by Mel | Jul 18, 2014 | Australia, Cattle Station, Western Australia, Wwoofing
Moving from the outback to a remote tropical island I’m currently at the airport, embracing one of those beautiful transition periods where I move seamlessly (ha!) from one surreal experience to the next. The sun is just coming up across the runway, the tips of planes illuminated pink in the morning haze, and I’m so very excited. I’m off to live on a desert island, can you believe that? I’m flying to Cocos Island – which is actually a collection of smaller islands, most uninhabited – up near Malaysia, though still a part of Australia technically. I’ll be helping out with a small organic food company, Cocos Tropical Foods, in exchange for food and board and the rest of my second year visa work signed off. There will be also be a paid bar job on the side I’m told- for when I’m not busy exploring the pristine beaches and kayaking off to any of the 27 islands. Just, wow. As if chasing bulls around the bush and playing cowgirl in the outback for two months wasn’t enough… I’m now going to live in paradise for a couple months too. I am so utterly blessed, and I have Gumtree to thank for all of it! Of course, I still need to write about my wild outback adventures, and that is something I plan to do over the next week. Watch this space, I got some stories…. But while I have a spare half hour before my plane boards, here’s the latest in this crazy narrative that is my life… Goodbye, outback I left the Kimberley with a good...
by Mel | Jul 11, 2014 | Cattle Station, Western Australia
Smiling at you seductively from behind the dust of Northern WA is beautiful Broome. Broome is heat-worn, hazy, humid, and home to a haphazard, potent mix of locals, backpackers, pearlers, miners, hippies, aboriginals, wild old outback fellas and… just about anyone you can imagine. Broome is unique, in both character and location, and she gets under your skin with her small-town vibe and beachy hedonism. She is impossibly relaxed, ridiculously friendly, endlessly fun, and the very epitome of cruisey. You will make friends in Broome, and you will make them fast. You will party in Broome, and you will party hard. The flame of natural beauty burns bright here, and yes, you will be floored again and again by that sunset, no matter how many times you park your 4wd up on the sand and gawk it at over your beer. Which, by the way, is practically a religious custom in Broome. If old mate (who is old mate? Everyone is old mate) has a 4wd and can finish work before 5pm, then you’ll find him at the beach with a beer, his ute lined up alongside hundreds of others, as far as the eye can see, everyone collectively worshipping the gods of beer-infused-beachy-liberty. Intoxicated by the setting sun, warmed by the hazy breeze, relaxed smiles illuminated by the firey hues of the crimson Broome sky. Relaxing is religion here, leisure time a divine right. You’d struggle to be stressed in Broome, the very AIR is laid back. Because living in Broome isn’t just living in Broome… it’s a whole lifestyle. It’s a statement. It’s a decision to live...
