HIP POCKET GUIDE

“I wanna rock and roll all night, and party every day”

G’day I’m Lissa, a 27 year old British backpacker. I arrived in Australia from Thailand in February and spent 5 weeks partying in Sydney.
It was there I decided I wanted to meet ‘The real Australia’. As I work in pubs at home I thought country pubs would be the way to go. I searched the internet and found Danielle. Within 6 days I had flown to Perth, met with Danielle, completed my RSA and was on my way to a little town called Ballidu. Danielle attempted to show me Ballidu on the map only to find that the town is so tiny it wasn’t shown on the map. I jumped on the bus in hope that the driver would have a more detailed map.

After watching random towns pass the window I arrived in the heart of the wheat belt. I was greeted by a man with a big handlebar moustache named Roger, who would be my boss for the next 6 weeks. We jumped in the UTE and Rog took me on a tour of the town. After a swift 3 minutes we were back at the pub 10 steps from where the bus dropped me off. I met Julie my other boss, she made me a cup of tea (being English I wasn’t about to say no to a good cuppa).

My first impressions of Ballidu were ‘This town is small’ and ‘where are all the people?’ I notice on my 3 minute tour that I hadn’t seen a vehicle or a single person. I soon met all the locals who I can honestly say are the most beautiful group of people I have ever known. They came in the pub thick and fast to check out the new backpacker barmaid.
The town welcomed me in and encouraged me to get involved in their lives.
I played golf with the farmers wives and went horse riding with the local horse whispers wife. The town girls also got me to play for the local netball team, which I relished.
As for Roger and Julie, I got along with them fantastically. I couldn’t have wished for a better place to work or nicer people to work for.
After 10 weeks of good fun, great music, the occasional party and a change in temperature I decided it was getting a little too cold. I contacted Danielle to see if there were any other simular roles in a warmer location explaining that I hadn’t packed for English weather.
Danielle found me a new job at ‘The Iron Clad Hotel’ in Marble Bar, the hottest town in Australia. (I definitely got what I asked for). It is also station country so lots of cows and cowboys roaming around.
I spent 7 weeks in Marble bar with Ross and Mary as my bosses. The closest station was called ‘Limestone’ where it was mustering season. The Limestone cowboys would pop into the pub every once and a while.
I made some solid friends during those 7 weeks. A Canadian school teacher who was doing a stint at the local school and my work buddy, a German backpacker called Sylvia.
Sylvia and I were in Marble Bar for their biggest event of the year, ‘The Races’. Hundreds of people from the surrounding areas descended on the town to enjoy a day at the races and then party at the pub.
I would urge any backpacker who wants to meet the truest Australians and experience the Ozzie lifestyle to work in country pubs. Never judge the town on its size or what it looks like. The heart is in the people that live there.
The memories I take away from here and the friends I’ve made are for keeps.

Lissa, UK, Nov 2009

‘Under an open sky’- life on Limestone

I had been travelling around Australia for the better part of two months when I found myself in Perth. I had arrived at the land of plenty or so the story goes. The rumour amongst backpackers is that Western Australia, especially Perth, is the place where work was plentiful and easy to come by, but like most stories told by backpackers, it had to be taken with the customary pinch of salt! I had been working in the city for quite a while and was beginning to enjoy the Australian way of life; the work, the beaches and more importantly the sunshine - us Pommes are severely deprived of that! However, deep down I knew something was missing. I could not quite put my finger on what it was though. You see fundamentally, I find that cities are all the same. I suppose they all claim to have their own little quirks. Some claim to host the tallest buildings in the world, or the maybe the biggest ‘Eye’ overlooking delights that their city has to offer, or even the longest bridge. Overall, they are the same. New York, San Francisco, London, and even Sydney – the people, the clothes, the attitudes – same. That was not the experience that I wanted to have in the land down under. The exception here is Perth. Strange considering it is the most isolated city in the world. Perth really is a city unto itself that is very charming and has a wonderful easy going nature about it.

Nevertheless, I still wanted to experience the ‘real’ Australia. The dirt roads, the open skies, the endless night-sky full to the brim with stars that are so bright they look close enough to touch with your hand. This was something that I was never going to find whilst living and working in the city. It is then that I crossed paths with Danielle who ran a recruitment agency 'in Victoria Park'. Danielle specialised in finding work for Backpackers in rural Australia. After a brief meeting and a few phone calls here and there, I was on my way to the hottest (I'm talking heat here) town in Australia, a place called Marble Bar. I was heading to a cattle station called Limestone, where I would work for the next three months. I explained to a very close friend of mine that I was heading for the outback and was politely informed, or should I say warned, that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. She said Marble Bar is definitely extreme ‘Woop Woop’ (apparently, 'Woop Woop' is slang for ‘out bush’ or outback). Still I could not wait to sample life in the middle of nowhere.

I flew into Port Hedland airport to meet my boss for the next three months. His name was Kevin Claydon and the only information I was given, was to look for a thin wiry man with a white hat, green shirt and blue jeans. This I did and indeed there he was, chewing on a piece of straw, exactly as his description would have him. I need to make it clear from the start that Kev is by no means a ‘Cowboy’ despite his appearance. I made that mistake early on and was immediately informed that he was in fact a 'Ringer'. Cowboys were American, not Australian. This uttered in a real country Aussie accent where his mouth hardly moved. It wasn’t until later that I realised why he never moved his mouth when he spoke - FLIES! Lesson learned. We drove in the ‘Ute’ to the station, which was about two and a half hours away. The first thing I noticed arriving in Port was the heat. It was completely different to the heat in Perth. In Port Hedland it is almost tropical and very humid. That's one of the fascinating things about this great country, due to its sheer size, it hosts many different climates. The scenery en route to the station was breathtaking and I was lost for words. I was finally seeing picture-book Australia, the one we all think of when we hear the sound of a didgeridoo! The dirt is blood red in colour, and paints a picture of the history of this land and all that it has been through in its turbulent history. Rocks break through the earth with no set pattern, making you wonder how on earth they got there in the first place? Spectacular!

We arrived at Limestone around 6pm, unloaded our gear and were given the grand tour of the Homestead. No cell phones, no internet, no media of any kind. This was exactly what I was looking for.
Limestone Cattle Station - 750,000 acres approx.

Life at Limestone isn’t for the faint hearted to say the least. I was expected to work six days a week sunrise to sunset, with Sunday off to do chores around the house. During Muster season I’d be working seven days straight, starting with breakfast at 04:00 and on the road by 05:00! The days are long and filled with hard Yakka (Aussie slang for hard work - don’t ask me why, I have no idea). The heat is so intense it takes some time to adjust, and water really does become your best friend and travels with you wherever you go. But the rewards are immeasurable. You gain experience in so many different fields, from welding, to driving the Grader (to make new roads and paddocks on the property), fence building, mechanics, driving buggies across a terrain that is unpredictable and very dangerous and completely alien to most of us, and that's without even going into the farm work. Due to the hostile landscape and extremely punishing heat you truly become part of a team that depends on each other, and let's not even mention the snakes or spiders! It really can be life or death out here. One thing is for sure though, you will get a real taste of how life is ‘out bush’.

Our nearest town was Marble Bar, which is on Limestone land. On occasion we would venture into town to the local pub called the ‘Iron Clad’ for a ‘blow out’ after a hard week's work. There is a real sense of community in Marble Bar, probably due to its isolation. The people are very friendly, extremely welcoming and always on hand to help if ever it is needed. Country folk really are the heart and soul of this great country. They live the simple life in the harshest of climates I have ever experienced. We were always attending BBQ’s, or hosting the local townsfolk and a real effort was made because the truth is, you can go days maybe even weeks without seeing another soul. That for me was part of the appeal.

Life on Limestone is not for everybody, but if you can adjust to the way of life that is the norm for people like Kevin and shed the comforts of ‘normal society’, I guarantee that you will take far more from this experience than you could possibly imagine.
My favourite memory would have to be rolling out my swag and just lying there, listening to the quiet, under a blanket of stars. You watch them shoot across the sky like natures fireworks, one after another, and for a moment, you forget where you are and what day or year it is.
You could say life on Limestone is timeless. It could be 1920 or 2009. You never can tell. There are no watches, no calendars, only natures clock, sunrise and sunset - perfect.

(Oh and Kev’s 'Beer o’clock' of course!)
Thanks for the memories Danielle

J.Martin
Limestone station Dec 2009

Travelling around Australia is such a brillant experience but we all know when the money runs short and its time to look for a job the fun has to stop for a while, well thats what I thought but i was so wrong.The fun was only beginning. I decided that working in a country pub in Australia would be perfect as i had the experience and thought it would be pretty much the same as at home and you dont have to spend hours on end handing out resumes as you just let the agency do the work for you. How good is that? a job, food and accomadation all in one day.

Travelling to my first country pub was quite nerve wrecking as I wasnt sure if I would be ending up in a town that looked like something out of the Wolf Creek movie and a demon as a boss but as soon as i arrived at my new job i knew after the first day i would love the place, and I did. I ended up staying 3mths, it was home from home for me. Along with meeting great people who really welcome you into there town and make you feel at home you get to save money, have lots of fun and make great friends for life.

That was nearly 18mths ago and I am now working in my fifth country pub in Australia, thats how much fun they are.As I write this letter at a beautiful beach, 5mins from my new country pub I can truly say I have loved all of the pubs I have worked in and would diffently go back and do them all again.
Dont let the thought of going out bush or to a remote town put you off going as its all a great experience you might never get to do again. If I had not gone to my first country pub I would never have experienced going to a coal mine and having a drive on one of the huge trucks, going underground for four hours in a gold mine, a helicoptor flight over beautiful places, fishing for yabbies and been given two real pieces of gold worth $400 in total, true aussie experiences you will not get in the city, but most of all meeting great australian people who really love to meet us new backpackers and hear our stories and show us the true australian way of life.

I can truly say this has been the best 18mths of my life and I dont think i would have enjoyed it as much if I didnt work in my five country pubs. 6mts left in my visa and Im diffently going to fit in another country pub before I leave this amazing country.

"You only live once, but if you do it right once is enough"

Lizzy, Ireland, Nov 2009