Still in Ravenswood

A quick update from Ravenswood. It's been so cold the past week or two, down to 15 degrees so I've had to put on most of what I own. I've no idea how I'm going to cope with English winter! The days in the pub are so variable and we have had a couple of very busy but short nights recently, including fish and chip Friday which is crazy! Things are still never boring in Ravenswood. We've had a pretty big BBQ fire whilst John decided to cook roast beef on it and I saw a huge bird (looked like a skinny emu but it flew, so apparently its a plains turkey). We've also had fire alarms going off in the middle of the night. Apparently geckos get into the alarms and play amongst the wires. The poor things were probably just sitting on the battery in a bid to keep warm. I've finally taken a stroll around some of town, walking past the primary school which has 1 mixed ability class with just 16 kids in it. I also visited the cemetery, which most of the graves were from the late 1800's. Pretty old for Australia but not so old when you compare it to England. I've got pretty lazy here so I took Leroy and Rosie (the 2 puppies) out for a walk and had a great time wandering around all the old mining relics and watching out for snakes. The other night there was a huge python just lying at the side of the road which was pretty cool. The weeks are going so quick that I've decided to stay here until the end of June before moving on. I just hope that it doesn't get any colder but I'm assured it will not snow here!

Ravenswood

I have been working at the Imperial Hotel in Ravenswood for over 3 weeks now and I'm loving it. Ravenswood is a small town South West of Townsville and consists of 2 pubs and a shop/post office plus a few houses. I'm working mostly behind the bar at lunch and in the evening so I've learnt lots of new skills which I would never have been given the opportunity to learn in the UK plus I'm widening my taste in country music. The town is heritage listed and was booming with around 50 pubs at the start of the 20th century when gold was discovered in area. Customers are mostly tourists and locals during the day, and in the evening the workers from the local gold mine and cattle stations turn up for and rum. It's been really hard work at times as everyone seems to drink so fast and the accents and slang has taken some getting used to. Everyone's really friendly and the locals are something never seen before- no teeth (one claims a rat stole hers) and everyone seems to have a dog! Although I've liked meeting other backpackers in the hostels it's been great to chat to the people who actually live in Australia. Living wise, I'm working about 45 hours a week for a flat rate and I get my own room and can eat meat and chips every night and I don't have to cook it which is great.

Despite its size there hasn't been a dull moment yet in Ravenswood. I don't want to do everything at once though. Behind the pub there's a huge disused open cast mine and everywhere you look there are remnants of the gold mining past. We have also had a magnitude 5.2 earthquake whilst I was working behind the bar which was pretty cool and last week we had a King Brown snake slither into the dining room! Thankfully it was spotted as there was just me in there eating breakfast. If a King Brown bit you, you would die before getting to hospital so sadly the snake had to be killed with the help of a couple of spades.

I have not internet or phone signal in Ravenswood but I managed to grab a lift to Townsville with the beer run so I can pick up some bits and pieces today. It's getting into Autumn and it's cooler so I'm wishing I hadn't sent home my warmer clothes. I hope to stay working at the pub for at least another month (flights to London are crazy expensive here) and then I think I'll head to Townsville and back into the land of communication to try and see if I can get a geology job with the local mines as my degree is actually worth something here due to a shortage of geologists. For now though I'll continue serving the beer.