Both Henriette and me are sporting two jobs at the moment, and we both work for the same people mostly at the same time. How we are not already sick of each other I don’t know, but it is working remarkably well sharing bed, food, house and jobs.
We have started calling each other “Vikram” from the “Friends” episode where Phoebe creates a fake boyfriend called Vikram to fake that she has had a long-term relationship so that her new boyfriend isn’t scared off. The idea is that after a year together we will practically have been in a long term relationship, although a fake one, so we can be each other’s Vikram if it is ever needed (since none of us has had a long term relationship before). Explaining this has just made me realize how much information there can be in one piece of internal humor between two people.
Never mind.
Our main job is cleaning holiday apartments for a cleaning company called Jelly Beans. They are starting up a department here in Byron Bay after becoming relatively successful along the Gold Coast. Currently they have only hired the two of us, and Amy (pictured above) who is a lovely 21 year-old from Tasmania who moved over here with her sister. The three of us have become quite the little team of super cleaners going through an entire house with tremendous speed. The apartments or houses we clean are mostly gorgeous which makes it just the more satisfying to clean them. A perk of the job is that we are allowed to take any food left behind (obviously we only take unopened stuff but that has so far included a pack of 12 eggs, a bottle of wine and a packet of cone ice cream so we’re doing quite well from that privilege).
Our boss is called Hamish and is a recently separated man with two children. He has lately gotten into the habit of texting us in the morning changing the time of our cleanings right before we do them, which has gotten a bit tedious, but he is otherwise a good boss, always smiling. We do wish the job would require us for more hours a week then we are currently getting, but with the summer coming up we are assured that we will get busier and more money will be rolling in.
Our second job is for a traveling company called Travel Bugs who cater mostly for backpackers such as ourselves. The job involves standing outside the shop and give out flyers that allow backpackers and students 30 minutes free internet access. We are also encouraged to chat to people about their travels and we are given an extra hour pay if we help them make a sale. They mostly sell skydiving, surfing lessons and trips to Fraser Island and the Whitsunday islands. These two places are where most backpackers seem to be heading. Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island and has loads of fresh water lakes on it where you can swim. Most backpackers hire a four-wheel drive and spend two days driving around the island. You can’t however swim in the sea off the island, as it is a nesting place for tiger sharks. The Whitsundays is a cluster of islands off Great Barrier Reef. The most common thing to do is sail from island to island because staying on one of the islands themselves can cost you about $2000 (£1000, 10 000NOK) a night. Hopefully we will get the opportunity to experience these places, but currently they are not on our to-do list.
The job at Travel Bugs isn’t lucrative as we only get paid $10 an hour and HAVE TO spend it in Travel Bugs. This might sound like a bad thing, but we have found that it forces us to save for travels, which essentially is what we are here for. The shifts are also short, only 3 hours long, but believe us both when we tell you we couldn’t have lasted a second longer than 3 hours as Byron Bay isn’t a big town and you find yourself constantly asking the same people over and over again. The job is however a good way to meet new travelers and locals. Walking down the street we practically recognize everyone we walk past or at least they are all vaguely familiar, which can be a little frustrating since we never remember if we actually spoke to them or if they have just passed us.
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