Hell has a name- Karratha (April till August 09)

 (Laura)

Highlight of the day: hanging out at Karratha shopping mall :P

‚Riiiinnnng’... 7am. Oh no! Another horrible day of wiping, scrubbing and bearing this piercing smell of detergents. Yeah, I got the jackpot! I found a job as a cleaner and have now the opportunity to have endless discussions about the newest detergents on the markets, baking recipes and the latest gossip with women thirty years my senior.

The intellectual demands in this trade were rather scarce and since I’d previously seen a report on TV about people using predominantly just one brain half by doing everything with the right-hand side and therefore not making full use of all their brain potential, I decided to do everything with the other side of my body henceforth.

The impact that this had onto the speed of my work activity and the fact that I ran late several times in a row, led inevitably to being made redundant after only two and a half weeks of employment.

During this time of our stay in Karratha we lived in a caravan park and enjoyed a quite simple yet relaxing lifestyle; playing ping pong, jumping into the pool and having exhilarating discussions about intercultural differences with our multicultural neighbours. The majority of the people cohabiting with us were young, seeking for work and originated from all different countries around the world. However the greater part came from either Estonia or Ireland. While the Irish were constantly cracking jokes and hitting the bottle at every occasion possible, the Estonians made a rather cautious and quiet impression on us at first. After the ice had broken though, we developed a casual friendship and spent a lot of time together. 

Our housemates

After six weeks, living in a tent really became a hassle. Not only did it begin to get very messy, but also did the roof fall apart and was nothing anymore than a loose piece of fabric lying on our heads while we were desperately trying to fall asleep. The wind was rustling and shaking the tent vigorously backwards and forwards, while the rain was lashing against it. Another solution had to be found! No longer were we willing to accept these living conditions. Luckily I found a house on the outskirts of the city with moderate rent prices. Promptly we moved into the yet unfurnished and lifeless house, counting 13 people altogether. Sharing an accommodation with such a fair number of people bore the advantage of always having someone sitting in the backyard to have a chat with. In addition to that, Lee and I got together, what brightened up my day. Slowly however, it was noticeable that work moved into focus and that in the evening people started spending less and less time together, rather preferring to watch TV in their own sphere than drinking a beer together like in the ‘Old Days’. Not a surprise though, since everyone had just come to Karratha with the motive to make as much money as possible in a short time and then to emerge as soon as they had appeared. Not as if there was anything else to do except working anyways. In fact, the sole reason why Karratha was established in the sixties was just to create a working town in order to accommodate labourers, who wouldn’t fit anymore into its neighbouring city. Everywhere you saw people walking around in their typically bright yellow fatigues, working in one of the million dollar mining projects, such as the Pluto project.

Most of these businesses have their base situated in Perth, and as the Pilbara region is lacking qualified workers, they often let their employees fly in and out of Perth in a three week on-, one week off-rhythm. The amount of money these workers make and the luxury they live in is humongous. Not only do the companies provide lodging in posh hotels and food, but also pay incredible salaries. The average payment varies between $1500 and $ 3000 per week.

Being a female though with lesser physical abilities, the situation looks somewhat different. Especially when you are a backpacker, those companies are not very likely to hire you. So in my case I had to work myself half to death, always joggling several jobs at a time!! After my dismal failure as a housekeeper, I climbed the career ladder a step higher,trying my luck as a cashier in a bottle shop.

Karratha Bottleshop

 It was my honourable task to take orders for beer in a drive-through, chiefly serving red-necks and Aboriginals, of whom more than half were usually already wasted when they got there. At the same time I also started working in hospitality, alternating between waitressing and serving behind the bar.

Bar/restaurant: The Icon

The Icon

the awesome kitchen crew

 With usually at least three jobs at the same time, there was always variety- just arranging schedules was difficult. Moreover our wreck of a car was slowly falling apart and I permanently had trouble being on time, jumping from one job to the other. The various restaurants/bars I worked in during my four month in Karratha, couldn't have been more disparate. While two of them were high-end restaurants, the other one rather resembled a smoky brothel with so-called skimpies (gogo-girls) dancing on the pole. The climate at the posh places was uptight and it disgusted me to see all the brown-nosers sucking up to the bosses with a slavish obedience and the inability to decide anything by themselves. This was in utter contrast to the atmosphere at the Tavern (smoky-brothel-kind-of-place): you had to put up with a shitload of sleazy guys but at least all the workers were cheerful and laid-back. After work we usually hung out together for a piss-up in one of their houses. Finally some awesome friends from Karratha!

Karratha girls going wild

 Last but not least worthwhile to mention is my working activity as a labourer on a house-building site, where I slaved away for well eleven hours a day; lifting bricks, sweeping out dusty buildings and drilling holes into the cement with a jackhammer. What a visceral experience! 

Jackhammering...bloody tough work..

However, during these month I changed my work ethic drastically. The everlasting fear to lose one’s job, keeps one from feeling at ease. Being complimented by my boss and assuming more responsibility instead, as well as obtaining the respect of my fellow workers, made me feel satisfied, even if the occupation I was pursuing was fairly dull.

(Laura): "I hope I didn't bore you too much with my daily working life guys. Let's talk about you Jane, how was your first impression of Karratha?"

(Jane): "I arrived at the airport happy to see you after such a long time, cruising along in your own car. We drove through the area and I gained a glimpse of what should be my new home. The black landscape with its copper rocky hills had as little variation as the life here itself. The range of cultural offers was described as its best as pitiful; there wasn’t even a cinema, let alone an art gallery. The only shopping mall, which presented the ‘city’, closed at five and choosing what to eat for dinner at Woolworth became the highlight of the day.

Aren't they cute?

Frankly speaking, it was desolate but back then I was filled with naive optimism that we would both find the perfect job and make ridiculous amounts of money. The first days passed in solitude. There was nothing I could do as the house was isolated and I didn’t know the area and since everyone was working the whole day, nobody was able or too tired to show me around. The house was still empty and appeared vast and cheerless which also didn’t exactly add to my frame of mind..

We drove around the industrial area, handing in hundreds of resumes but got no response and I grew more and more impatient. Looking at the balance of my bank account didn’t lift my spirits neither…

the wicked ute

Karratha Beach looks actually nice from this perspective (well, you know how pictures can trick you)

After one week however, I found a job at last at Wendy’s, a popular ice cream shop. I worked together with several other backpackers and was pleased because the atmosphere was easy-going and I always had customer contact. It was nice to see the lively and happy kids who sometimes ate ice cream for the first time and during the last weeks working became even more cozy as our boss went on vacation and we could practically do whatever we wante!

In spite of having found a job, life remained rather unspectacular. At least though, I had found a new hobby: there were weekly courses of Yoga meditation offered for free, which I attended regularly and which helped me to see everything in a more positive light. Still I can't understand how people can possibly live here all their life!"

Wendy's

drinking with our housemates

(Laura): "I know. Our peer group and people from Karratha are just like chalk and cheese. Most of them have never been outside of Karratha and their expectations for life are completely different. A solid lifestyle with sufficient money and having a family is what most people here aspire to. Instead realising the dream of living an independent life, being always eager to learn something new and make something special out of yourself, are trivial matters. It's like living in a small village."

(Jane): "Yeah, and don't you remember how many girls we met, who already had children at our age? To me it felt like a baby boom: probably every second female client who came to my ice cream shop was either pregnant or strolling a baby carriage in front of her. Actually a pleasant view, as back home I am used to a non-child-friendly environment. I had the feeling that this was, what the women here really wanted and that they seemed genuinely happy."

(Laura): "Still I think that in a lot of cases the lack of education and possibilities to create oneself bring about the large number of women giving birth at such a young age. At least the girls I met gave me this impression. There's not much going on in their lives- all they do is gossiping without having a backbone, getting drunk after work and talk about the dress they are going to wear at the annual horse race, which was the premier yearly cultural event (wasn't too bad though, went there with Lee)."

getting ready for race day

some good-looking girls at horse racing day

 (Jane): "Generally I agree with you, nevertheless the high birth rate is an indicator for the wealth and security in Karratha. But people were as you said very simple. Somehow I had the feeling that the longer we stayed the more we differed from our true selves as if all our energy had diminished. Frankly speaking life and the people of Karratha sucked."

(Laura): "Hell yeah! Let's get outta here!"