STILL in Broome but not for long....

Having booked my flights to leave Broome before Christmas it wasn’t long before I started to question my actions. I had intended to stay in Broome until mid January but then I hadn’t counted on being invited to stay with my east coast friends for the holidays. Also despite my best intentions I really was ready to move on. In fact I was considering moving up to Darwin but the fact that I had booked my flight to Sydney from Perth and that I had a few counselling sessions booked in stopped me. As our customer base switched from tourists to local the hours at work became scarcer and our busy periods fell in to those of a normal restaurant. Whereas before there was barely time to catch our breath between breakfast and lunch then lunch and dinner I found myself taking 1-2 hour breaks. One day I even volunteered to take a 3 hour break as that way at least I could go for a swim. Most of the backpackers had moved on and the remaining staff were all looking for hours. The first time I found myself fighting for hours I went home and had a think and decided that it really wasn’t worth it. I had studies to do and enough money in the bank that I could call it a day at any time. I even spoke to my boss, half hoping that he would cut my hours so I had a reason to move on but though we had slowed down there were still hours to be had so in the end I stayed.

I can’t say I regret that decision. It’s a good place to work and I enjoyed my time there however as December arrived and the decorations started to appear I knew it was time to call it quits. My boss beat me to the conversation asking me a few days before I planned to speak to him what my plans were. I said I wanted to head east before Christmas and we agreed that I would leave on the 20^th as then he would not have to employ anyone else to take my place. It was later than I was thinking but since it seemed to suit the business I no longer felt bad about leaving before I had originally intended and was happy to stay knowing I would soon be on the road again. Having quit my job going back east had become a reality. I set about booking my dive course and hostel in Cairns for January and started to look forward to catching up with my friends on the east coast and travelling again. I got really excited when I booked my dive course but part of me won’t believe it’s really happening until I’m there learning how to dive. I don’t know yet where I’ll next stop for work. I’m fortunate enough that I should have enough money to travel a bit first and hopefully stop somewhere I want to stay rather than need to due to lack of funds.

For now I am still in Broome which is a record since I started travelling. When I leave I’ll have been here for four whole months with only one night away from the hostel when I went camping up to the gorges. The studies are on hold as I embrace the holiday spirit and enjoy the time I have left here. For one thing it is way too hot and humid to study and for another I’ve discovered that hanging about chatting with the folks who are left is way more interesting.  It’s a good thing I didn’t discover this earlier or I suspect no amount of good intentions would have kept me sober, dieting and studious. Now though I am in the mood to be led astray a little, I may even have a few drinks along the way.