Cunnamulla Hotel

Hey folks,

I've been pretty busy out here these last two weeks in Cunnamulla. It's been good being here and working at the hotel. I've had a lot of fun and experiencing so many things that I wouldn't be able to do in a city. People here live a very relaxed and hick life doing things like going on motorbikes/four wheelers, pigging, and fishing in their spare time.

So far, I've gone to a rodeo, which I think I mentioned in my last post. My boss Bob took me to a sheep sheering shed one morning. My friend Jeff took me and the two other girls I work with - Fiona(Canadian) and Carlotta(German)- swimming in the river and later to a track to ride the motorbikes and four wheeling Sunday.

I also went with Jeff one night Roo(kangaroo) shooting. It was quite the experience. The Roos here are like deer, they are somewhat of a problem here in the area so there are a handful of people around here who shoot Roos for a living... Jeff shoots, guts, and sells them for meat. You go at night when they are out and about. Jeff has a spotlight on his truck and a whole huge bed in the back with columns of hangers to hold up the dead Roos. It's pretty crazy.

Anyway, life has been good. Currently I am helping Dellie (Bob's wife) fix up the back flat. There is a flat that needs repairing on the walls and to be painted. We're starting painting tomorrow morning. I also started working at the Bp gas station down the road. They rang Bob and asked if any of his backpackers could help them out a few hours a week, Carlotta and I are taking turns going over there and helping with their little ready to eat stuff mainly. The owners there are very nice and friendly people.

The weather here is hot and just keeps getting warmer. It's around 100 everyday now and super dry. It's going to be a bizarre Christmas that's for sure. I'll be spending it with Bob's family. He has a grandson named Kobe who's the second cutest kid ever, first being my nephew wyatt of course! Kobe is now starting to stalk me at work. I don't mind though, he keeps me entertained! I'll leave you with a few pics from my last two weeks adventure here...

Australia travels

Hey folks, sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been traveling a bit and have finally settled down in Cunnamulla, Australia. It's been a good journey to get here. I started in Australia in Brisbane for a few nights. From there, where I went to a xxxx brewery tour, I headed to rainbow beach. It's a quite beach town and very pretty. I was with a group of people traveling so it was really fun. We were at rainbow beach for three days or so.

On one of the days I went on a tour of Frazier island, the largest sand island in the world. It was crazy, we were driving on sand and it got a little bumpy at parts. Australians are used to driving on sand all the time though, they drive on the beach all the time. We went swimming in Lake Mckenzie, walked through the subtropical rainforest, saw the colorful sands and shipwreck, walked through Eli Creek, and even saw a dingo! I went on the tour with a Swedish friend I made on the trip named Olivia. She's real cool and I'm still keeping in touch with her.there was another backpacker at rainbow beach named Oda from Norway. I got along very well with her. We are pretty similar. It was fun talking to Oda and Olivia and learning more about Scandinavian culture and the similarities I have with them.

After rainbow beach we headed inward to goomeri where they have training farms where we were going for a week to learn all about how to work on the farm including riding motorbikes, fencing, mustering, etc. I didn't get to stay at the farm long though because I was needed at my job right away. I only rode the motorbikes one afternoon which was challenging because its a manual and I'm not used to that. I made it to Cunnamulla, the town where I'm currently living and working after my 12 hour bus ride from Brisbane. I'm here working at Hotel Cunnamulla for Bob. Bob's the owner and boss, he's really nice. The people here are very welcoming and hospitable. I had to be here for last weekend because it was the annual rodeo that's the largest event in the town. There was even an American cowboy, Leroy, who came for it - he was quite the celeb. Ended up he was from Eureka, Montana. About 40 miles north of where my sister Angie lives now in whitefish. The old man and neighbor of the Montana cowboy, John, who brought Leroy is from Australia but has lived in the US for 30 years now. He banks at whitefish credit union where Angie works now. John said he'll go see Angie next week to say hi to her from me! Haha. Small world.

As for my next 3-4 months go I plan on working here. There are three other backpackers here at the moment; a German girl, Scottish guy, and Canadian girl. They're all pretty nice. So far, I've been working at the pub, bit of cleaning the rooms and dining room, and right now that the chaos is gone from last weekend Bob is starting to want to fix up the place. The hotel is 90 years old so there's quite a bit of fixing up to do. I'm looking forward to it. Hope to write sooner than later!