Well the day came around to say goodbye to Beryl, it had been a fabulous 3 wks and I'd only managed to spend what I had left from my asia funds so I was grateful to be allowed to stay with her for cheap rent. I would be lying if I didn't say I was bricking it about starting work again after 10 months of doing nothing but travelling, having fun and being free! But it was only for 3 months right? And then I'll be a backpacker again for 6wks with Bex!!
So 1.230pm came around and I said goodbye to Beryl and was picked up by Paul, my new boss, then we went to pick up his friend Derek at the airport, who was visiting for the week from Sydney. We drove for an hr and a half through the Atherton Tablelands to a little village called Herberton, which was to be my home for the next 3 months, and chatted for a bit. When we arrived Paul showed me to my room, it's upstairs in the hotel, just above the kitchen at the back of the building, right next to the ladies bathroom (separate shower room and toilet).
The royal hotel was built in the late 1800's and still has all the original features; slated wooden walls, high ceilings old beds and furniture and creaky floorboards, so it's basic but still homely. My room is quite big, with both a double and single bed (useful for putting all my clothes on - in organised piles, mind!), a wardrobe (not useful as there's no hangers), small chest of drawers and large full length mirror which I usr as a dressing table, and a chair. Because its old you can hear literally everything that goes on in the bar downstairs but its ok as most of the time im on shift til close so its quiet when I need my sleep!
Next I went to the loo and this is when I...became known as the girl who got stuck in the loo! Yup first day within the first 10mins of settling in - the lock got jammed! Stupid old hotel locks! I was in there for about 10mins and my phone had no signal so I couldn't even call Paul, before the current backpacker, Chloe, came down the hall so I shouted out a 'hello?' and she came to see what was going on, apparently she had almost got stuck the other day! We both tried to unlock it but to no avail,so she went to get Paul who got his tool box and together we managed to bust the lock off and get me outta there!
Then I headed downstairs to check out the bar where I'd be working, which again is old but kinda cute, with an outside covered area to the left of it and a pool table and jukebox area behind it and a function/breakfast room. I was introduced to Debs, the deputy manager who is really nice, and Chloe, the backpacker who'd been here two weeks but was leaving saturday evening because of a local she didn't like who had basically been stalking her (don't worry, he's been barred).
So while it wasn't busy I chatted to them for a bit to try and suss out what work would be like and lucky me I was here to witness the busiest night of the week - Jack the Joker night - where everyone gets a raffle ticket with their beer and whoever is picked out picks a card from the wall, if it's a winning card the get the prize - this week its set to $3600!
So when people started coming in for that (around 5pm) I watched the proceedings behind the bar so I kinda knew what to expect. ALso took the time to get chatting to some of the locals, my favs so far are Tony, a big burly sweetheart who drinks alot, signature drink is VB, Kevin, a local guy who likes to crack a few jokes, Paddy, the guy who manages the Historical Village down the road (kind of like an open-air museum), who is in every day for his lunchbreak, and a few others. So I watched the chaos ensue, the crowd started to thin after teatime (6-8) but it was a busy night, so the bar stayed open til midnight. I get all my food and drinks included so I had a couple of ciders and a rump steak. Then it was off to bed ready for a 12pm start for my actual first day tomorrow! eak, nervous doesn't even cut it!
The royal hotel was built in the late 1800's and still has all the original features; slated wooden walls, high ceilings old beds and furniture and creaky floorboards, so it's basic but still homely. My room is quite big, with both a double and single bed (useful for putting all my clothes on - in organised piles, mind!), a wardrobe (not useful as there's no hangers), small chest of drawers and large full length mirror which I usr as a dressing table, and a chair. Because its old you can hear literally everything that goes on in the bar downstairs but its ok as most of the time im on shift til close so its quiet when I need my sleep!
Then I headed downstairs to check out the bar where I'd be working, which again is old but kinda cute, with an outside covered area to the left of it and a pool table and jukebox area behind it and a function/breakfast room. I was introduced to Debs, the deputy manager who is really nice, and Chloe, the backpacker who'd been here two weeks but was leaving saturday evening because of a local she didn't like who had basically been stalking her (don't worry, he's been barred).
So while it wasn't busy I chatted to them for a bit to try and suss out what work would be like and lucky me I was here to witness the busiest night of the week - Jack the Joker night - where everyone gets a raffle ticket with their beer and whoever is picked out picks a card from the wall, if it's a winning card the get the prize - this week its set to $3600!
So when people started coming in for that (around 5pm) I watched the proceedings behind the bar so I kinda knew what to expect. ALso took the time to get chatting to some of the locals, my favs so far are Tony, a big burly sweetheart who drinks alot, signature drink is VB, Kevin, a local guy who likes to crack a few jokes, Paddy, the guy who manages the Historical Village down the road (kind of like an open-air museum), who is in every day for his lunchbreak, and a few others. So I watched the chaos ensue, the crowd started to thin after teatime (6-8) but it was a busy night, so the bar stayed open til midnight. I get all my food and drinks included so I had a couple of ciders and a rump steak. Then it was off to bed ready for a 12pm start for my actual first day tomorrow! eak, nervous doesn't even cut it!
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