Karratha: Welcome to the Pilbara

25th May -30th June

I was originally due to arrive in Karratha on the 27th May but the relentless rain had changed my plans and so I was a little early. I spent most of Monday just hanging around waiting for some communication from my contact in Perth who was setting me up with the job. I went to the visitor centre in town to use the internet and I sat in there for most of the day watching things on my laptop.

I left town to find myself a free camp spot which I found next to a bridge. Another three cars turned up whilst I was enjoying Eurovision with a few beers so I got talking to them for a while.

The next day I was getting a little frustrated waiting around so I thought I would just go into the Tambrey Tavern where I would be working and say hello. I found the manager Sarah who showed me into the house I would be living in. The house was really nice. It was quite big and very spacious and for $200 a week I should hope so. The rent was rather expensive considering I would be sharing a room.

My roommate Timmy was a kitchen hand. He was really cool. In the next room were Chris (Australian) and Dave (Irish) who were a couple that worked in the bottleshop. Downstairs was another Irish couple Hayden and Beki.

There was another Belgian guy, Brecht, that lived in the house but he was currently in hospital after being hit in the head with a hammer. Yep, that happened. I heard it on the news on the drive over and I hoped it wouldn't be anywhere near where I was working. Apparently some aboriginals that were waiting for the bottleshop to open kicked off at Brecht when he told them to move and a fight broke out resulting in Brecht being knocked out with the hammer and Dave copping one in the ribs. It was really serious and a very weird situation to walk in to for me.

I miss rain

I got a phone call from my contact in Perth, Kate, who wasn't best pleased that I had gone into the pub without her finalising things. I told her that I was sat in my car doing nothing and I would rather have sat in the pub waiting. Anyway, I was all moved in now and ready to start the new job.

I had initially been very happy with the pay that I would be getting but when I got here I realised I could have earned more as some staff were through the agency like me while others were employed directly through the Tambrey and were on a higher wage for the same job. I got $22 an hour in the week and $25 at weekends where as they got $25 in the week, $28 on Saturday and $32 on Sundays! I suppose I shouldn't complain because, as I said, I was happy with it when I came. The agency staff have a different house that was full when I arrived with cheaper rent including internet and a pool so I immediately requested to fill the next available spot in that house.

Beer garden at the Tambrey

Now, the job. There's a lot to be said about working at the Tambrey Tavern and to be honest most of it is negative but this isn't the place for it nor do I care to remember the bad parts. All I will say is that every single staff member that I met over the 6 months I was here left hating the place. They couldn't wait to get out and that says an awful lot about a business. The only reason that I stayed was it was the best paid job I've ever had. I could have found something else elsewhere for just as a good a wage but it would be a risk and I only had this time to earn as much money as I could. So began 6 months in Karratha.

A band on top of the G-Bar

New best mates

The pub itself is huge. I large main bar inside with a bistro section, a huge beer garden and a large function room. I think it was my first or second weekend when there was a James Bond themed night for some sports team in the function room. I was working in there that night and I love a bit of bond. They played all the theme songs and I had fun naming each film that they belonged to. I also had fun taking selfies with the life-size cut outs of Roger Moore and Daniel Craig!

Me and my mate Roger

Although the management left a little to be desired the rest of the staff were great. I met so many people here. There were about 15 people on the bar, bistro and floor with another 10 or so in the kitchen with people coming and going all the time. Some I'll probably not speak to again, some I'll meet up with if I get the chance and a few that I would absolutely love to know for the rest of my life.

Beer pong with Hayley, Bobbi, Bella and Ollie (and someone else out of frame)

My request was heard and in my third week I got to move into the new house. The agency had just bought a new house around the corner from the other two so I moved in there with Brecht and the soon to arrive Lloyd. A few people have come and gone in this house: Josh (an American chef that got fired), Simon (an English guy that liked to smoke a lot, a Tawainese guy (he who left very quickly when a typhoon destroyed his families' home), Kate and Megan (very briefly before moving round the corner, they'll pop up later) and later Luke, Veeto and Erik. The only person to be here the whole time was Lloyd.

The last time this house was clean

Shared pool

There's really not a whole lot to do in Karratha. There's a big hill that runs along side the length of the 'city' where me, Ollie, Bella, Hayley and Anji went for a walk one day. There's a place called the waterfall but it most only be a waterfall when its actually raining which is never.

The 'city' of Karratha

Going for a walk

Big spider

Another function where I was lucky enough to work was for the Laughing Samoans who were bloody hilarious! I watched them as I was trying to look busy looking for glasses. Unfortunately, even though I have ample bar experience, I was stuck on the floor collecting glasses for the first month. Reminded me of Walkabout back in the day!

Two vary funny men

Timmy - my (now old) roommate

I went back to my old house for a house party. I remember I left early because I was in early the next morning. After I left the police came because there had been a noise complaint. Chris and Dave got fired the next day but I think there was more to it then just the party.

Willie, Ricky, Timmy, (can't remember, Dave, Chris, Courtney and Beki

I went out on another explore up to Dampier this time to see some aboriginal art. I stopped off by the Red Dog statue having absolutely no clue what its about. I've since watched the film Red Dog which was surprisingly good. The legend is that this dog would basically hitchhike all over Western Australia and sometimes further but would always come back to Dampier where he was inducted into some mining union as well.

Red Dog

I went for a walk down a dry creek to spot some ancient aboriginal art. The art isn't pointed out to you at all so its kind of a treasure hunt. I saw some arrows but I think that was art and not a clue!

a few thousand years old

Classic Pilbara

I've forgotten what its like for it to be cool enough to walk in the middle of day. It was mid winter when I arrived. I remember, I bought a jumped because it could get chilly sat outside at the end of a shift. As cold as 15 or 16 degrees!

Alien?

Anyway, I digress, aboriginal art. I found this rather disturbing of what can only be described as an alien! That was a bit scary. The more you looked, the more art you would see. Suddenly it would be jumping out at you from everywhere.

Another alien, or ghost?

After that I carried on up the road to Hearson's Cove which is a nice rocky beach. The water didn't look too inviting to so I went back to town.

Hearson's Cove

Hayley and me

Evo's - Karratha's best night club. Did I say best, I meant to say only. It has a reputation for being really shit but I don't think its all that bad. Its what you make it. It reminded me of Hustle, way waaaay back in the day. Kinda small, kinda dingy and you wouldn't want to go there too often.

Bye Xavier

This particular trip to Evo's was because it was the leaving party of the bistro diva, Xavier. He was a real character. He would be so bitchy to a customer in such a way that the customer didn't even realise or thought it was funny. He was there for 6 months and had well and truly had enough. He stole the bistro bell when he left and posted a video on facebook pinging it and saying "haahaha, fuckers!"

Vicky and me

Luic, Liam, Paul, Sheila and Bobbi

Ats, Bella, Anji, Courtney and Haley

I went fishing for the first in my life towards the end of June. I tried, for all of 15 minutes but nothing happened so I gave up. But at least I tried.

Me, fishing, who'd have thought

The first month in Karratha was mostly fun. It was good to be working again and have people around me. It had gotten quite lonely in my car by myself. After a while I had the reputation for being the happiest person at work. Everyone else was always miserable but I'd usually be in good mood. That didn't last.