On september 8, 2008, my grandma came to Malaysia, so I went to the airport to pick her up, just so happens I was flying to Singapore a few hours later. So I welcomed them to Malaysia, and they wished me farewell. My trip to Australia had begun.
I was supposed to be travelling with my boss Ra who was going to check in at KL Central. The tickets had been booked and all he had to do was wait in line and pay for the tickets and I could check in at the air port, and he would check in there and take a 45 minute train ride to KLIA.
So I waited and waited and waited. At first, I waited at the wrong check-in counter, coz rather than Tiger airways, I thought I was flying jetstar to singapore. Anyhow, I finally found the gate and they were just about to close, and my ticket had not been paid yet.
Finally, at the second, the payment went through and I had just enough time to rush to the gate and board my plane to Singapore.
My Singapore to Darwin flight was already booked and it was a connecting flight giving me a little less than an hour to get my bag, rush over to the low cost terminal and run onto the plane.
Another close call. Ra got stuck in Malaysia so missed the connecting flight from Singapore. So I was on my own. I sat in the plane and thought, what am I going to do, with barely any money, in a country that I have never been to, at midnight. The only thing I had with me was my courage, which was withering by the moment.
I arrived in Darwin, and there was no money for a hotel, only barely enough money for one cab ride. Recieved a message that I was supposed to stay at the Kaefer house. What the heck is a Kaefer house? What kind of house is that? The key is in the little box under the house...
I took the cab and he had his GPS, found the area and then tried to make his meter go by going, reversing, turning, reversing again. Come ON!!!! How far could No.8 be from No.10, and No.6? The answer is 5 dollars worth of turning, reversing, retracing the 100m again and again. Idoit!!! And then he asked me for 2 dollars extra! Which I didnt have so I didnt give him. AND he didnt have a receipt. Just got here and got screwed already.
Standing in front of gate No.8 a little past midnight I looked in, the surrounding area was total darkness. Trees everywhere, like woods trees not jungle trees. I went in and as I was walking through the driveway, I was thinking, is this the right house? What if it's someone else's house?
No one was supposed to be there, but I saw clothes hanging on the line. Was even more scarey because they were mens clothes. I turned the corner and saw a room with beds that were made up. The sliding glass door was already open. I wondered again, is this the right place? I stuck the key in the hole and it turned. There was only one key, so I figured, this must be it. I looked around for a bathroom, but there was none. The house was on stilts and I was at the bottom of the house. Upstairs was pitch black and I didnt have the guts to walk up the stairs and look for the bathroom.
I inspected the room, 3 single beds made up. One sliding door, curtains, air cond lights. I put down my stuff, turned on the air cond, closed the sliding glass door, and lay on the bed trying to sleep. I kept thinking, about the lights on or off, on or off. On means people would see me and know that I was there, and the glass door is totally not sturdy nor safe. Off would mean that people would not know that I was there and maybe they'd come to steal something on that notion, and rape me in the process or something bad like that.
So I made the decision, just turn off the lights, stop thinking and sleep, Ra would be here in the morning.
5am in the morning. I wake up, blurry eyed, I pulled the curtain, and I saw a family sitting at the table across the way. I quickly closed back the curtain hid and thought, shit, am I decent? Okay decent, I opened the door and went outside.
They stared at me as if I were a lost dog. So apparently, they were staying there too. And then I saw another car in the driveway, and I asked, hey do you have 2 cars? and they're like no, we only have one. And then it dawned on me that I had taken the only key and Ra had to sleep in the car.Oops.
So we did our medicals in Darwin, then moved into this beautiful hotel called Mantra something. Beautiful. I'd love to make up my house to be like that one day. There was a king sized bed which had a wooden sliding door. With the aircond blasting, it was bliss.
Ra and I had many drinks and were going to go out and have dinner at 10pm. And there was no food! All the kitchens had closed, room service had no food. Sheish. Come on people are hungry here!
Anyways after a few days in Darwin, we finally got to fly to Gove. At the airport there were bush fires, Ra, Buz and I walked all the way to where the fire was. It was amazing seeing a real live fire. The wind was blowing there was a huge cloud of smoke, when the wind blew, it just devoured the trees and dried up grass, like a huge wave overcoming the land.
In Gove I checked into my room in the G3 Village. It's like a whole bunch of containers which are made into rooms for one. There's a bed, fridge, Tv, bathroom and a desk all in. Every room is the same. It's pretty awesome, I had no idea that living in a container could be so comfortable. I had thought that I would be living in bunks with no aircond etc. But it's like a hotel room, they change your towels twice a week, they change your bed linens every week. Awesome.
At night all the guys would sit outside their room having a few beers, I'd just walk around, and everyone is so nice and friendly. They all say "How ya goin?" In which I never know what to say. I always say "Hey!" I hope I dont come off as being rude.
So I stayed in Gove for a month. I had a great time, and then suddenly, I was off to Karratha with but a few hours notice.
I flew from Gove to Cairns, then to Sydney, where I met St, Cl and Je. Next day flew from Sydney to Perth, Perth to Karratha. And here I am, in another village.
I had no idea that there were these kinds of places, it's like a town by itself in which everything is accounted for, everything that you could ever need is here. Food, laundry, accomodation, I think it's great, simple, all done for you, you dont have to think about house stuff, all you do is work and hang out. I wonder if I'll ever get bored...
So here I am...
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