Welcome to Cunderdin,WA

18 May 2009: Monday
My first day of work went well. It was very slow, which of course is ideal for training. I began learning what beers, pre-mixed drinks, and wines we sell. I have an idea of how the stock is sorted in the fridge, how to pour a beer, and what buttons to push on the till. I’m still far from confident, but I know that will come with time.

I learned a bit about the history of the pub yesterday. The first hotel was destroyed by an earthquake, the second by fire (on Valentine’s Day!). The shire – YES, SHIRE (aka township) – of Cunderdin built the pub/hotel about 5 years back. It was leased by a NZ couple for about a year. It was quite funny, because as Brian (my boss, co-owner of the pub) was showing me the photo album I noticed the Maori dancers at the opening ceremony! Maori? But we are in Australia! LOL (Laugh Out Loud). As I said, the first lease was run by a New Zealand couple. Apparently one of them was Maori, so they had Maori dancers. 4 years ago Brian, and few other guys I haven’t met, bought the pub from the shire. The previous operators had taken everything out of the pub before they left, but that allowed Brian to stock the interior with wood tables and chairs instead of chrome and plastic. It looks quite nice.

The pub is based on an Aussie cartoon, created by Ken Maynard and published in the "Australian Post". Hence, the outside of the building actually looks like a cartoon! There are many of these Ettamogah pubs around Australia, Dave’s Grandma visited one in Queensland. Fortunately, the inside does not follow the outward appearance. As I mentioned, all the wood is quite tasteful and the walls are nicely decorated with large prints of the cartoon.

The set up of the place: hmmm…. I work in an L shaped area. The long L side ends in the kitchen, with a food till for taking orders and long bar for serving drinks. The short L side ends in the bottle shop (liquor store) and faces the public bar, with 2 pool tables and a juke box. A doorbell sound alerts me to people in the bottle shop, while a simple table bell is rung when orders are up for delivery. My job is pretty much all over the place. I take food orders, deliver the food, clear the tables, set the tables (with napkins and utensils before people are seated), and eventually I will help in the kitchen. I also ring up purchases in the bottle shop, take bar orders, serve/pour drinks, stock the shop and bar, and do random cleaning and tidying. Apparently the cleaning staff is given the weekends off, so I will occasionally be cleaning the hotel rooms too.

I get on well enough with the staff – so far. (na, they are all good people, and I can get along with most anyone). Brian is quite a serious guy, but I got a few smiles and even a chuckle out of him by the end of the night. Karen, the bar manager who generally works in the kitchen, dropped me off after my second shift. Oh, yeah. I worked 12-3 today and then 5-close (which was round about 8:30 or 9). The house I live in is only a 5-8 minute walk away from the pub, but I took the ride anyway. Karen had picked me up from the train station on Sunday, but had to get straight back to work so I wasn’t treated to the typical tour around town. So, she took me up to "the hill" before dropping me at home. We could see the lights of the town and airport – where pilots are trained in night flying. I plan to take my camera up there sometime. Karen told me that if I got up to the hill early enough in the morning I would see kangaroo!


19 May 2009: Tuesday
I woke up pretty early – before 7! I don’t want to get in the habit of sleeping in, as I just continue to be tired and I would really like to use this time of isolation and slow country living to get into some good habits. So, I got up and spent an hour doing stretches and yoga. After a small bowl of cereal I decided to walk up to Cunderdin Hill, where Karen had taken me the night before. I knew it was to late for kangaroos to be out, but I figured it would be good to see if I could find my way when it was light – rather than trying to find it in the early morning or some evening after dark. After making a pointless loop around my block I tried another path. I recognized the dirt road and followed it to the sign pointing to the hill. I didn’t bother taking my camera – I figured I would have plenty of other chances to snap photos. Of course, I’m probably lucky that there wasn’t anything I HAD to take a picture of! I would have kicked myself. However, I figured the bright green parrot-like birds would be around again, as would the white ones – cockatoos? (they have pink under their wings!). Having my camera wouldn’t have been useful for the onekangaroo I did see! I heard a rustle, looked over, and saw a small kangaroo bounding away! Sweet! My first roo sighting!!!!!

Well – I’m off to work now. First shift: 12 – 3….
Had a good shift. We had a rotary club in for lunch, so it was busy. Lunch was all prepped and easy to serve, but we had a slight rush on the bar. Lots of oldies wanting this and that, plus some drinks I hadn’t made before and one I had never heard of! I think I have the hang of lemon-lime and bitters now; enough bitters to change the color and a good dose of lime. I had never heard of a "shandy"! I’m not sure why you would want to drink half lemonade and half beer, but okay! Hmm, maybe I should try it sometime. Later in the day a couple of older ladies ordered lunch and lemon squashes (which we serve in a can). One kept telling me she didn’t want soda water in hers, just lemonade. The other lady wanted soda water. I tried to clarify with them what they were asking, but in the end just charged them for 2 cans of squash (kind of like Sprite, I think). They went down to pick up the drinks and luckily Leena was down there. Apparently they thought we made our squashes by hand! I have no idea how that works, but we don’t do it. Leena made them some lemon-lime and bitters instead! Funny, the things you learn!

My second shift (5-close) went quite well too. Though I was supposed to be in the bar, Brian figured it would be good for me to learn the kitchen side. I was pleased with this news, because I still felt very much like an outsider in the kitchen. I didn’t like going in to often because I didn’t want to get in the way! I don’t cook any of the meals – Thank Goodness! – but I do help with whatever Karen asks. This shift started with peeling and cutting carrots and then was pretty much just doing dishes afterwards. I learned to look at the tickets and make the garlic bread for any appetizers or as the side for pasta and soup. It was good to see how everything works and where things belong.


20 May 2009: Wednesday
I did stock today. I went in at 9 and basically got my weight lifting in for the week! It was good for Brian to have me stock – as he had a hernia operation a few months back and is also dealing with arthritis in a knee that just started playing up. It was also good for me to find how our stock was sorted and to deal a bit more with the names and drink types. It was also good to see some of the wines – though I’ll never remember them all! It would be really, really neat if I could afford to try all the labels! Ha ha, get an idea of what a Chardonnay Pinot Noir tastes like!! Hmmm, is it pink? Chardonnay would be white, but pinot noirs have always been red when I buy them. I find it interesting how much mixing of wines there are here and in NZ. In NZ, almost ever bottle is a mixed wine – such as merlot cabernet. Anyhow, I had a good afternoon shift. I went through the opening procedures and we had a few lunches. It went by pretty quickly.

The night shift, however, was very different. We had several large groups in for dinner and quite a bit of bar business. I made quite a few mistakes, but Brian wasn’t worried. He showed me how to fix them and smiled about it. I think he is just pleased that I’m telling him when I screw up and genuinely worry about the small things! :-) Ha ha, Leena is quite pleased with my work too. She is leaving next weekend, to continue her Australian travels. She was worried that I would turn out to be another girl like Camilla – not to into the job and wanting to leave early. Leena was quite pleased that I’m quite a hard worker and picking up on things quickly. She is hoping the new girl is good too. Anyhow, it was a long shift but I learned a lot. The other co-owners came in at the end of the night and all sat around drinking with each other. Eventually Karen let me go home, around 10:30. I had done as much clean up as possible, but the guys just kept drinking! LOL.


21 May 2009: Thursday
Today has been quite boring! When I arrived home last night, Leena was out (it was her day off). So I vacuumed Camila’s old room and made up the bed – as a favor to Karen, who didn’t have time before the new girl arrived. Since Teresa (?) was arriving on the train at 9:30 I wanted to do it before bed, so I could sleep in! LOL

Theresa arrived at the house around 10 am. I was still in bed, though I was awake. I had slept relatively late, 8:30, had breakfast, and gone back to bed with a book! It was glorious! I was so sore, from the yoga and stocking! But, when Theresa came in I went out and greeted her. She seems to be nice girl, from the UK traveling on a "round the world ticket" (you book flights with stops in 5+ countries I think). I’m only slightly worried for Brian, because she too wants to see the Whale sharks in Exmouth/Coral Bay. She is thinking of staying only 6 weeks. So, I suppose if I stay 8 that would take me a week past her. I already like the place and people enough to not leave them hanging. It would be kind of lame to have both of us leave at the same time. But – we’ll see, as long as they had a capable person like Leena it wouldn’t really matter too much.
Anyhow- the day has been quite lazy. I did get my yoga and a bit of exercise in, but the rain has finally arrived. The farmers have been dying for the rain, so it’s a very good thing. However, it doesn’t lend itself to much exploring on my day off! I had intended to finally visit the library and maybe even inquire about the community gym that Kathy (Dave’s mum) read about on the internet. Instead, I’ve been sitting on the couch reading! Anytime someone is home the TV is generally on. I’m not much into TV – it either captures my attention and I forget about all else, or it’s just an irritable noise spouting nonsense (as in "The View") . Anyhow, I read a magazine for a bit while the TV rambled on. Then, the power went off! So, I read a book and chatted with Leena for a bit. Funny, just after Leena went off to work with Teresa the power came back on! First thing I did? Turn the TV off! LOL. I would probably think differently of the TV it wasn’t for my laptop. I do like noise in a house when I’m the only one – so my music has been on pretty much everyday.

Well – that’s me. I didn’t get the pictures taken of the pub, since it was raining. I don’t want to take interior pictures during the evening either – since it will be so dark… and full of people! I don’t do photo sessions in front of people – I am a highly self-conscious person after all! LOL….. So – back to my book and maybe some e-mail writings for my next internet session.


22 May 2009: Friday
Well, it’s just after 11am and already it’s been a productive day! I had not problems getting out of bed when I woke up, since it was such a lazy day yesterday. I did my morning thing and then headed into to town with my camera. I got some decent shots of the pub – though I’ll have to wait till afternoon (when the sun is behind me) to get a good shot with the truck on the roof. Yes, I know there aren’t people in my pictures. I am fully aware that I will need to get some group shots at some point – many of you like to put faces to names. I also had a bit of a wonder through town – actually going a street beyond the main street! I passed the bowling and tennis club and then found the shire council. I asked where the library was, about gym membership ($3 per use for casual user), and about any groups to join. The nice gal, Brooke, mentioned a lot girls play hockey (field hockey, obviously – it’s not terribly cold here!). Unfortunately, I’ll probably be working on Saturdays – but we’ll see. She also said a lot of the girls would be in the pub tonight, for a going away dinner at 7. Cool! I work 2-5 and was figuring I’d finally give some of our beers a try during our 6-7 happy hour. So, hopefully I’ll meet a few people today!

I took lots more pictures on my way home – flowers, playgrounds, houses, my house, my room, the spiders hanging out in our house! It is really great to live in a house, rather than in the motel rooms where the girls used to live. It really isn’t a bad house either, once you look past the brown yard and all the junk in the backyard. The cobwebs and lack of a good vacuum when I first arrived was slightly depressing, but there are no spiders in my room – and that’s all that really matters! I have a double bed and have hung my Idaho calendar on a wall (using dental floss! LOL). I have only just gotten the vacuum working better, so I haven’t done the clean up I’d like, but I think even if/when I do I will be leaving the spiders on the ceilings and corners. I’d rather have healthy, established spiders hanging out then clearing them out and having new ones wandering around looking for a good spot! Ha ha ha.

Anyhow – hope you all like the pictures I took today. The sun was out, though I had to be pretty patient for some of the foliage pictures; I had to wait for the massive gusts to die back down to strong breezes with lapses of calm. While there was blue sky with clouds on my way into the house, I can see some dark purple on the horizon behind my back fence. Looks like the farmers will be getting more of the much needed wet stuff.