Ngaut Ngaut

Every Thursday the boat stops at Ngaut Ngaut for a few hours. Luckily, it is during me and Emma's break so we are able to get off the boat. We enjoy going on the excursions because it's nice to get off the boat and if customers ask us questions at least we can say we've done them. At Ngaut Ngaut we climbed up the ridge to an aborigional territory. I think they were the first aborigional I've seen since I've been here. They told us how they used to trade rocks to use as tools and how they camped along the river. Honestly, I wasn't fully listening because a little girl who I serve every meal was talking to me the whole time. Her name is Dipsha, her family was so sweet. She was here with her parents (who also work for captain cook cruises in sydney), her grandparents and parents friends. We don't get a lot of kids on the boat so when we do everyone gets excited. I was the designated waitress at their table and the little girl just wanted to follow me around all night. She would call me to her table every morning to let me know she saw ducks outside and occasionally kangaroos on land. She would follow me around and help clear dessert everynight and even ran up into our photos on captain night. Too cute. 

"What's the emergency procedure?!"

This week has been a bit of a hectic week in the dining room. Usually there is a leading hand (who manages the wait staff) and 3 waitresses on at a time. However, one of the waitresses didn't come aboard on Monday because she was sick. Yesterday, our leading hand got off the boat at swan reach because she's pregnant and got sick (probably for the better, she's not very nice anyways). Therefore, Emma and I were the only wait staff left. We both have been only working for two weeks so we were thrown in the deep end but have done an amazing job. Being on here for an excessive amount of days in a row, feeding three meals a day repeatitively, you're bound to know what to do. Dinner last night and brekky this morning went incredibly smooth. The director was shocked actually so we were proud of ourselves. Then at lunch, right before service we were talking to our director Haley as the ship was about to depart on schedule from Ngaut Ngaut. As the ship was taking off she looked out the window and noticed how windy it was. She has been on the boat for 6 years now so she has a good sense of how things are run. She said "I'm suprised we're leaving now since it's so windy!" Not thinking anything of it we laughed. Then, promptly after she said that her radio went off. She left to hear what the captain was saying. She then ran back in the dining room and told Emma and I to conduct the emergency procedures. We looked at each other and said in sync "what are the emergency procedures?!" During training we are given an "in case of emergency card" that let's us know what to do in these situations. However, we both washed out shirts last night and didn't have the card in our front pockets where they belonged. We were also told to always follow what our leading hand is doing since they get excessive training for emergency situations. But, as I mentioned before, ours got off the boat yesterday. So, in panic Emma and I looked out the window to see that the wind and strong current was pulling us toward the side of the river. I looked up to the bow and saw thought that there was absolutely no way we wouldn't hit the trees. We immediately started yelling to the guests to get on the other side of the boat! As they were moving in panic, we shit the curtains so no one could see what was actually going on. As I was shutting the curtains I looked down and noticed the deckies were in intense panic on the tender boats. The ship was so close to shore that the tender boat could no longer for between them. In panic, Emma grabbed my hand and said "we are going to hit, and die" I said "shhh I don't think we should say that in front of passengers, act calm". We both held hands and told the guests it would be okay (even though we weren't really sure) After the longest 5 minutes of our lives, the captain decided to go with the current and turn around when the river got a bit calmer. The entertainer started playing songs from the Titanic for a bit of humor. Some laughed, some got mad... Whatever. Emma and I were complimented on how calm and well we handled the situation. For two new crew members in charge, having no clue what was going on or what to do, I'm proud of us too! We survived! 

What have I been up to?

I made $300 in the last 2 days, and thats with my clothes on! …well mostly. 

Unfortunately, one of the spotters on the boat had a death in the family, so she went home for the funeral and to catch up with her family. Because it was in the middle of school holidays for western aussies, no other spotters were available. Promotion for Grace! 

Spotter Responsibilities: Preparing people for the day swimming with whale sharks, fitting/helping people with snorkel gear, leading groups on a whale shark swim, making lunch, blah blah blah. 

My first day spotting was on of the best days of my life. On our first morning snorkel some humpback whales swam by our group (a mama, a calf). It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I wanted them to adopt me into their little pod and have a breaching party. You are not supposed to swim with marine mammals. I'm pretty sure its illegal, but I want to do it again as soon as possible. The skipper, the videographer, the other spotter and myself tried to swim out to a few more humpies, but we were a little too slow. When we stopped swimming we looked down and saw 4 healthy sized bronze whaler sharks. They circled around us and checked us out a little bit. Needless to say we grouped together and decided to make our way back to the boat. 

That same day we saw two tiger sharks, a white tip reef shark, turtles, and a whale shark. It is coming to the end of the season, so now we don't know if we'll spot a whale shark. Fortunately, for my first spotting day we got one. The weather was amazing so the ocean was flat. I could see the other spotter passing on the shark to my group; I got everybody lined up and the whale shark swam so slowly right passed everybody. Just as I thought it couldn't get better, a little green turtle swam alongside the shark. I couldn't have imagined a more ideal swim. Beginners luck. 

Not every spotting experience has been so easy, sometimes they are 5-10 meters down or change direction or they're very fast. Yesterday for instance I had to practically skull drag a lady on every whale shark, manta ray swim,and snorkel. She was from Texas, scared of the ocean and not a good swimmer. I didn't leave her side all day, and she said she had an amazing time, so I'll just count it as a good workout. Another woman gave us all a very hefty tip because they came out 2 days in a row and loved it. They were awesome pre-tip. Their daughter even made us all one of those little rubber weaved bracelets. So cute. 

Because the season is coming to an end, I am looking to make my way to Broome in the next week. I love little Exmouth, but it is time to move on to the next adventure. Hopefully I'll get to run into Sarah and Brad at some point. I hear they are heading west :)

Other updates: 

-Broken Tooth: I think I need a crown, and I look a little like a hillbilly. Ain't no thang.

-Cut fingers: Still haven't mastered the art of using sharp knives on rocky boats

Back on the Murray

As all of you know, all of us girls have a special place in our heart for the Murray river. It is where our adventure started and our "Mannum family" still resides. This week I have started working on the Murray River again. I am waitressing on the Murray Princess which is the largest paddle wheeler in the Southern Hemisphere. 

The Murray Princess 

Yesterday was my first day aboard! I was very nervous leaving my comfort zone in Glengowrie but I kept telling myself it was only for a week. My schedule will be working one week, home for the next week. I had to get up at 5 and be in the city by 7 to catch a bus up to Mannum. When I arrived in Mannum I was hoping I would have time to visit everyone but I started working right away! I was a bit overwhelmed with paperwork, learning the ins-and-outs of the boat and job duties and meeting the rest of the crew. At first I was very itimidated since everyone already knew each other. I started to get nervous that I wouldn't meet anyone and I would be stuck on board miserably for the week. However, once the afternoon came and everyone was back on board and organized things started to get better. I am fortunate that my roomate is extremely nice (and also new, so we could stick together) and she is a non-smoker which I'm so thankful for since the rooms are smaller than the ones I had at cheer camp at uni. I also met another friend, Emma. She's normal, very nice and has been helping me around the ship. 

When the passangers boarded yesterday the captain advised us that it was "disability week". There are disabled people with mental illnesses aboard that make things a little difficult but most of them have care-takers that help them get ready and take their meal orders. There is also a lot of old people aboard. This one old guy makes me feel so sad for him, I brought him to his room yesterday and he told me that him and his wife used to come aboard every year for their anniversary. She passed away this year so he came anyways in memory of her. I wanted to cry when he told me that, so cute yet so sad. 

I survived my first waitressing shift at dinner last night. It goes by pretty quick and it's easy to take orders since they only have two options each night. I'm glad I don't know anyone a board because the uniforms remind me of the penguins from Mary Poppins (bow ties, large button down shirts, black skirts and stockings. Cute) After dinner I was so exhausted, Chloe (my roommate) and I took leftover desserts from dinner and brought them to our room. We were in our pjs, in bed eating dessert and watching pitch perfect by 9. I was happy that I was able to fall asleep right away from exhaustion. I woke up at 1 from the noise of the paddle wheel and was up for an hour trying to get back to sleep. 

This morning was an early (and freezing) morning starting at 6, but I survived breakfast shift. Off to lunch shift now... 

I'm back!

Wayta go Gracie Lou for continuing to update the blog! I have been a huge slacker... Neither of us have even blogged about Fraiser Island (which happened to be our favorite) or even our trip back to SA. I will post about those eventually, promise. Since being back in Adelaide in May, I have been enjoying living like a local. I was working for a website making mini websites for amall business for a while but the owner was a WIERDO so I stopped that job and moved on to waitressing on Jetty road. I really enjoyed that and met some new friends.

Ryan and I have been busy with social activities which I love. We went to the first night game in the Adelaide oval with a few friends; have gone to see the footy at the oval quite a bit since it's so close and a mate has season passes we use. Two weekends ago we went to see the port vs essendon game which was the most fun, seeing as we are essendon supporters and they won! Woohoo, go the Bombers! We also go into the city a bit, go to the market for lunch, relaxing at the farm, gone to a few weddings, and keeping busy. We have a few trips coming up that I'm also very excited about! I promise I will start to blog about things... 

Relaxing at the farm ❤️

Baby calfs.. Cuties, poor chaos is the only adopted black one on the farm. Disney should base a movie around her

Painting Sammy's nails... 

Port vs Essendon game! 

Ryan giving some advice to Darren Lehmann (the current Australian cricket coach)... 

Humpies!

Don't worry Dad, this post isn't about what you think. 

Today was another beautiful day on the water. Unfortunately, there were no whale sharks spotted by boat or plane. This is the second time in the last week that this has happened. People are worried that it might be the end of the season, which would be one of the earliest ones yet. However, they say that when there is a full moon, whale sharks become scarce. I did end up seeing a white tip reef shark, so I got my shark fix for the day. 

When we were cruising around waiting for a big, spotted fish to come to the surface, we found some breaching humpbacks. I realized I didn't have many pictures of them so I had a bit of a photo shoot.

a little pectoral slapping/waving hello

…how did this get in here? It's Moby Dick!

This is the leopard shark we saw the other day. Leith Holtzman (Holtzy) is the photographer on the boat. I should be one of those people in the corner peeing in the water. :)

Orcas

For years now, the Blue Planet nature documentary has been a major part of my hangover cure, along with sushi, water and an excessive amount of pillows and blankets. I think its the sound of water and David Attenborough's calming voice that really brings me back to life…eventually. 

There is this part in the documentary where these orcas kill a humpback calf. They separate it from the mother and the chaperoning male. They jump on top of the calf trying to exhaust and drown it, doing the same to tire the larger whales and distract them/keep them separated. Once the calf has been killed, they eat only the tongue and lower part of the jaw, leaving the rest of the carcass to other ocean life. I cry every time I watch that part. 

The reason I'm telling you all of this is because I witnessed it in real life today. It was one of the saddest, and most beautiful things I've ever seen. One second, the boat was cruising alongside these orcas, and the next thing I know I'm crying watching a distressed humpback mother being separated from her little babe. Orcas are terrifyingly intelligent hunters, but they do it with an elegance that is incredible to watch. 

Some of the people on the boat were asking if there was anything we could do. It was nature in its purest form, and I didn't see any hands go up to jump in with a pod of 9 orcas, 3 humpback whales, and whatever else was showing up to the buffet. I feel so lucky to have been able to see that. Best. Day. Ever.

Catch Up

I have been trying to keep track of everything that been happening, but I'm starting to forget the order that things are occurring. So, here is a little update to cover it all:

I chopped off part of my finger while chopping garlic. I think I was so exhausted I had a bit of a micro-sleep and just… chop. It bled a lot, but I was still fairly new and didn't want to make a fuss. It is almost healed, and now my finger has a little slant on the end. I think it adds character.

Where I get on the boat for work every day is called Tantabiddi. It is about 30 minutes outside of Exmouth. Just past the boat launch is Cape Range National Park. On my 'days off' (every day is like a day off), I cruise around there. On my first trip I went to a couple of the gorges and watched the sunset. There was this rock wallaby chilling on the side of a cliff. The last time I was there I was snorkeling at a place called Oyster Stacks. You jump in off the rocks and the reef is right there. Beautiful! Big blue starfish, pretty pretty fish, so many sea cucumbers; one that had eviscerated, and healthy coral.

About half way back to exmouth is the Vlamingh Head lighthouse. There was some historical information, but I forgot what it was because history makes me fall asleep. I'm not proud of that, it's just the way it is. But again, another amazing view.

Lighthouse

Cape Range Gorge

Skippy friends

There is this dog that comes to the house every once in awhile. He is adorable; and we snuggle and eat snacks together. I found out the other day he lives 2 doors down. His name is Max and I am planning on dog-napping him. I love him.

Max

I am pretty sure Bill only let me come because I told him I could sew and his leather lounge needed repairing. I have never hand stitched leather cushions, so I was pretty worried I was going to make it worse. Fortunately, google and my Tintinara sewing friends prepared me for this venture. The couch looks like nothing every happened to it. Not too shabby.

Franken-couch

Just for fun, here are some pictures of manta rays I saw today :)