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Farmer Dwayne posted Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Finding myself standing on the side of the road once again, I made my way far away from Airlie beach about 4 hours north to Townsville, with a population of 100,000 people, the town is spread out so that nothing except 2 dozen bars and a Mcdonalds are withing walking distance. This makes being anyone without a car or too lazy to learn the local bus timetable, stuck in suburbia hell. So I stumbled onto the ferry and arrived at Magnetic Island. Did my thing, enjoyed the sights and sceanery while learning why the explorer Captain Cook named it Magnetic Island. When he noticed his 18th Century compass went ballistic and pulled the needle towards the beautiful beaches while sailing past, his creativity kicked in.
After returing to Townsville desperate for a calling of my own, I needed something to pull my needle in the right direction.
Tully bananas were on standby, no work for a week. But I was ready to move on. While I was reading a posted ad for a job 12 hours west into the outback, a conversation took place behind me mentioning two strong men were needed to move some funiture the next day. Before I knew it I was doing the work of 2 strong men and had a bus ticket to Cloncurry, 12 hours west of here. With a chauffeur waiting to drive me north 2 hours back to the 600,000 acre cattle farm, I was given a chance to prove myself as their tractor operator. Understanding that food and accomadation was being taken care of. Mostly since the nearest store is 50km away. I had to prepare for the worst. Only having a few things on my shopping list such as a couple bottles of Canandian club and a straw hat, even that developed into a problem. Townsville having crummy business hous anyway, decided to ruin my last day in civilization. Show Day is what they call this made up holiday. Wednesday of all days, was an enormous carnival that turned Townsville into a ghost town. Apparently that warrents a public holiday. Without being able to buy a memory card reader for my camera, I pressume I'll have troubles downloading pics at the farm. There is Internet I hear so I'll still be in touch. Keep ur heads high and your calorie intake low, we'll make it together.
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