I love it!

Steve and Chris have left. Denise, Martina, Kylie (25, an Ozzie girl, who lives out here in White Cliffs) and I are caring for the motel now. I strip the beds in the early morning, chuck all the stuff in the laundry and start vaccing the floors. Denise and Kylie make the beds, while Martina cares for the bathrooms. Quite busy, sometimes we work up to 6 hours in the morning! After all the rooms are done and the laundry is finished, we have some lunch together and enjoy a (mostly) free afternoon, before we come back in the evening to serve out dinner. Markus is the chef, he runs around in the kitchen all day long and prepares excellent food, which is loved all over the place. Good stuff.


So – where’s the variety? I tell ya: There are days, when we’re not that busy, so the ladies take care of the rooms and I’ll get to do something different. In the last week, this was digging a tunnel to the staff quarters. Daug, our neighbour, and I are about to build a new staff kitchen and a 2nd bathroom. Fun, fun. Digging a tunnel means, you just take a jackhammer and start jacking a huge hole into the wall. Some pipe gives us an approximate direction... but that’s it. After 3 days of digging, Daug remarked, that we have to dig upwards, to match our level with the level in the ground quarters. Security doesn’t really matter, you get two gloves, a pair of glasses and get going. I love it. Never done anything like that before, but no one cared. Daug showed me, how to do it, and since that day I can dig whenever I want – and whenever the boss is willing to pay me.


Today was the big day: Daug got through! Was a little bit dangerous, because there are a couple of electricity wires in the wall, but he hoped for the best and managed not to hit one. Good job. Now we’ll have to shovel heaps of dirt out of the tunnel, put some cement in instead and maybe one or two lightbulbs. Then we’ll start with kitchen and bathroom.


Next week, Daug will have to work on another job, so Richard told me to build a new chook house. Markus and I will start planning soon, with a fox-proof fence and some specials, if Richard lets us. Maybe he does. He’s still the cool boss like last week. Brilliant!

Because of the digging, I get a lot of extra hours, as well as with general maintenance of the motel, like glueing down some carpet, refilling the bar or serving out breakfast. Richard made me a VIP by showing me, how the generator works. I’m the only person out here (except for him, of course), who knows that. Yeah. Next project: He wants to teach me, how to clean the pool. Oh dear, I’m gonna be so rich after my time out here! And even richer in life experience...

In our spare time, us four Germans do some crazy stuff: We brew 23l of beer and 20l of cider, watched a luna eclipse, went out to a big BBQ, where whole White Cliffs came together, burned all the rubbish from the motel (no, no refuse collection out here!) or went for some shopping down to Wilcannia. There’s always something to do, and if there’s not, we relax and watch a movie...


The day after tomorrow, I have an appointment with the dentist. She comes out here every 3-8 weeks, and appointments with her are for free! I thought, it might be a good idea to go for the yearly general check.
Haven’t been to a doc for my chest x-rays yet. Should do that some time. But somehow I’m not motivated, neither to spend that much money nor to take a day off. Wanna keep working! Besides – don’t know, if Richard would lend me his car again...


Besides all those actions I’m trying to find some time to create a homepage. Not like the one, I created myself last time, this one’s gonna be a lot bigger and better. The topic will mainly be Australia, to help other guys getting out here without a useless organisation like mine. However, after my designer asked me for the concept, I had to confess that there is none. Well, so he told me to create one, and that’s why I spend quite a few hours on the computers, typing, typing, typing. And besides that, I have to answer loads of emails, I should book my flight back home some time, have to select the best pictures out of thousands of photos to save some space on my hard drive... unbelievable. Always something to do! There is something for sure: Even though you have some time to relax and chill out, it won’t get boring out here! Not within the next few weeks. That’s why I love it.