Rain and freedom

So one thing I forgot to mention before; In Byron I borrowed a surfboard from my friend a few times and managed to get it on the bike and drive to the nearest beach. It was great fun, though I still didn't manage to catch a proper wave. While in the water one time I did see a dolphin jumping out of the wave only 10 meters away from me, that was absolutely stunning! The last day in Byron I gave the surfing another shot, but one powerful break just before and slammed me with my face right into the sandbank. Since I was alone thoughts were going through my head when I hit the bank: "What did I get myself into now?.. Whatever you do, stay conscious and walk to the beach, than whatever happens, happens..."

While walking back I whiped my face and saw blood. A women came up to me and showed me in a mirror what it looked like; It wasn't a pretty sight, but not to bad either. By now, a week later, it is barely visible anymore. But I guess it could have turned out a lot worse.

So back to the job; Apparantly the deal was that I would work 12-15 hours a week fixing the bicycle cabs. My payment would be that I could drive the bike for free, instead of paying rent. I honestly didn't like the idea so much, but I still gave it a shot. According to the boss there was good money to be made.

After signing the contract the others riders arrived, none of them seemed that pleased with the amount of money they made though... I did a ride on Saturday night and made from 6 pm to 2:30 pm barely minimum wage. The other riders made pretty much the same and seemed really pleased about it. Also because we were only with 6 riders. Hmm.... The was okay though. It was kinda funny driving drunk people from bar to bar. But if a Saturday pay was already disappointing my hourly wage of the week would be downright horrible.

During these days I had seen nothing but rain. Rain, rain, rain. This and the disappointing job got me really into hole. I was sick of all the rain, the being on the road, not being able to get a decent job and being alone most of the time.

Sunday I needed a rest day; I didn't realise how strain my muscles were from the riding until I woke up! I went in the middle of the night to a free campsite. The next day I introduced myself to a group of french travelers and had a really nice day with them.

Monday, after a whole weekend of having double feelings about the job, I started working on the bikes. The boss came over;
"Toby I need you to sign this. You forgot a signature here."
Me: "What is it about?"
Boss: "Just that if the insurance gets a claim against you you'll pay the first $1000. But that is not going to happen."
Me: "Hmm okay, what if I don't sign it?"
Boss: "Then you can't work here anymore"
Me: "Can I think about that for an hour?"

During my hour of thought another new rider arrived. More people. Less customers per rider. Great!... It became more and more clear to me that this missing signature was a blessing and I would be a fool not to take this chance to get out of this contract. So I resigned. Now I'm jobless again and have been staying at the free campsite. I definitely don't regret my decision.

Now I'm going to fixate on getting a white card that will allow me to work in construction and solar farms (which should be a new and good business). Better use my energy for something that's worth it than spend it all on a bad wage.

Yesterday I went for a ride on the bike. It was the first sunny day in "The Sunshine State" that I had. Finally! I did a route that a seller at the Harley Davidson shop had written down for me, among 2 others. It was absolutely amazing! Beautiful rain forests along the way, lots of curves and good asphalt and the creme the la creme was "Gillies Highway". It has a part where you have 263 sharp corners on only 19 km. The speed limit is 60 km/h and believe me, that's quiet a challenge to maintain. Definitely my best ride so far and on a few corners I got the feeling that my foot pegs almost scraped the ground. I won't leave Queensland before doing that road again!

I'll leave for port Douglas soon. A Belgian guy I met at the campsite is going there and invited me to meet up there. He's traveling with a bicycle. Crazy but impressive if you ask me! Curious what the future holds, but hopefully I got some proper work soon, cause my budget is getting very small.