So...um...whoops! It's been a while since I last blogged, I've been super lazy and haven't kept up with it, sorry! So this next post will be one of those catch-up, whatever-I-can-remember posts. So whats been going down in Herberton the last 2 months...? Not all that much but I have been out wandering over the Tablelands a bit more. So here's what I can recall over the last 2 months.
The pub and work in general;
Well, it's had its busy points and it's very quiet points, but we've had some big events. In September we had the AFL (Australian football - ie, Rugby) Finals. That was a big afternoon and evening, we put on a Sunday Roast Buffet and were open until 1am as the next day (Monday) was Labour Day and so a day off for everyone.
We had Terri's 21st Birthday party on the 23rd which was a great night. Terri, her mum Vicki, Amanda her friend, and her family have kind of become my adoptive family in Herberton, they've taken me out, been on nights out with Amanda and Terri, had girly evenings and been round for meals at their house out in Wondecla. So it was an evening where she had all her friends and family, and some from the UK and had a big hoohar complete with food, disco etc. Vicki her mum is actually from the UK, did the whole backpacking thing, met her Australian husband out here and has since lived here. We also had Ben's 18th (the young guy who works here on Thursday evenings) so he is now legal to drink and definitely can drink ALOT!
We've had some construction and road workers in over October and late September, and have some in for the next 6 weeks (shame I won't be here - secretly punches the air and whoops) so that's kept us constant, however October was a very quiet month, so we had the occasional busy night but most we've shut early around 8-9 as there just hasn't been the custom, mainly because there were lots of festivals going on so people either didn't have any money, or were out at them.
We also had the Tablelands Folk Festival evening early October (it starts in Herberton on the Thursday night and then heads to Yungaburra for the weekend). So this was a busy evening, we did over 70 meals and there were around 100 people there. We had 4 bands play which were quite good.
Jag the Joker, which still hasn't gone off yet much to my and Debbie's disappointment, is now up to $4800, it's getting ever busy! I was hoping it would go off this week so my last week will be a quiet one but nope, it's gonna be busy and Paul won't be here to help out as he's off down to Brisbane.
We've had a local girl start work here called Christine - which makes names difficult! But we call her Tine and me Tina. She's a lovely girl, 18 but it's nice to have her around Thursday and Friday evenings, they've become slightly more bearable now it's all us girls working together those evenings (Me, Tine, Debbie and Serena the cook). We've also got Sherice, a work experience girl of 17, who works all day Thursdays in the kitchen with Serena, she's doing a cookery apprenticeship, so that takes the stress off waitressing that day. Paul's getting another backpacker for when I leave over the Xmas period but I'm not sure when she's starting.
So that's mainly whats been going on there, not all that much to report on. We've got 19 bikers in tonight so I'm in Paul's house until tomorrow morning, and it's me and Tine on tonight, which should be fun, not! Then I've just got one more week left until I'm back in Cairns and start the next part of my travels - yay!
Social life and getting out and about;
So since my last post, I had Becca over while she was up here (my old housemate from when I lived down in Bath) we thought we can't be 20mins away from each other in a massive country round the other side of the world and NOT meet up! So we had a girly night on a Sunday evening, pizza, crisps, chocolate etc and watched Priscilla Queen of the Desert, just cos we're in Aussie! The next day before work, the lovely guy she was working for in Ravenshoe, (pronounced Ravens - hoe) came and picked us up and took us for coffee and lunch in Atherton. So it was nice to see her before she went venturing down the east coast, and we both took our minds off our homesickness for a bit! My homesickness got better after that, it took me a couple more weeks but by Mid September I had mostly gotten over it and had decided to concentrate my efforts on counting down til mid November and working hard to get lots of money!
I've been out to two third Fridays with Terri, Amanda and Christine. It's just the third friday of each month in Atherton where the pubs (The Barron Valley - BV - and the Stump) stay open til late and turn into clubs for the evening. Both times we got seriously drunk. Terri and I skulled alcohol in the car as I came after work so we needed to play catch-up and it saved us money. It's illegal here to drink in your car, on the street etc so we had to keep a watch out for the police and duck if we thought anyone was looking! Many shots were had, much dancing was done and alot cannot be remembered! The last third friday, I blacked out and when Terri told me what happened I was mortified! Apparently I was trying to dance on tables, and was dancing around the DJ's lights and was almost kicked out, I fell over in the middle of the Kebab shop, and I cannot remember her brother driving us home or how I got myself to bed! lol
I've been super lucky and have had alot of the locals take me out around the Tablelands. Jill, a woman I've since become quite good friends with (she reminds me very much of Auntie Lisa - they even look alike!) has taken me out a few times. Her and her husband Mark, took me out on Lake Tinaroo on their Tinnie boat, and we had a BBQ, then she also took me out on a girls day.
We went to the Atherton Market, Lake Barrine, Lake Eacham, the Craters (big ex-volcanic craters in the tablelands), showed me her old house which was like something from Wuthering Heights - a lovely bungalow which had land that looked out over rolling hills of luscious green - and we went to Malanda for a lovely Thai curry lunch! She then also invited me round to her house in Herberton (round the corner from the pub) for an Indian themed curry night with some of their friends one Sunday evening. It was great, she'd made home-cooked curries, all set out like a Thali, her own breads, chutney's, sauces etc and she'd even got us all Indian Sari's and the guys had Indian head gear and suits so we dressed for the occasion too!
I've been on the old railway between Herberton and the Historical Village, and had a lovely cuppa at the Pioneers Camp. A few of the locals from the pub volunteer for it on a weekend so it was nice to show my support for their cause. I've also been taken to the Hot Springs and Ravenshoe by Johnno, another local, where we spent the morning at the hot springs and the pub and then had lunch in Ravenshoe. When we were at the pub, the publican there told me a hilarious story about some Japanese tourists who had dropped by earlier in the week. There are lots of termite mounds around the tablelands, and there's two particularly big ones opposite the pub. So the Japanese tourists were curious, and asked him what they were. One of the locals turned round and goes..."well, you're in for a treat, as they are actually the biggest preserved Dinosaur poos on the tablelands!" Of which they believed and instantly ran out and began snapping away! haha, so gullible!
Serena and her partner Joel took me out on Labour Day as Paul shut early so I got a surprise day off. They took me over to Irvinebank and we stopped off at a place nicknamed 'the beach' (it's a deep part of the river with a sandy bank), and went to the Tavern there, then went to one of Joel's friends farm where they had newborn baby goats! So cute! On the way back we stopped at a dam which was a huge lake, and where we'd recently had some large bush fires rip through the forest around it. We also stopped off at an old Pioneers Graveyard, which was interesting to see!
This week, Don took me out on his quad bike and we went on a ride through some off-the-beaten-track bush, which had some stunning views and challenging terrain. We took a ride over to Dave Brindhouse's place, which I kid you not, is just acres and acres of land!! His house is actually a converted Barn, it's super cool! And he has a very large river in his 'back garden' which has a rock formation known as the 'stone-arch' or 'natural bridge' as it forms a bridge over the river. Really quite stunning amongst the surrounding mountains. I'm hoping to head out with him again this week and make a return trip to the hot springs, but we'll see as my shifts are all over the place this week! I'm also hoping to have a drink with some of the locals, perhaps on Sunday evening (17th), my last day before I leave, as I still haven't gotten around to sampling all these Aussie beers I've been serving! Me and Terri are hopefully going for a final night out in Cairns together on Friday which will be nice, and I'm hopefully going round this week for one last meal. I'm going to miss them, they've become such a great little adoptive family! Terri and Vicki are hoping to get over to the UK again next yr to visit their family, so I said we should go over together and stay together for a bit - show her Cambridge, as I'm hopefully heading back for my cousins wedding in April. Then I'm also hoping to instill the travel bug in her, get onto her about saving and then she can join me for parts! She's planning on working in the UK for a couple months when she comes over so hopefully that will get her into it.
So my friends, family and even strangers, this is my last post before my working holiday ends and my new travels with my sister start! I honestly cannot wait! I've managed to save my target funds of $6000 and my last 2 weeks (last week and this week) will just be a further addition to those funds, to hopefully keep me going a couple weeks longer after Bex leaves in Jan. I'm sorry the blog hasn't been more regular, but really, my life has been all about work and less about travel - and that's not all that riverting to write about. So until next time (when the fun travel begins and the blog becomes regular once again) I will leave you with this to fill your blog needs. In the words of Tony, my favourite local, A-Reservoir (Au revoir) and Uluru! (a pun on toodooloo)
The pub and work in general;
We had Terri's 21st Birthday party on the 23rd which was a great night. Terri, her mum Vicki, Amanda her friend, and her family have kind of become my adoptive family in Herberton, they've taken me out, been on nights out with Amanda and Terri, had girly evenings and been round for meals at their house out in Wondecla. So it was an evening where she had all her friends and family, and some from the UK and had a big hoohar complete with food, disco etc. Vicki her mum is actually from the UK, did the whole backpacking thing, met her Australian husband out here and has since lived here. We also had Ben's 18th (the young guy who works here on Thursday evenings) so he is now legal to drink and definitely can drink ALOT!
We also had the Tablelands Folk Festival evening early October (it starts in Herberton on the Thursday night and then heads to Yungaburra for the weekend). So this was a busy evening, we did over 70 meals and there were around 100 people there. We had 4 bands play which were quite good.
We've had a local girl start work here called Christine - which makes names difficult! But we call her Tine and me Tina. She's a lovely girl, 18 but it's nice to have her around Thursday and Friday evenings, they've become slightly more bearable now it's all us girls working together those evenings (Me, Tine, Debbie and Serena the cook). We've also got Sherice, a work experience girl of 17, who works all day Thursdays in the kitchen with Serena, she's doing a cookery apprenticeship, so that takes the stress off waitressing that day. Paul's getting another backpacker for when I leave over the Xmas period but I'm not sure when she's starting.So that's mainly whats been going on there, not all that much to report on. We've got 19 bikers in tonight so I'm in Paul's house until tomorrow morning, and it's me and Tine on tonight, which should be fun, not! Then I've just got one more week left until I'm back in Cairns and start the next part of my travels - yay!
Social life and getting out and about;
So since my last post, I had Becca over while she was up here (my old housemate from when I lived down in Bath) we thought we can't be 20mins away from each other in a massive country round the other side of the world and NOT meet up! So we had a girly night on a Sunday evening, pizza, crisps, chocolate etc and watched Priscilla Queen of the Desert, just cos we're in Aussie! The next day before work, the lovely guy she was working for in Ravenshoe, (pronounced Ravens - hoe) came and picked us up and took us for coffee and lunch in Atherton. So it was nice to see her before she went venturing down the east coast, and we both took our minds off our homesickness for a bit! My homesickness got better after that, it took me a couple more weeks but by Mid September I had mostly gotten over it and had decided to concentrate my efforts on counting down til mid November and working hard to get lots of money!
I've been out to two third Fridays with Terri, Amanda and Christine. It's just the third friday of each month in Atherton where the pubs (The Barron Valley - BV - and the Stump) stay open til late and turn into clubs for the evening. Both times we got seriously drunk. Terri and I skulled alcohol in the car as I came after work so we needed to play catch-up and it saved us money. It's illegal here to drink in your car, on the street etc so we had to keep a watch out for the police and duck if we thought anyone was looking! Many shots were had, much dancing was done and alot cannot be remembered! The last third friday, I blacked out and when Terri told me what happened I was mortified! Apparently I was trying to dance on tables, and was dancing around the DJ's lights and was almost kicked out, I fell over in the middle of the Kebab shop, and I cannot remember her brother driving us home or how I got myself to bed! lol
I've been super lucky and have had alot of the locals take me out around the Tablelands. Jill, a woman I've since become quite good friends with (she reminds me very much of Auntie Lisa - they even look alike!) has taken me out a few times. Her and her husband Mark, took me out on Lake Tinaroo on their Tinnie boat, and we had a BBQ, then she also took me out on a girls day.
We went to the Atherton Market, Lake Barrine, Lake Eacham, the Craters (big ex-volcanic craters in the tablelands), showed me her old house which was like something from Wuthering Heights - a lovely bungalow which had land that looked out over rolling hills of luscious green - and we went to Malanda for a lovely Thai curry lunch! She then also invited me round to her house in Herberton (round the corner from the pub) for an Indian themed curry night with some of their friends one Sunday evening. It was great, she'd made home-cooked curries, all set out like a Thali, her own breads, chutney's, sauces etc and she'd even got us all Indian Sari's and the guys had Indian head gear and suits so we dressed for the occasion too!
Serena and her partner Joel took me out on Labour Day as Paul shut early so I got a surprise day off. They took me over to Irvinebank and we stopped off at a place nicknamed 'the beach' (it's a deep part of the river with a sandy bank), and went to the Tavern there, then went to one of Joel's friends farm where they had newborn baby goats! So cute! On the way back we stopped at a dam which was a huge lake, and where we'd recently had some large bush fires rip through the forest around it. We also stopped off at an old Pioneers Graveyard, which was interesting to see!This week, Don took me out on his quad bike and we went on a ride through some off-the-beaten-track bush, which had some stunning views and challenging terrain. We took a ride over to Dave Brindhouse's place, which I kid you not, is just acres and acres of land!! His house is actually a converted Barn, it's super cool! And he has a very large river in his 'back garden' which has a rock formation known as the 'stone-arch' or 'natural bridge' as it forms a bridge over the river. Really quite stunning amongst the surrounding mountains. I'm hoping to head out with him again this week and make a return trip to the hot springs, but we'll see as my shifts are all over the place this week! I'm also hoping to have a drink with some of the locals, perhaps on Sunday evening (17th), my last day before I leave, as I still haven't gotten around to sampling all these Aussie beers I've been serving! Me and Terri are hopefully going for a final night out in Cairns together on Friday which will be nice, and I'm hopefully going round this week for one last meal. I'm going to miss them, they've become such a great little adoptive family! Terri and Vicki are hoping to get over to the UK again next yr to visit their family, so I said we should go over together and stay together for a bit - show her Cambridge, as I'm hopefully heading back for my cousins wedding in April. Then I'm also hoping to instill the travel bug in her, get onto her about saving and then she can join me for parts! She's planning on working in the UK for a couple months when she comes over so hopefully that will get her into it.
So my friends, family and even strangers, this is my last post before my working holiday ends and my new travels with my sister start! I honestly cannot wait! I've managed to save my target funds of $6000 and my last 2 weeks (last week and this week) will just be a further addition to those funds, to hopefully keep me going a couple weeks longer after Bex leaves in Jan. I'm sorry the blog hasn't been more regular, but really, my life has been all about work and less about travel - and that's not all that riverting to write about. So until next time (when the fun travel begins and the blog becomes regular once again) I will leave you with this to fill your blog needs. In the words of Tony, my favourite local, A-Reservoir (Au revoir) and Uluru! (a pun on toodooloo)
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