Well, that’s that.
Yesterday Rod sat me down and admitted something I’ve been suspecting for a while. He can no longer afford to keep me on.
Normally, this is one of the busiest times of the year for him. Booked rooms, plenty of meals and lots of booze. But due to the oil crash, most of his money source is drying up. Today a regular is leaving, another is going tomorrow, and a gentleman who was supposed to be staying 2 weeks cancelled yesterday.
On top of which, his wife Fran is ill, and needing an operation. They just don’t have the money to keep hiring a backpacker – especially when said backpacker is usually having to close the bar before 10 and rarely has more than 2 rooms to clean.
Its kind of sad, and my exit is a little rushed. Rod buys my ticket back to Brisbane the very next day so I can’t even consider getting the bus further West to the Northern Territories and its roadhouse/pubs, but at least I know Brisbane and have job contacts I can try and squeeze once I get there. Fran and Sophie are currently in Charleville so I don’t even get to say goodbye to them.
At least I got to experience a little of the isolated town experience. There’s not much in Morven, but I’m gonna miss Rod and his family, and the few places I liked to walk around.
Next stop, unknown…
