or, as earn his way back to Italy with three months to work in Australia
What is' success
Australia, December 2008 - the end of March 2009: I like sole purpose of raising funds for the onward journey. So: work, work, work.
do not have much time available. The option 'seems to be quick to use on a farm in fruit picking. I get back in touch with Niko, a German boy met months before in Melbourne and discovered it to work as tomato pickers in Childers, in Queensland, 300km north of Brisbane.
From Sydney, where I spent a week to fuck, then I move into the vast province of Australia, including sugar cane, orange and pineapple and avocado. Childers and 'a small village of 3000 souls. Here are all more 'or less employed in the agricultural industry. At various levels, are all farmers. Niko
the bus stop waiting for me - at the Shell petrol station - and leads me to the Mazda campervan with his rickety Childers Central Caravan Park, more 'than a camp, a camp. Me and Niko, a young German couple and a young Japanese are the only "work & holidayers' room here, the others being Australia's last level of the social scale: the outcast, ex-toxic, alcoholics, vagrants semi-Campanian with aid State and occasional work in the fields. There 's also a small group of foreigners who, because of language barrier, there is more work than that of agriculture: Nepalese and Koreans, who live virtually segregated in their caravan. I sleep with Niko
inside his trailer, the other Germans were in a van while Ryo, Japanese, sleeping in tents. We placed around the camp kitchen area: 4 gas burners, a wood table and an old refrigerator covered with a corrugated iron roof. It 's our area. Australians live and cook in their caravan.
camping out 'cheap: I pay the equivalent of € 30 per week, in return, the services have seen better days: the overflowing bins di rifiuti, i bagni sono tristemente ammuffiti e nell'area della raccolta differenziata un mucchio di lattine di birra sta assumendo dimensioni piramidali.
Non ci metto molto a capire che il campeggio e' uno dei disonori di Childers: un mini Bronx ai margini del paese, visitato a giorni alterni da una pattuglia della polizia locale. Se fossimo in Italia, sarebbe come l'accampamento degli zingari. L'altro disonore e' un rogo che nel 2000 ha distrutto l'unico ostello del paese e ucciso 10 giovani viaggiatori. Un incendio doloso che ha lasciato una profonda ferita in questo piccolo centro provinciale. Passeggiando per la strada principale, fiancheggiata da graziose case in legno datate inizio Novecento, si respira un'aria di diffidenza. Forse gli stranieri, here, are not exactly bemvenuti. Until now, anywhere in the world, if not in Childers and I 'have heard a "go home!" shouted from the window of a speeding car. Except that 'the camp I feel liked and after exactly one week for me it is time for farm work. The alarm and 'bet at 4.15. 5 begins to work on the farm that has continued until 13.30 when temperatures make the brutal physical work unbearable. The afternoon ', literally, sleepy, to dinner, consumed no later than 19, followed by a couple of beers and friendly day out, finally, around 21:30
A Childers spend Christmas and New Year 2008-09, occasions when and 'tried to compensate for the hardships agricola con ricche cene e abbondanza di birra. Avendo lavorato anche il 31 dicembre la veglia e' stata per molti cosa assai breve. Provati da una bevuta pomeridiana di birre doppio malto, Ryo alza bandiera bianca poco dopo le 20, Niko si ritira alle 22 mentre io, per pura cocciutaggine, riesco a tirare fino a mezzanotte e mezza. L'ultimo giorno dell'anno e' stato caratterizzato da una rissa, nel corso del pomeriggio, che ha visto l'intervento delle forze dell'ordine locali con ben 2 volanti. Un nerboruto neozelandese si accaniva violentemente su qualsiasi cosa gli capitasse a tiro. Il nuovo anno non e' iniziato diversamente. La mia doccia mattutina e' stata ritardata da una enorme vomitata che ha occluso lo scarico e costretto la povera signora delle pulizie ad intervention force with Vaporella.
With every passing day what 'it seems strange becomes normal and is familiar with this place. Carrie, a 54-year old Australian has been proven by years, entertains us with his stories of life, says he is retired, peddles marijuana camping and do not drink less than 30 cans of beer a day. Like him, camping, and 'full of strange people. Larry - that should be around 35 years - bong smoke all day, coughs, curses, and when I see it consumes only eat bacon: and 'reduced to a stick. Then there 'Steve, with long blond hair and blackened teeth who looks with a beer in hand, says he has two children: not yet 30 years, then there' s a guy who listens to death-metal music ball and throws objects violently against the metal walls of his trailer, and there 'the girl tattooed and toothless with a man that is not clear whether his father or his partner, and finally there is' the trailer with the TV always on, day and night, 24 hours on 24, where one evening sbiarciando the open door I saw a boy who was sleeping collapsed on the table, his back, one arm hanging down and the floor strewn with empty cans.
and Childers' a country without frills, wild, where the ants nibbling you legs and clay will not stick to the skin, where the morning working in the fields, drinking in the afternoon and evening becomes a fight to the pub; which is probably not 'changed much from the date of foundation at the beginning of the twentieth century. I was already 'ready to spend a couple of months in this rural setting, where, after a shift, we were informed that would replace our workgroup. Yes, mine, and that of Nico, Ryo, Andy and Nina. In that moment everything has lost its meaning, there was no more 'sense: the infamous use to rip weeds in the sun for 8 hours, Childers, camping, the Australian province, sleeping curled up in a trailer next to Nico, the weekend fishing. The beer had lost its flavor. It was high time to change. It was after only 2 weeks.
The next move
Point to the north or tornare verso sud? Nord significa Rockhampton e un possibile impiego in un mattatoio in quella che viene chiamata "the beef capital of Australia". A sud invece c'e' Hervey Bay, 50mila abitanti e punto di partenza verso l'isola sabbiosa piu' grande al mondo: Fraser Island. Dalla "Bay" come la chiamano i locals, transitano ogni anno oltre 1 milione e mezzo di turisti. Decido che la prospettiva di un lavoro nel settore turistico e' migliore di quella nell'industria della macellazione.
A volte in Australia le cose succedono in fretta e la cosa e' particolarmente gradevole se si tratta di lavoro. Arrivato a Hervey Bay nel primo pomeriggio di un giovedi di inizio gennaio, passo il resto della giornata a cercare lavoro negli ostelli; da ultimo, non potendolo visit directly, phone the only hostel on Fraser Island. Friday morning I get an affirmative response from Fraser and Saturday are already 'on the island ready to start as an assistant cook at the Fraser Island Backpackers.
I think if you do not there's ever been, Fraser Island is difficult to imagine. It 's long 120 km wide, over 20, and composed exclusively of sand. E 'covered by dense vegetation, made of grass and bushes along the coast, which is transformed into sub-tropical forest as we move towards the interior of the island where, along with majestic pines over 60metri, hides a unique feature in the world, freshwater lakes, some incredibly crystal clear, surrounded by white sand dunes. Fraser Island and 'call by Aboriginal K'Gari, which means Paradise Island and is not difficult to understand why': the abundance of fresh water and drinking water, since 'filtered by layers of sand, and' incredible nature and 'beautiful, wild, untouched. The first white men arrived on the island have sought to exploit its resources, especially the precious wood, but the sandy soil made it difficult for the transport of huge trees felled. So the island and 'remained largely intact and sparsely populated, less than 500 people have decided to make their home.
I'm in Happy Valley, about thirty houses near the sea, hidden by a row of dunes. There 's a small store, two petrol stations, a restaurant, public telephone and a mailbox for mail, all within the resort where I work. The perimeter of Happy Valley and 'fully enclosed to protect it from one of the pitfalls of the island: the dingo that, thanks to the absence of dogs on Fraser Island, are among the most' pure in Australia. Not that an animal is particularly threatening, but it shall be kept an eye on because they 'can become aggressive and if' in search of food, a dozen years ago, a dingo attacked and killed a child.
Fraser Island and 'the essence of outdoor life: it stands on the beach, fishing, 4x4 is circulating on the streets of sand and go swimming in freshwater streams. Here everything seems great: the lurcetole, spiders, trees, waves sea. Gia ', and the sea. Its waters are off-limits because of jellyfish, sharks and current malignant. It 's a strange feeling to have him so close, to feel always present, even at night, when alone in your room, 200 meters from the beach, feel the rumble in the distance, that can run on its beach, but we can not enter, to be part of it, as a force too strong to be dominated.
Although he has not ever worked in a kitchen, in just a couple of days, to take matters in hand. Every day, at lunch, there are up to 80 mouths to feed and I am preparing a cold buffet consisting of a variety of salads, meats, roast chicken and fruit. In short, a lot of stuff to be cut but, in contrast, activity is a 'feasible and the evenings are lighter: a part of the weekend, there's never too many people. In addition to cooking, I also do the dishes and clean the kitchen at the end of the service, and sometimes work until almost 12 hours a day!
After the kitchen after work, there 'Fraser Island and its wildlife: a beach, almost' empty, on which to run, a freshwater stream in which to swim, and the rusted wreck of a ship , wrecked more than seventy years ago. Along with a bedroom and satellite TV I feel really on Paradise Island and I feel I become islands, a "place".
Step 2 whole months to Fraser, between days di lavoro e serate tranquille davanti all TV, talvolta intervallate da notti un poco piu' animate quando, insieme ai colleghi, spulcio tra le 20mile canzoni del jukebox del bar a cercare il perfetto mix festaiolo; pian piano si finisce tutti dietro al bancone del bar dove la birra scorre "libera" dalle spine. Notti di trasgressione che lasciano il segno: la cuoca e il suo ragazzo - il gestore del bar - litigano e si lasciano al termine di una serata alcolica: lei abbandona l'isola mentre lui viene licenziato, forse a causa dello spropositato consumo di free-drinks. La gestione del resort interviene; รจ pugno di ferro: nuova manager per il bar, niente piu' crediti per il jukebox, stop ai free-drink. L'abbacchiato personale si ritira quindi nei propri "quartieri" where periodic feasts are organized based on alcohol, imported from the mainland at low prices, and TV volume ball tuned to MTV. Just for a little fun, but not Take away the "jug of happiness'": a one-liter jug, filled with bottle bottoms (vodka, whiskey, etc.), gaseous and handfuls of ice, so named in honor of Happy Valley, from up to the sky, under a night full of stars, like the World Cup!
In my last days on Fraser there 'was also the threat of a tropical cyclone, which was about to fall on the island. Hamish (so named by meteorologists in Australia) and Fraser saved and 'reduced to sweep it with strong winds that forced anyway to close the island to tourists for nearly a week. The sea swelled and is 'pushed up the dunes, clearing the beach, under normal conditions, and' fifty yards wide. So I went from semi-deserted island, with gray skies and rough seas, with their shoes full of sand, left me a legacy 'longest sandy island' largest in the world.
Back on land I just have 7 days in Australia, to transfer funds, close the account, do your tax return and hope for a tax refund. Then will
'new Asia.
What will '
I think at this point is really high time to put an end to this blog, which told the story of my trip from Moscow to Melbourne and beyond. Over the next 5 months I'll be 'back on the road will travel' down 'to Australia' passing through Italy to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. If all goes well, I should arrive in Lombardy in the last week of August. Besides traveling I have not decided what I'll do 'during this period. I feel that he still wanted to write a little about this and I created the blog place you go
The idea is 'to tell the country where I am traveling with news, gossip,' anecdotes. Maybe I will write 'less and I will try' to include more photos and video (Internet connection permitting). Sara 'less then' travelogue 'and more' documentary '.
I invite you to select between the private seasonal favorites e. .. stay tuned! Thank you and hello
Rene '
