Life at Scotty's Beachhouse

When I last left you I had decided to stick it out at Scotty's for awhile.  As a refresher Scotty's is a hostel in Mission Beach, Queensland, about a two hour drive south of Cairns.  Some of the guests are simply traveling through, but others work at a nearby banana farm.

The quiet town of Mission Beach.  Unfortunately much of the year is
jellyfish season and the water is off-limits.  Even when they aren't
around you have to look out for the crocodiles!

Citizens of most countries that qualify for the working holiday visa (most of Western Europe, Canada, Japan, and Korea) can get a second year visa by doing farm work in regional Australia.  This explains why the backpackers at Scotty's were toiling away banana 'humping' (carrying banana bunches), 'de-leafing' (cutting dead or dying leaves from the trees), 'injecting' (pumping tree stumps with gasoline to kill them off), 'sorting' (cleaning and cutting the banana bunches), and 'packing' (boxing up the bananas to be shipped).

As for Americans, we cannot qualify for a second year visa.  Before you get indignant at the apparent injustice, keep in mind that it is a hell of a lot harder for Aussies to get a working visa in the States.  Considering these things are usually reciprocal deals between governments, I think the Americans got pretty lucky.  I just felt fortunate to get a year there.

Since no amount of farm work would qualify me for a second year visa (that I may or may not have used), shifts at the local restaurant seemed a much better idea.  By early June I had been working at Millers Bar and Grille for nearly a month.  When I started the owner, Mick, told me the position would be approximately 30 hours a week.  Unfortunately that's not how it ended up; I was consistently getting 20 hours or less.  The restaurant was in a great location, just down the street from the hostel and next to the beach.  Money was decent ($20 an hour), but I couldn't survive off of part-time hours alone.  Well I could pay the bills, but the point was to try and save up money, not tread water!

Outdoor patio at Miller's Bar and Grille, across the street from the beach.

Oysters were a hit; overall the food got great reviews.  Here
is their website if you want to take a look.

In the meantime I had been looking for more cash-in-hand gigs.  Locals occasionally asked the hostel if anyone could help out with gardening, moving, cleaning, etc.  Since Miller's only had lunch shifts on weekends, odd jobs during the day would be a good way to pad my travel funds.

Work at a local banana nursery initially seemed promising - I got at least 10 full days off and on during my first four weeks at Scotty's.  More consistent hours seemed on the table, but after a couple weeks without hearing back from the owner, Steve, I learned that business was slow and the prospect of more hours unlikely.  In the meantime I got a handful of days working on a construction site.  It wasn't anything official - just helping the owner with odd jobs on his new house - but I was happy with any kind of work I could find.

What a baby banana plant looks like.

As it turned out, some weeks I would be swamped with day shifts at the banana nursery or building site and evening shifts at Miller's, while other weeks I had tons of free time.  Daytime was often quiet at the hostel since the other regulars were working on the farm.  Their shift started every morning at 6 and ended at 2:30 in the afternoon.  Since the drive took over half an hour they had to leave at 5:15 am!  That was another good reason not to work on the farm - who wants to wake up at 4:45 in the morning Monday to Friday?

Aside from the early start times the work itself also sounded terrible.  The banana paddock was full of mosquitoes, and several backpackers had legs ridden with scabs and scars from bites.  A couple of the women also got rashes from injecting the tree stumps with diesel (they carried a diesel pack on their back, which wasn't sealed well and could spill on them).  Oh, and lets not forget the not-so-pleasant reminders that we lived in the tropics: banana spiders, snakes, and rats!

Needless to say it was nice not to work on the farm - well, as long as I had consistent work myself.  In the evenings many of the workers relaxed by the hostel pool or watched movies in the TV room.  As for the weekends, well it was time for them to celebrate another week closer to completing their three months of farm work.  Most Friday and Saturday nights there was some sort of party going on.  I often had shifts to work at Miller's, but if it wasn't busy (as was the case many weekends) I got out early enough to join in.

Relaxing by the pool at Scotty's

Of the dozen workers all but a few were from the British Isles.  When I arrived a couple French backpackers were nearly finished with their three months, and there was also an Italian working on the farm.  On a side note one of the French guys - on his last day of work no less - severed a tendon in his hand on the farm.  He was cutting off leaves opposite another worker and his hand got in the way of the 'de-leafer.'  After the incident he was rushed to the hospital in Cairns - some two hours away - and luckily they were able to patch it up.  He missed his flight to Thailand and still had it in a cast when he left two weeks later.  Hopefully it's all good now!

Oh and there is one more guy who really needs mention: Jay, a backpacker from Ireland.  Jay arrived halfway though my stay at Scotty's looking to do his farm work.  Jay was an outgoing, affable guy, and lets just say the stereotype of a happy-go-lucky, alcohol-loving Irishman was right on the mark.  Jay had worked in a western Australian mining town for 5 months as a handy man at a hotel.  The wages out there are even higher than the East Coast so he saved up nearly 20 grand!

Jay (left) with, from right, Kyle and James, two British
backpackers who also worked on the banana farm

Before heading to Queensland Jay stopped in Sydney for some R & R.  Well I don't know how much rest he actually got; Jay told me that in a week in Sydney he managed to blow over $4,000!  And this was while staying at a hostel no less.  I wouldn't have believed that figure if I didn't see first hand how this guy could drink (and how generous he was!).  We had a few nights at Scotty's that lasted after sunrise the next day - just me and him with a bottle of Jack Daniels, ready to greet the farm workers when they left for work.  Good thing I had a lot of time on my hands!

Every few weekends the guys from the farm took an excursion, either to Tully, a town 30 minutes away, or to Cairns.  Unfortunately it was an easy way to spend your saving from the week, but was also a needed escape.  In the interest of saving money I limited myself to one Tully and Cairns trip each.  Partying with the likes of Jay and the heavy drinking Scots and Englishman was a wicked good time though.

The local watering hole in Tully

Drinking at the Jack hostel in Cairns

Part of the Scotty's crew.  Hey what do ya know, Jay (left) with a bottle of Jack Daniels!