earlier than planned. Another Kathrin leaves us! That's so sad! I think one of my worst experiences in Home Hill was walking around 25KM to the main town in the area, Ayr, and back! What made the trip worse was that I had a very sore leg. Why did I agree? I still don't know. On the way up, we past the main Home Hill attraction, a big bridge covered in deadly spiders. You don't want to mess with them! When we got to Ayr, we only managed to get some lunch and do a food shop! All that walking just for that, we must be crazy! On the way back, after a good walk, luckily for us we got a lift back to the hostel off one of the guys I worked with. I have never been so grateful in all my life. It was pure heaven! The following day, the time had come to bid farewell to the lovely Katharina! Frustrated with the lack of work, myself and Jason said goodbye to Shelly and Home Hill. But of course it wasn't all bad. Everyone in the town were very friendly and we all have lots of fun memories of the swimming pool. Apart from chilling by the pool, there is nothing else to do here so I don't think we will be revisiting the lovely Shelly or the charming Home Hill, however, stranger things have happened, so who knows!

By Andrew

#australia #queensland #farmwork