Making Moves

Well, I’ve done it again. I’ve moved to yet another remote location – Lizard Island Resort across the country on the Great Barrier Reef. Granny Pocock tells me that Bobby travelled to the reef several times and even found some Cox relatives, Granny’s birth grandparents I believe. I wonder what Bobby would make of this place.

It’s far more luxurious than Sal Salis with far more amenities and service. I think what I was lacking working at Sal Salis was the professionalism and the extreme organization that goes into Lizard Island. Everything is so thorough, from the communication between departments, to the manner in which new staff is trained. Staff are treated very well here too. The food has been really good and my room is quite nice and modern.

The trip getting here wasn’t so smooth, though everything ended up working out quite well. As soon as I got back into town on my four days off from Sal Salis I knew that the upcoming roster would be my last, so I applied to any and all jobs I could find as I’d been doing for the past month and a half, but this time with far more determination. I applied for this job on Wednesday night, called Sal Salis on the Friday to tell them this would be my last stint, and got the Guest Services job on Sunday afternoon which I was meant to begin the following Sunday. Everything went so quickly including the last week of work. Before I knew it I was on a plane on my way to Perth.

The overall trip consisted of three airline flights and one scenic flight – Exmouth to Perth to Brisbane to Cairns to the island. After getting minimal sleep the night before I was to fly out due to yet another going away party, I had quite a groggy day of packing. Gen, my closest Exmouth mate and the amazing woman that’s been there with me since day 1 in Exmouth, drove me to the airport and shared the last of many tears together. I really hope I see her again.

I had a 7.5 hour layover in Perth, a long, tiresome wait until my second flight that night. When I got to the airport, I hired a cab to drive me to the shopping centre so I could buy some shoes for work. Luckily, he was kind enough to wait for me and the store clerk was kind enough to stay open a few minutes while I rushed in, picked the shoes, tried on one foot and rushed out before it closed. I had some good travel karma this day!

Woody, on the other hand, has got some more snake bites coming

his way I reckon. He was supposed to come to the airport to go for dinner with me and bring my luggage that was at his house, but he instead chose to spend the day drinking or using ‘too drunk to drive’ as an excuse. Schmuck. I needed the luggage to separate some of my overloaded luggage to get on the scenic flight as I was far over my weight limit and needed to put some supplies on the barge. Fortunately, they were able to make a last minute exception for me as someone else on the plane did not bring any luggage with them. Phew!

After three flights, lots of waiting on airport floors and eating crappy plane food, I found myself having the most euphoric time in a plane that I’ve ever experienced. The stress I’d felt throughout the prior 24 hours of rushing around was immediately swept away. It was the same kind of feeling when you go in for a massage and all your knots are unwound and you leave the place with a stupid smile on your face, high from endorphins, except it was more of a mental massage.

After waiting briefly in a well snack-stocked lounge, watching a Discovery Channel program about the reef and the island, I was boarded onto a tiny 8-seater plane. I sat at the front, right behind the pilot, with a lovely Aussie couple I’d met in the lounge. I was thankful that the plane was too loud to speak to anyone once the propeller began because I was yearning for some peace which is exactly what I got.

We took off down a tiny runway, winds pushing us back and forth as to took off. As soon as we got high enough to see Cairns in its entirety my smile began to grow. The different hues of blue as the reefs edge took form were amazing. Little islands were dispersed everywhere. So much more greenery than I’d seen in my past six months. We rose above the few clouds that were in the sky. They were such puffy clouds, it looks like we were riding right across them, not below or above but right on top. I remember breathing so deeply and trying not to cry because the wave of relief was overwhelming. It was a truly amazing flight that seemed to go by too quickly.

The couple to my right seemed to be sleeping most of the flight, though they’d look up every so often to take a photo. I’m not sure they felt the same overwhelming gratification I was feeling, though they appreciated my shit-eating grin and had a good laugh at my excitement. I looked at them as they were sleeping. They were holding hands in a little cuddled position, obviously very much in love. When they took photos, I could see that in each of their phone cases was a photo of the other. They were probably mid-50s and quite adventurous looking. I thought in that moment that the only thing that could have made that flight any better would be to have shared the experience with another.

When I landed I was greeted by some staff who gave me a brief tour of the island. They brought me to my room and then I had an hour to

get settled in before meeting one of my bosses and getting my uniform. After that was all done, it was nearly 4pm and I was knackered. Dinner was in an hour so I figured I’d lay down for a nap and then go eat. I didn’t wake up until it was early morning. I’d missed dinner, hadn’t really had lunch the day before and was running late for my first day of work. To top it all off, I awoke to my period and there was no toilet paper. I threw myself together and, to my surprise, actually made it to work without collapsing. I was so afraid that I was going to throw up and pass out that I sat down at the first available chair – the General Manager’s desk.

Not a good way to start the day, but luckily one of my bosses was really kind and helped me out by getting me water and a pillow. I must have looked like a train wreck bursting through the doors and throwing myself into the nearest chair eyes closed and hands outreaching. After about 45 minutes of recovery, I pulled my shit together and endured probably the most hectic day of work I’ve had in a long time. Even the other staff were saying it hadn’t been that busy the entire season.

Today was a lot better. The girl training me is amazing at her job. I got so used to knowing my job at Sal Salis like the back of my hand so I’m really welcoming the challenge, which this definitely will be. I see myself improving when it comes to challenges, and not backing down or doubting myself. Every other job before this I would enter with limited confidence and a whole lot of self-doubt and skittishness. Here, I’m asking the right questions and throwing myself head-first into tasks whether I know what I’m supposed to do or not. I’m hoping I can take all this knowledge and use it to get a job at a smaller luxury lodge in Canada with the opportunities of moving up within the company. I think I’ll learn a TON here as long as I stay focused and work really hard and not get too wrapped up in the social aspect of island life. I know it’s good to be social and make friends, but after all the times in the past two years that I’ve gotten so close with people and then left a few months later, leaving behind so many friendships and enduring a certain amount of relationship drama, I really want to stay focused on all this provided experience. I miss Canada and family so much and being able to see or call them at any time without worrying about having signal or differing time zones. It’s almost time to bring the adventure back home.