November 24

DAY FROM HELL...
Our original plan was to come to Bundaberg to work. There's a rule in our working VISA that states if we ever want to come back to work in Australia for any amount of time we have to work at least 3 months in a rural area. We were going to do some fruit picking here. Our guide book actually says "People normally come to Bundaberg to stretch their legs off the bus and then get right back on". We didn't realize it at the time, but there's a reason it says that. When I called to make the reservation at the hostel, the guy on the phone said that the reception area would be closed (because our bus arrived at 11:30pm), but we could walk to the hostel, knock on the door and someone would let us in so that we could stay on some couches in the main area for just $10. Sounds a little sketchy, but we figured it would only be one night and we could work things out after that. Our bus broke down and we got to the hostel at midnight. There was no one anywhere who could let us in. We stayed by the door waiting for about an hour and I got sick of waiting so I went to the side door and noticed the shuttle vans. After trying the doors, I found the back door on one of them open!! so, in we climbed for a 5 star accommodation in the back of a random van. At about 5am, the driver came out and woke us up (he didn't mind at all, haha) and we could get inside to lay on the couches until about 7. We started trying to figure out this whole fruit picking business and soon learned that neither of us could possibly do it. It's very hard & hot labour and about 10 hours for about $100 a day. Plus, the hostel we would have had to stay in was infested with bed bugs!! Ya right, I was making $100 at Lalo Treasures for 7 hours of reading a book. We're just not cut out for this business!!! SO, we decided to move on to Rockhampton on the late night bus tonight. Since it was still early and we had no place to go, Lindsay went to their computer room to use the internet and I stayed in the TV room with our bags. Not too long later the manager came over to tell me to leave because we had not made a booking for that night. "OK" I said and started packing my things away. Once I was packed, I went over to find Lindsay and he followed me yelling at me to get out. I tried to explain that I had to get my friend, but he couldn't get that through his mind and started yelling and yelling. Lindsay came out and he was yelling at her too. crazy guy, following us to our bags and out the door yelling "You're a mooch... no, you're a sponge" It was TOO much! We finally got out of there and got to the bus station to lock our bags in a locker. For the afternoon, we walked around this terrible little town and at about 6 we took an hour walk to a movie theatre. When the movie was over, we started walking home, & just like during the camping trip, out of nowhere it started POURING!! I'm sitting in the bus station right now, after the walk, and everything we own is soaking wet & we've got nowhere to put it to dry. I'm just hoping tonight is a little better than last night & we actually have a bed to stay in. We're so tired!!