Cairns - Living and Working

LIVING AND WORKING IN CAIRNS is an incredible experience.  The tropical northern part of Queensland, Australia is a tranquil escape that I wish every traveler could experience.  One day you are partying with backpackers at a hostel's beer garden and the next day you are on a tiny island off the coast of the Great Barrier Reef diving or snorkeling with rare species and unnamed types of coral.  My days are mostly spent working.  It took me 4 days and about 9 resumes handed out to get 2 jobs.  While I want to to tell you it easy to get a job in Cairns, I must say that you will go up against some competition in numbers (thousands of backpackers from all around the world).  What will take you a long way when looking for a job is a positive attitude, the ability to speak English CLEARLY (a lot of times the people from England over here are the hardest to understand!), and the ability to learn quickly.  The main industries working holiday makers like myself find work in up here is hospitality, food and beverage, retail, bar work, and farm work.  I found my first job as a receptionist at Koala Beach Resort (hostel and tour booking company) simply by walking down the street and seeing a sign on the door for help wanted.  My second job was found the same way as I walked into Mondo's, a restaurant at the Hilton Cairns, and started asking around.  I am a proud member of the Hilton family now as I am much appreciated in the banquets department for my work on private dinners, weddings, corporate lunches, gala dinners, etc.

WORKING AT THE HILTON I AM SEEING A CULMINATION of 10 years of off-and-on food and beverage experience in the United States.  From starting as a busser at the Bluwater Bistro in Seattle in college, to working at the 5 star Mister A's in San Diego, to bartending with The French Gourmet (Corey and Gus thank you for teaching me the ways of a catering bartender wizard), to when I first learned how to serve tables at a Red Robin in high school (the only job I was ever fired from - eat shit Scott, I wrote the schedule down wrong!), my experience in this industry has culminated in a way that I am a huge asset to the Hilton.  Within weeks they were putting me on the important events; events that the people are tipping me on (remember their is no tipping in Australia as your wage of $18 to $30 an hour pays for your gratuity)  No tipping at bars, restaurants, nowhere.  It feels good to know a trade well and excel at it.  Mind you it is not a career choice of mine but it pleases me to know that my 12 years of work in various places, I can please my superiors with hard work and pleasurable charisma while on the clock.  I don't take the two 15 minute paid breaks they give us.  Also, there are only like 2 security cameras at the Hilton.  I feel that is a good example of how things are a bit more relaxed out here. I have looked all around and can't seem to find any cameras and the ones we have I don't think are even monitored as I have seen the security room and it looks like a shack. (Ben McLeod, a bit different than your Ritz/Marriott in Los Angeles yeah?).  The Hilton takes care of us well too...uniform is washed and pressed for you for when you get to work and they feed us mid shift with decent grub.  Showers, lockers, it is like almost like going to the gym, yet you are not lifting weights, but more lifting massive tables and chairs, and you aren't sweating from cardio but from anaerobic activity that seems to never end.  I would love to see how many miles I walk in a busy night where I am bouncing around from event to event.

THE WEATHER IN CAIRNS IS LIKE FLORIDA IN THE SPRING with more creatures (especially parrots and bats, yes bats).  When I walk to work in the day or morning, you can see and hear hundreds of bats in the trees and if you walk down a certain portion of the sidewalks you will walk through their droppings; only to hurry your steps worried that you are going to get bat shit on your face.  At dusk, the bats MOVE.  And man do they move.  Looking up at the sky it looks like 500 Batman logos flying around as if Gotham city was about to be attacked by nuclear missiles.  They squeak, flap, and screech their way to...well...I actually don't know where they go (maybe their cave?).  Besides the not-very-scary bats, Cairns is beautiful.  Green and red parrots casually frolic from tree to tree.  I remember one night at a bar on the outside deck just watching families of parrots doing whatever it is they do...probably about 5 feet away from me I could almost touch one.  I work right on the water and as much as the breakfast shift can suck (up at 6am), the walk in the morning along the public lagoon overlooking bikeriders, people doing Yoga, and the Pacific Ocean; it is breathtaking.  Add some good headphone music in, like Deadmau5's Faxing Berlin, and some sandals and backpack, and you are now picturing the first small chapter of the working holiday of Ryan McLeod.  I walk everywhere.  I haven't driven a car in 4 months and it hasn't occurred to me until right now.  I think I am going to buy a bike tomorrow as I want to explore the outer parts of the city center that is a bit too far for my tired and aching feet.  On a good day, I am on my feet only 5 hours of work...on a heavier day (Koala shift into a heavy Hilton shift), I can be on my feet for 17 hours.  I am not complaining, just stating that some good insoles can go along way when doing this type of labor.  Socks get reused, outfits get repeated, sandals are very WORN.  Some nights I will get home from the Hilton around 2am exhausted and set my alarm for 7:45am having to work a 10 hour double in the morning at Koala.  Some mornings I feel like a zombie walking down the one story of stairs down to reception.  Most mornings eye drops are a life saver.

WORKING AT KOALAS IS EXTREMELY DEMANDING AND DIFFICULT.  I sit at the front desk and read (right now The Thorn Birds - thank you Brian Hayden, great novel), write, work on my upcoming travel websites, play Hearts on the Windows, Pinball on Windows, and at some points I have fallen asleep on the couches in the lobby there.  Oh yeah, and I check people in and out of their rooms, book some tours here and there, and close the doors and gates at the end of the night.  Sometimes I have to take the garbage out and clean some coffee mugs in the back sink.  Let me just say I don't take this job for granted at all.  I also get free trips through Koala's which is awesome as you have seen some of the cool trips I have been doing (bungee, skydive, river rafting, etc).  Funny, looking back a year ago in Los Angeles when I was researching this holiday work visa, I never pictured getting my first job at such a cool place that can allow for so many adventures.  Ryan is very thankful for this position and will miss Koala's dearly I am sure as I head south after Christmas.

MY ROOM HAS LIZARDS IN IT.  Well, they come and go as they please.  Little geckos only about a finger length, they scurry all over.  Just last night I was going into my room at 1am after a long Hilton shift, and one of the lizards was on my door.  "In or out buddy, your call" I said to him.  He decided to stay out.  My heart doesn't jump anymore when things scamper around my feet.  As I know a lot of you are like me (like Lindsay in North Carolina with water bugs), people who do not care for large (or small for that matter) cockroaches.  Well, I can say that I squashed one the other day (progress) like Mr. Miagi talked about grapes to Daniel, and I thought for a moment that the fear of these harmless and pointless creatures was gone.  The next night walking home from work, one came shooting towards me, reversed direction, reversed again and came right at my vulnerable toes only to have me do a double jump out of the way with slight heart palpitations.  God I love those things.  Back to my room for those of you who care.  I live at Koala Beach Resort in room 112.  Old Cad members at Sigma Chi in college can appreciate the ROOM 112 (Mike B, T Smith, and D)  It is an ensuite (has private bathroom) 4 bed dorm room with a fridge and a sink.  I have it to myself which is nice as it is actually almost as big as my last studio in Los Angeles lol.  The AC works good and with the curtains closed, I sleep well.  Working 70 hours a week probably has something to do with sleeping well too :/

ACCLIMATING TO THIS ENVIRONMENT AND THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE is still happening after almost 60 days of being in Oz.  Around week 3 I got a bad whooping cough and when some foods (especially meat) would hit my stomach (thank you Gilligan's and your dogshit CURRY SAUSAGES SLOP AND RICE free dinner) in a way that I can only explain as a 'twisted knot of lead in the center of my gut.'  The cough went away but my good friend and counterpart at the Hilton, Michael, said that it has to do with the hot air and the air conditioning, etc.  I also noticed that the spin of the earth can affect my walking (some of you are probably laughing at this right now).  Yes, there were (and still sometimes) times when I would be walking down the street in Cairns (sober) and I would feel like the ground under me is shifting and I could fall over.  You think I am crazy but my best two friends, Jeff & Dave (Irish guys mentioned before), also felt the same thing one day at Palm Cove.  I am not crazy, just know that I FEEL different when doing day to day things over here (like walking).  There are times at the Hilton where I am running plates of food in and out of multiple rooms (no AC, then tons of AC) at a fast pace and the fluorescent lights are beaming down; I feel like I could faint.  Hydration is something I took lightly my first month here and now I drink almost two liters of water before lunch.  I didn't realize how bad I was dehydrated and when you add fun nights and days with alcohol, your body just prunes into oblivion.  One day I could FEEL myself not getting enough water and oxygen to itself (vomited and was confused at reception - I think it was a mild heat stroke - closed reception early and had my night shift covered - slept and drank water) and that was the day I said that a water bottle will always be with me and I will be constantly drinking the good fresh tap water of Cairns (it is quality actually as it comes from good mountain fresh water sources from the World Heritage Rainforest).   I can feel a large difference in my health; mentally and physically already.  Derek Zoolander was on to something in his 'Merman' commercial.  RCM

The Working Holiday Project 2010

Skydive from 14,000 feet over the GREAT BARRIER REEF

SKYDIVING IS SOMETHING NOT NORMAL TO HUMANS.  Thanks again to my short term career choice with Koala Beach Resort in Cairns, I was able to do a 'famile' skydive with Australia Skydive (one of the biggest in the world now due to two companies merging).  My jump cost me $35.  Jumps are usually around $300.  Happy days.  I wasn't as nervous as I was in Interlaken, Switzerland 7 years ago...funny how age can calm your nerves a bit and when you are younger you are more aware of scary shit that can kill you or give you a heart attack.  I guess as we get older we seem to get lazy in our paranoid thinking?  Anyhow, for all of you whom have jumped out of a perfectly good airplane know that SKYDIVING IS UNREAL.  One can watch movies and television and see skydivers doing there thing but let me tell you that when that door opens up in that little Cessna at 14,000 feet and you are higher than clouds and houses and cows are the same size, you question a lot of things about the short-term past, present, and future.  PAST = drank two beers.  PRESENT = 120 MPH free fall looking down on a tropical rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef.  FUTURE = "where do I sign up to get certified?"

I HAVE COME TO REALIZE AFTER 30 YEARS OF LIVING on this planet that there are must do's.  Skydiving is a must do.  I don't care how scared you are of heights, or how much anxiety flying gives you, or how you can get motion sickness...if you want to really FEEL like a human in this 10+ billion year old universe, JUMP OUT OF AN AIRPLANE.  12 people fill this tiny, tiny plane and I would say it probably gets better gas mileage than a car it is so small.  You are packed in like sardines and no one knows to laugh or cry during the ascent.  Your jump master continues to show you his altimeter and you start realizing that this is getting close to the stage that jet airliners turn off the FASTEN SEAT BELT sign.  You go above clouds.  You can't make out things on the ground from houses to cars to animals to buildings.  The door opens and the cold air hits everyone resulting in SCREAMING and SMILES and FACES OF TERROR.  I put my dive glasses on and crossed my arms as I watch a girl in front of me (who was fairly nervous about the jump at the shop earlier) and her instructor head to the edge of the cabin to jump and she does not follow the rules and cross her arms but proceeds to grab the ceiling, door, wall, ground; basically everything to keep her from plummeting from the aircraft.  She exited the plane on the ground that day.  The kid next also grabbed the door when he is supposed to have his arms crossed.  Switzerland, 7 years ago, I grabbed the door like a child reaching for his mother.  This time, I just smiled and crossed my arms and let Jeremy, my instructor, scoot us up to the ledge.  It is frightening.  Sheer terror in a good way I guess.  Before you can realize what you are actually doing or where you are or what is about to happen, you have exited the plane.  One barrel roll and (thanks to my instructor advising me to keep my eyes open) you are looking back and waving to the aircraft.  It was a white plane I think.  Jeremy taps my arm signaling me to uncross my arms and let them FLY.  You are flying.  You are going 120 MPH.  I have told many of you throughout the years that the best way to picture what is like is to imagine a freeway.  You are standing 10 feet next to this freeway watching the cars ZOOM by.  So fast as they just WIZZ by. Probably doing 65 MPH (or if you live in California you are probably imagining cars going 80 MPH or 90 MPH), see the cars flying by as your head turns.  Now picture that same car moving at almost double that speed, or 120 MPH.  Now those cars are literally ROARING BY you and your head can't turn fast enough to eye them as they cruise by.  Now, picture you, yes, YOU, next to that car like Superman keeping pace with it as it flies down the asphalt.  Now picture yourself staying next to that car for a minute.  It is around a minute but it feels like a second thinking back.  A minute doing 120 MPH without a seat belt is almost life changing.  There really isn't anything else in the world that can give you the sensation that skydiving does.  We as kids stuck our heads out the window of the family van headed out on a camping trip and that was fun.  But double the speed and get rid of the cabin you are riding in and you will feel like Neo in the Matrix.

BEING A TRAVEL WRITER, I OBVIOUSLY ASKED A LOT OF QUESTIONS to Jeremy in the field (drop zone) we landed in.  Some of you already know that there are 2 parachutes on every jump.  If the first gets tangled you are trained to cut the first one and deploy the second.  What fascinates me the most is the computer generating emergency deployment.  A lot of people worry about dying when skydiving but it is safer than walking around a major city.  You see, if your body is still moving at 120 MPH at 700 feet (seems a bit low for me ay?), the computer inside parachute #2 will deploy automatically.  This is so rare and my instructor said that if you are having computer generated deployments that you shouldn't being skydiving.  My question, but never asked for obvious reasons, is "what happens if the computer fails?"  Thank you electrical engineers.

AFTER THE CANOPY IS OPENED AND YOU ARE JERKED AWAY from your superhero speed towards the earth, you look up and thankfully watch your parachute fill with air.  For a millisecond you see the cords untangling and think to yourself are we going to have a malfunction?  Jeremy has done around 3000 jumps and just recently had his first malfunction.  Funny how cords can knot up and tangle yeah?  I have enough trouble getting my shitty headphones for my mp3 player to straighten out.  (similar to losing your mask/regulator diving at the ocean floor), you simply follow your training and know exactly where to release your main shoot and deploy the second.  People don't die in the air, they die on landing.  With power lines, wind, trees, buildings, etc, most skydiving deaths are correlated to the landing going wrong.  Before the landing is almost my favorite part.  While the freefall is amazing and intense, the parachuting around at slower speeds is so tranquil and transcendentally calming that it is hard to explain.  Looking out and seeing the reef, the rainforest, Cairns, on a sunny day in the Southern Hemisphere is beyond breathtaking.  I was allowed to steer the parachute which was not offered in Switzerland.  By tugging on these large yellow ropes with handles, one is able to turn the parachute to the right and left.  One of the turns we did was so hard that our bodies were almost parallel with the ground of the globe we were jumping over.  It is just incredible people.  Highly recommended and definitely will do again, and again, and again.  Like scuba diving, things are just different to you when you are down there (or up there I should say in this case :) )  Good adventure, RCM