Nightwatch at Scotty's Beach House

As with the last one, I will be updating with more pics

One last thing before I talk about my experience so far at Scotty's.  Last minute award space can be limited.  The flight that I took only had business class award space available, and the next few days were empty.  So I buckled down and paid double the miles - 15,000 Avios - plus $25 in taxes for a flight from Brisbane to Cairns.  I planned out my pre-flight meal at the airport (a fast food voucher Id picked up at an ATM), but once though my expedited security check I realized: I can go to the Qantas business class lounge!

And the lounge was even better than the flight.  Unlimited free food - sandwiches, rice and curry, and salad - and free drinks - spirits, wine, and beer (lots of Australian brands, Heineken on tap, and Stella).  My flight was delayed by 20 minutes, and I must say, I didn't mind one bit.  I'd even have enjoyed a longer delay.  Now I know how people can get drunk at the airport - free alcohol in the lounges!

Seats in the business lounge; it was pretty crowded when I was
there (this is a picture I got from the Internet; I didn't want to look
even more out of place walking around taking pictures!)

All the free drinks you want at the bar!

The flight wasn't bad either.  First seat on the plane, 1A; chili con carne and wine for (second) dinner; a few more solid Australian pale ales - far from my backpacker budget of boxed wine.  Too bad the flight was only two hours!  By the time I arrived at the hostel in Cairns and checked in it was after 11pm.  I got to sleep pretty early (and easily), not bothered drinking more after more than my fair share of free booze.

On Thursday I caught the 1 pm southbound bus from Cairns - it goes all the way to Brisbane - and arrived in Mission Beach just after 3.  A van with Scotty's painted on the front was waiting at the bus stop to pick up backpackers and ferry them to the hostel.  After checking in the manager gave me a rundown of nightwatch duties, to be my job until a spot on the farm opened up.  In exchange for free rent and breakfast I was in charge from closing of reception at 7 pm until things quieted down, whenever that happened to be.

Scotty's Beach House

Mission Beach is a small town 140 kms south of Cairns.  A small
but steady stream of backpackers stop off there on their way to
or from Cairns, and some go to work on the nearby banana farms.

My job isn't hard - clean up the kitchen and the common areas, take out the trash, chlorine the pool, and handle any late check-ins.  I do have to drive the bus to pick up any late arrivals on the 8:55 pm Greyhound, but the station is only 5 minutes away.  All the manager asked me was if I had a license.  “Just an American one,” I replied.  “Oh, that's fine,” she said nonchalantly.  Luckily the bus is an automatic, and driving on the left side is actually pretty easy with the steering wheel switched.

During the week, when the workers have to catch a 5:30 am bus to the farm, the hostel is mostly cleared out and quiet before 10 pm.  If anyone is being too loud, I need to try and quiet them down so the workers can get a good night sleep.  Naturally on the weekend people stay up later.  I am allowed to drink (after driving the bus of course) with them as long as I clean up afterwards.  On the weekends the rules are more lenient, but we do need to try and keep it down after 11 pm.

Over the weekend things did get very loud.  Friday was a bit late but nothing crazy.  On Saturday night the backpackers were drinking by the patio tables and playing music - again, not out of control.  An Australian couple staying at the hostel asked to join in on a drinking game and everyone was happy to include them.  The husband was from Townsville, and the wife was actually born in England but had lived in Australia for nearly 10 years.  They were staying in a private room with their two children, kind of an odd place to bring kids, but they seemed nice enough.

Over the next couple hours, after a lot of beer and boxed wine, people were dancing and singing along to the music, generally having a good time.  An English backpacker named Dan and the Australian husband had been going back and forth about whose music selection was better.  It seemed like harmless banter at the time, but quickly escalated.  At one point, and I'm not sure if it was a reaction to something the husband said, I overheard Dan: “I've met a lot of cool backpackers from England, cool backpackers from France, from Italy, but I've never met any cool Australians!”

Again, the escalation isn't entirely clear, but I do know what happened next.  The Australian's wife took offense and made a leap at Dan, who didn't back down.  As tempers flared the rest of us jumped in the middle to break it up.  We struggled to separate Dan and the wife; several times she lunged toward Dan and even spit in his direction.  I was trying to keep Dan out of it, pushing him away, and in the scuffle he fell down the entrance stairs - luckily only a couple steps high, but got a good bump on the head in the process.

While I was focused on Dan and others were restraining the wife, her husband showed up with a knife!  I never saw it, and later it came out that the knife was just a kitchen utensil, but still that must have been scary to see.  I guess from the husband's perspective he was badly outnumbered and needed to defend his wife.  Luckily by that point the two parties had been separated and he didn't feel the need to use it.  We convinced the couple to go back to their room and for Dan to go to his, while the rest of us wondered what the hell had just happened.

Bogan....the word is basically the Australian version of

redneck or hillbilly, and they are known to be quite 

unstable in the presence of alcohol.

One of the things bogans like best is Bundaberg Rum, named after
its hometown in Queensland.  Bogans love slamming some Bundy
and looking for a fight, or whatever other dumb shit they can think of.

And Bundy even comes premixed in
a can; how convenient!  Check out
http://thingsboganslike.com/
if you want a greater insight into
these fascinating creatures.

10 minutes later two police officers showed up to ask a few questions.  They were quite nice and, after talking with the couple, let us be.  I can't imagine the cops back home acting so calmly.  Before things kicked off an Italian backpacker, Andreas, had put on someones bra as a joke.  When the police showed up he was still wearing it, and the first thing they said was, “Looks like you guys had a fun night!”

When Andreas saw the husband with a knife he took an empty beer bottle and smashed it over the reception counter.  As he later explained, there wasn't time to think it over, and all that went through his mind was that this guy has a knife, and worse comes to worse, we will need to defend ourselves.  Problem is that after he broke the bottle Andreas then cut his foot on the glass shards!  Aside from his foot and the bump on Dan's head though, everyone else was fine.  I'm just glad it didn't get any worse - talk about an eventful time on night watch!

The best part was that CCTV captured the whole thing.  The next day, once reception was open, we all got to watch a replay of the scuffle on camera.  That's the sort of video you would see on a crappy cable TV show...maybe we can get money for sending it in!

Luckily for me, after Saturday night things calmed down.  The farm workers had Monday off as well, but everyone seemed to agree that it was a good idea to take Sunday night easy.  By Monday everything was back to normal and night watch was again easy.  I hope I can get on the farm soon though!