Random day

So this is really random that I'm writing you because I didn't think I would have internet or cell service for a week or so... but God works in mysterious ways... literally. We spent last night at a stop called Mary's River between broome and halls creek on the Great Northern Highway. We woke up this morning with the sun at 5 am and packed up and left. I was riding with tom and all 3 girls were in our car. Around 10:30 in the morning we passed an older couple that had a flat tire so we pulled over to help them. Three hours later and with a hole in the fuel tank we got the tire on. When tom was jacking their car up a screw from the jack pierced the fuel tank and we watched as 59 litres leaked out on to the ground. We waited for the tank to empty and then tried to repair it with a steel repair putty. It wouldn't hold a seal and we ended up taking them 100 km to the next town so they could call a tow truck. We waited at the next town, turkey creek or warnum, until they heard back from the towers at 3pm. From there the 8 of us (including tony and mary... and their dog muffy) trekked on for the 300 km to their home town, Kununurra. Come to find out they work for a christian broadcasting company who happen to have some spare beds for free to sleep in. The company they broadcast for is hcjb global voice and they broadcast the gospel, music, and news to china india fiji and places like that. It's a pretty cool little place and they also grow mangoes and bananas so we have as many of those as we can eat! Oh... and they have free wifi so i'm able to tell you this story. It's been a crazy day that included many sunburns, a small dog, a dead roo on the side of the road that smelled horrible, and after all a nice place to rest our heads. I hope the people aren't mad at us because all we were trying to do was help them out and we ended up immobilizing their car!
CHEERS!

Last day in Broome

The time has come for Broome and I to part ways and it's a bittersweet feeling. On one hand I'm excited to move on to a new place and see what adventures lay ahead. On the other, I've met so many good people here that it'll be hard to say goodbye. They've been there for me and have become part of my australian family. My last day of work wqas on wednesday and it felt great to not have to clean another room for a month or so! The pay was pretty good, but other than that I'm not a big fan of housekeeping. As for the traveling we're heading out at noon tomorrow. We're traveling with a couple and they're taking the backroads for the first day that is only accesible with a 4 wheel drive(which we dont have)! We'll only drive 5 or 6 hours a day so we'll be able to see some things in the towns we stop in. We'll be staying at campgrounds and sleeping in the car and in a tent. The weather has been fairly nice at night so hopefully it will stay that way so we can sleep peacefully. We should get to Darwin on wednesday night and we fly out from there thursday afternoon. We'll be leaving our car parked at a friend of the couple we're traveling with's business in Darwin. I'm looking forward to being able to relax on the beach and also experience the Indonesian culture... and the cheap food! The past 2 months have been fun and there's no telling what the next couple have in store for me. Hope all is well back home... and go pokes! Cheers...
TJ

A little view of Broome

Another day at the beach

The pool at the resort

Our beautiful car

Hey everyone! So, since I updated last we've finalized our plans for Bali! Our last day of work will be the 9th of October and we will leave the next day for Darwin. I believe it's about 1200 miles from Broome to Darwin and should take us 4-5 days. We will be staying in campgrounds when we travel and will sleep in the car and in a tent. We're traveling with another couple that works at the resort with us. They are really nice and have been to Bali many times before. We fly out of Darwin on the 15th and will be there for 10 nights. We're staying at a nicer hotel for 7 days called the Bounty. It's a popular hotel for younger people and it's close to most things. We'll also be staying for 3 night in a budget hotel. We did this so we could save some money and still make sure we saw as much as possible. We'll fly back to Darwin and start making our way to the East Coast. The first place we want to see is a town called Cairns. It's a popular town and is supposed to be beautiful. It will be the beginning of the rainy season by the time we get to cairns and hopefully it won't affect us too much. From Cairns we are hoping to head south and work on a banana farm. We know a guy that owns one, so hopefully we'll be able to work there for a couple weeks and earn some money. After this month or so worth of travels and adventures there's no telling where we'll end up! I've heard the area around Aerli beach is a good spot to find a job and it's high on our list of prospects. Recently in Broome I've seen some pretty cool things. This morning I saw a Japanese fighter from WWII that had crashed in the ocean right by our resort. You can only see it a couple times a year because of the tides and this was one of them. Also, we saw some fossilized dinosaur prints. They were pretty cool but I'm still a little skeptic if they're real or not. Also, a group of us went on a cruise around the bay on an old pearl lugger. It was a relaxing day capped off by a beautiful sunset. Ill try to upload some photos for everyone to see as soon as possible. I hope all is well and everyone is enjoying life.
Much love,
TJ
p.s. Go Pokes!

Work... at 4 a.m.??

Hey everyone!
Sorry it's been so long since I updated last... but life's been pretty busy lately. I've been working the last 8 days and I have to go into work at 4 am tomorrow morning. It's gonna be a rough day especially since I probably won't be able to fall asleep until 10 or 11. I have to go in so early because another guy didn't show up for his shift yesterday and so he got fired. It won't be much fun, but it'll be nice at noon when i'm done with work. In other news, we will be heading to the Indonesian island of Bali in a month. We're gonna spend a week there and then drive to the east coast once we get back to australia. It's gonna be around 3000 km from darwin to the general area on the east coast we're gonna go to. Needless to say, the three of us are going to be very close after this trek! It'll probably take around 2 weeks to make the drive and then we'll start looking for jobs wherever we stop. We're heading to Bali with an australian couple and some of there friends. They have been there before and know the places to do and see. I'm looking forward to being able to have a week of rest and relaxation before we make our voyage in the car. I have two days off on saturday and sunday so I'll hopefully be albe to upload some photos and I will probably be on Skype some. I'll try and get on in the morning time so if you'd like to chat it'll probably be saturday or sunday night around 9 oklahoma time. Hope all is well back home.
Tj

Day Off

So today is my day off! We also got paid on wednesday so I think I'm gonna celebrate and go do some shopping. I haven't been around town much but there's an area called Chinatown that has some shops and we also have a little mall here. In Broome, on the weekends, they have a local market with all sorts of jewlery and crafts and food. I'm gonna head over to that and check it out too. I'm thinking a nice curry dish for lunch sounds pretty sweet! Also, some people from work and I are planning a sunset camel trek on the beach. I've barely ever ridden a horse and definetly never ridden a camel... so we'll see how it goes. It's supposed to be really cool. During the week I've just been working all day and trying to get to the pool or the beach as much as possible after work. Last night was a coworkers birthday so we had a little celebration at the hotel bar. Te chef cooked us some bar food and I was lucky enough to burn my lip on a meat pie. It blistered up and I now look like I have a severe case of herpes! Other than that life is pretty good. I made a decent amount of money on my last paycheck and I'm just enjoying life. Cheers.
Tj

Some more pics

Another koala... they're just so darn cute!

Some random guys with the Darling Harbour in Sydney in the background

The infamous Bondi Beach

So these are just a couple pics from my journey so far. It's been exciting, boring, nervous, wild and always an adventure! I've started to get in the groove of working and it's going pretty well. I have Sunday off, so I might go out with some friends from the resort tomorrow after work. I heard that the housewarming party was fun, and I'm sad that I missed it. I miss all of you and hope you're doing well!

Much love,

TJ