Sitting in bed after a delicious meal, full and tired – but
happy. Today was our first day off since the 17th of October. The
first chance I have to sit down and put all the stories I have been writing in
my head for the last three weeks.
I left off on somewhat of a negative note – no work,
overheating car, hot and bothered. So I am all the more excited to finally be
writing down our series of fortunate events…
Adios, Hot Momma
All the finger-crossing, knocking-on-wood,
hoping-and-praying or mechanical tricks could not save our perfectly equipped
but mechanically challenged (to put it nicely) van that we lovingly dubbed Hot
Momma. She spent some time at Darren’s (our trusty mechanic here in Katherine),
who did everything in his power (except fix the engine for 3000$) to cool her
down. The last resorts were some bottles of liquid stuff that is supposed to
seal leaks from the inside – to no avail. Her temper(ature) just kept rising
every time we took her out.
But due to another very fortunate event (more specifics
later), we moved into a real room two weeks ago and decided to try our luck at
selling her. Since we never really got the chance to love her, the way a
traveler should love his/her home on wheels, that decision came easy. We put an
ad up on gumtree.com and two days later met up with a Korean couple who had
just arrived in Australia and had realized that having an own means of
transportation makes life so much easier. They did not seem interested in all
the cool stuff I showed them in and around the van – and just remarked on how
camping experienced we must be. Then they test drove it around the block… or
more like Moritz test drove it for them, because he didn’t seem to know how to
drive a manual car. Hmmm… She was more interested in inviting me to a cup of
ice cream in the supermarket (which she visits every day). The second test
drive was more of a test hobble hobble croak hobble hobble croak. He tried and
decided he needed a bit more practice.
The next day, we brought them Hot Momma and said our goodbyes.
Believe me, we felt like complete jerks and our conscience
was killing us. I mean, we know how it feels to be sold a dud. We have already
accepted that karma will get to us and we will probably be born as ants in our
next life, only to be fried on the pavement by a kid with a looking glass. But
oh well… Given our situation – no money and shitty car – and theirs – too much
money and no car (and no clue about cars or driving whatsoever) – it also kind
of felt like fate was throwing us a bone, here in Katherine, NT.
(New) Wheels Keep On Turning
Although we were alright without a car and knew that people
would give us a ride into town every once in a while if we needed to, by some
strange coincidence, we ended up with a new set of wheels within the week. One
of our fellow shed-workers decided he had had enough of the mangoes and booked
a flight to Nepal (jealous!). Once again, the puzzle pieces matched. Us – a
little bit more money, no car – him – enough money, car. So he sold us his ‘95
Holden Commodore Acclaim station wagon for 600$. It looks like it belongs onto
a junk yard (though there might actually be more attractive vehicles there),
but the V6 engine still roars and took us to 140km/h in a flash – without
overheating! Of course, it has a few questionable character traits… Such as a
trunk that doesn’t stay open without a stick holding it up, a glove compartment
that falls into your lap when you open it, the fabric of the ceiling held in
place by thumb tacks and a crack or two in the windshield and a seemingly
endless amount of dust and dirt left by the previous owner. But the one thing
we definitely need to get fixed is the driver’s door. The former owner had had
a little run in with a post on the sidewalk, while driving under the influence
with the door open. It is a bit bent out of shape and doesn’t really open and
close as it should. That wouldn’t be too much of a problem, if it weren’t for
the window not closing anymore. So at the moment, Moritz gets to climb in over
the passenger side or through the window (though when he does it, it does not look
quite as cool as in the Dukes of Hazard).
Tomorrow we will take another quick trip into town (now that
we can go into town on our own volition and actually be quick) and look for a
wrecker that has an extra door lying around.
Our new wheels - still need a name though...
Night And Day OR Hi Ho Hi Ho, It’s Off To Work We Go
One day, about two and a half weeks ago, Moritz came to me
with a proposal from Marie, the owner of Manbulloo and our big boss. She
offered us a position on the night shift. Doesn’t sound too enticing, huh?
Well, in addition to making us the supervisors of the nightshift (meaning more
responsibility and a tad bit more money), she would throw in an air-conditioned
room rent-free. So, sleeping in the van for 60$/person/week and working during
the hottest hours as a packer (Moritz already was supervisor) VS sleeping in a
free air-con room and becoming the bosses of the packers…?
I am not much of a night person. So I was a bit nervous
about that, but the deal was just too good to pass up.
So now we live in a room that has a bed and a table in it
and a hole in the wall. That hole leads into the kitchen, which all the bosses
and managers (our neighbors left and right) use. After a few nights with only a
standing up bed frame covered with a blanket between us and the sounds and
smells of said kitchen, we covered it with a long piece of cardboard (+ the
bedframe and blanket). There’s still a couple of centimeters open at the top, a
crack that lets in some light, the occasional conversation between bosses or
the mouthwatering smell of a steak we could never afford at the moment – but
other than that our improvised sliding door works quite well.
The upside to moving into the room next to the kitchen is
that we get to use it. A real stove, an oven, a toaster, a toaster-oven, a
microwave and a water boiler and even a little room in the freezer – pure
luxury after cooking on butane gas burners in the howling wind. And now that we
are earning a bit, we’ve been allowing ourselves the occasional piece of meat
and more vegetables (that are not carrots). So this week it was a big pack of
ground beef and a giant bell pepper. Just to put this in perspective for you –
1,2kg of ground beef cost around 6$ (the absolute cheapest you can buy, usually
beef starts at around 13$/kg) and one single red bell pepper cost us almost 5$!
That kind of baffled me, being used to three bell peppers for 80 cents in
Berlin… But damn, did that Bolognese taste good. And so did the burritos we
made for dinner the next day. And the chili con carne the day after that. And
I’m sure we will enjoy the tub of frozen chili some day soon as well. Now that
we are really working, good food with real nutrients has become essential.
Without a few vitamins, minerals and proteins every once in a while, we would
probably shrivel up or collapse or something. We do still eat our fair share of
instant noodles, canned stuff and toast, but every once in a while I get to
enjoy cooking again and we both can get excited about a bell pepper.
An example of one of our "deluxe" dinners - a tiny steak, potatoes, sauteed onions and a salad (cooked by me)
An example of one of our post-work snacks - canned tuna thai curry style with toast and/or rice (cooked by Moritz:"Here you go, honey. Enjoy!")
But to actually find the time and energy to cook (or clean
or read or write or watch a movie or…) has become increasingly difficult. A bit
over a week ago, we started working at 7pm (before that is was 4pm). The sun
starts setting behind the shed, as we make our way to start our shift.
While Moritz was made supervisor before we moved to the
night shift, he basically just does his thing. He was brought in to save the
day and turn a bunch of lazy and chaotic stackers into a functioning team –
with success. He has some quirky characters to keep in check, but it seems to
be going quite well.
I, on the other hand, didn’t really know what to expect. All
I had seen of Carol’s job (my supervisor on the day shift), was that she ran
around a lot. And after a day of following her footsteps and getting trained in
the job, I knew why. My responsibilities range from making sure all the
materials are there – providing stickers for the machines, cleaning these machines,
lugging boxes of inlets from storage to the tables, having band aids on the
ready etc. – to making sure the process of getting the mangoes into the boxes
runs smoothly – keeping an eye on the graders and watching that they throw away
the bad stuff (and only bad stuff), coordinating with the quality controller
(another Berliner girl) who checks the packed boxes, moving around the packers
so the bins don’t overflow etc. I also coordinate the clean up, lug around big
blue crates of mangoes to bring back to the sizing machine, stand by the
conveyor belt, examine the trays and take back the occasional tray to the
packer to tell him/her what’s wrong with it. In between I make sure the shed
stays tidy, the time sheets are filled out and there is a constant supply of
cool drinking water. And finally, I pack. So yes, basically I run around a lot.
We take a 15min break at 9:30, a 30min “lunch” break at
midnight and another 15min Smoko between 2:30 and 3:15, depending on how many
bins of fruit are left. The last week has been 10-11h of work, meaning up to
12h in the shed. Our muscles are sore, our backs hurt, the soles of my feet
protest loudly when I slip on my shoes (though I must say that I am forever
grateful for mommy dearest making be buy some good shoes that I would have
never ever before bought or worn – they are saving my life! And definitely no
longer look like I bought them 2 months ago). We have bruises all over our legs
– I have a big fat one that looks like the Australian continent on the top of
my thigh from resting boxes of mangoes on it and a few little ones. Moritz’s
legs look a little like leopard print from pallet jacks, walking into belts and
tables and stuff like that. I spent the last few days working with my wrist
bandaged up, because it was getting quite painful to bend (in either
direction). And Moritz smashed his thumb with a hammer yesterday. And although
it did finally stop bleeding after a few hours, it will probably turn a nice
dark shade of purple in the next days.
So you can only imagine how much our bodies are enjoying
this evening off, lying in bed, moving nothing but our fingers on the keyboard
(and the occasional wave of the hand to get rid of a bug).
But generally, the body can get used to everything. And
putting it to the test the way we have been has once again proven this fact. I
could have never imagined myself working a night shift, sleeping during the day
and doing this 7 days a week. But surprisingly, after a few days, my body clock
has done a 180. We wake up in the afternoon – at first automatically between
3pm and 4pm, but lately only thanks to an alarm around 5pm.
Then there’s the question of food… Last week I craved lunch
at breakfast time, breakfast after work and it was all very confusing. By now
we have cereals at 5:30pm, “real” food at midnight and a snack after work.
And getting errands done – cleaning, laundry, shopping etc.
– takes a bit more coordination and planning. A lot of shops close at 5pm (such
as the wreckers from which we still need a new car door), so the alarm needs to
be set earlier on days we have to head into town. Laundry has to be thrown in
the second we finish work, so the few pieces of clothing dedicated to being
thrown away after this job can dry till the next shift. And today, our first
evening off, was spent finally cleaning up our one table covered in ¾ kitchen
and ¼ bathroom.
Only actual “chill time” suffers a bit. I haven’t done yoga
in ages, though it would probably do me quite good right now. I am still
reading the same book as 2 weeks ago. And our series is progressing in half
episode intervals – half an episode at breakfast and half after work ;) And
every second day I (and my tired limbs) wish I could just stay in bed for a
little while longer…
But work is work and work is good. Another day another (200)
dollar(s) ;) And every time it hurts just a bit too much or I just don’t want
to get out of bed or I want to curse them mangoes and Northern Territory and
the lot, I remind myself that one measly night of work here might mean a few
beautiful days traveling Asia. And that is motivation enough.
Sunrises, Bugs, & Rain (for lack of a better title)
An upside to working the night shift is the previously
unimaginable amount of sunrises I have experienced in the last weeks. By the
time I get out of the shower, the sky behind our container (have I mentioned
that our room is in a big blue container) turns all shades of cotton candy. The
outline of mango trees on the paddock is still gray, then slowly the colors
emerge and we listen to the world waking up, as the still of the night slowly
fades. The birds that used to wake us up are now wakened by us. And by the time
we lock ourselves into our dark, cold cave to sleep, we have felt the first
pleasantly warm (and not brutally hot) rays of sunlight on our faces. Just as
pleasantly warm as those, that blind us when we reemerge from hibernation in
the late afternoon. (Though I have to say, that the lack of sunlight has kind
of drained the nice tan I had before the switch).
Sunrise and mango trees
Our room in the container
Another little thing that comes with turning into a night
owl is the whole new set of creatures. The day has flies and the occasional
mosquito, we have moths. They are black and white and annoyingly hyperactive.
They wait outside our door and flood in when we open it, or hitch a ride on my
back, my hair…. They have become little friends who like to come cuddle with me
on top of my blanket, only to wake me when I make sudden moves, by flying right
around my face. They are all over the place… The roof of the shed, illuminated
by big halogen tubes, is covered in them. They dive into the bins and boxes of
mangoes. The other day, I’m sitting on the toilet, wondering what that strange
noise is – kind of like water in a tin kettle starting to boil – and look up.
More moths. They leave their fine dark dust everywhere…and decide to die in the
strangest places. Today I found one inside my sock. So I chase them with a
Tupperware and notepad and literally throw them out the door – for around
20minutes an evening.
And with the changing weather, there are so many more and
diverse insects around – beetles, flying ants (the ones that fly a few circles
and then die) and strange bugs I have never seen before, huuuuge, mean looking
ones with long antlers. Maybe the large amount of bugs is why the frogs in the
bathroom are no longer in the toilet, but all hiding, neatly in a row, in the
creases of the corrugated walls.
Slowly but surely the season is changing. The air is getting
more humid and the harsh winds have settled. Two nights ago it rained.
Heavenly. We were working, when all of a sudden it just poured. Heavenly. It
smelled so good. It felt so good. It was like a sudden burst of energy that I
haven’t felt in too long. It made me miss the water, being near it and being in
it. The sound was deafening, as it beat down on the steel roofing. The wind was
cold and everyone woke up instantly. Some had to run to their tents and try and
rescue some stuff. Moritz had to run to the car and tape up our window with a
garbage bag.
Aside from lifting my spirits, the rain caused a few
blackouts in the shed. Though strangely enough, the lights above the packing
tables stayed on, so it made for a great atmosphere (I still regret not having
my camera on me). Half of the shed wanted candles and romance, the other half
started singing and hoping we’d turn it into a party. We just continued working
(but with that little tingle of excitement in the corner of our smiles).
When we clocked out, it was still raining. The day shift was
just waking up and climbing out of soggy tents to asses the damages (like a
guitar filled to the brim with water, for example). No picking. No work the
next day/night.
And that’s why I am here, finally getting to tell whoever
reads this blog all about our last weeks here. Finally getting the stories out
of my head and onto the page.
This morning, the first sunny morning since the rain, the
grass is green, there was dew dripping onto us during our end-of-work
cigarette, the trees were blooming red and yellow and the skies were blue.
In life, in travels as in nature…“after the sun comes rain, after the rain comes sun again…”.
