KUNUNURRA - Far away from everything

If u ever wanna get THE Australia feeling, Kununurra has got it all. This tiny little town is the gate to the Kimberly´s, the stopover for Backpackers, home of Aborigines and some locals.
This place is 1000 km away from the next bigger city and that means – nature’s paradise.

The Guys kicked me out here, well I had to go – no money left.
It´s a good place to work on farms so I wanted to stay for a while.
Living in a 15m2 room with 5 pilots was the beginning of a very maniac time, but it was the time of my life. Why? Oh you will see..

It doesn’t take long till you know everybody here and there is one thing all the backpackers share, the drinks and the microphone.
Every day was a reason to get pissed and the exciting nightlife in kununurra , with actually 2 pubs, offer’s the best karaoke in Australia – I swear!! With lots of crazy people.
That’s where I met my boss for the new job – packing Pumpkins.
I hated this job so much, working from sunrise till sunset in the heat between pumpkins, snakes, spiders and a very bearish supervisor.

Working in the fields of Kununurra

The following weeks can be summarised in 3 words:
work, eat, party.
Sleeping was extravagance and much to less.
Only If the machine was broken or Julia once again hit the water pipe with the forklift. If something like this happens you don’t get fired or your boss is yelling like you like a grizzly ( like in germany :) ) NO, you just have to buy a carton of beer.
So every Friday the fridge is filled with beer and the whole team is drinking mad till the last bottle is gone… very hard punishment!
Both of the Julia´s and me had a great time together with all the other crazy workers there.

Life in kununurra June, 2007


If there is a day off, we spent them drinking in the pub or having a pool party, driving to hidden springs, discover the area on boats or just having a laugh with all the friends here.
I can´t possibly tell all names - I love u all guys.

Ivanhoe Crossing

Flying over the Purnululu Nationalpark

One day, we decided to take a flight with Dan (21 , Julie´s boyfriend ) and flew over an incredible area for nearly 2 hours. Ten more minutes and I would have seen my breakfast again. But it was lovely and Dan did a great job.

Bungle Bungle

Lake Argyle

Argyle Diamante mine

Arround Kununurra, July 2007

Wyndham

Molly´s Spring

Zebra rock

Kelly´s Knob

Besides, ..

.. my Laptop got stolen. We figured out who it could have been but the girl already left Kununurra.
Convinced the police ( which was a hard job!! ) to stop the bus in Darwin, 1000 km away. She may is in this bus. She was, they searched her bags and found my laptop. Bitch.


Tavern, Kununurra

Every Friday ( and Saturday )the same discussion.
I want to go in the pub ( Kununurra is a very very small village )
The Tavern ( one of the two pubs ) is full with all my friends and the Bouncer ( a really fat lady ) doesn´t want to let me in because of my shoes!! Can u imagine? You are in the middle of nowhere, 1000 km away from the next civilisation and this fat lady doesn’t like my shoes.


Karaoke Life

Ord River, Kununurra

This river is 35o km long and the closer u are coming to the ocean, the more saltwater crocs you can find. We spent a lot of times on the river, wakeboarding and jumping off big rocks.
One day, we jumped off a 15 m high rock in the water . . .
It snapped my shorts and I bruised my Tail bone.
Couldn’t sit for 2 weeks !
I jumped again 2 month later and just bruised my face a bit. But I had a nurse with me.
The Ord River is absolutly amazing.

Aborigines in Kununurra


I cant find the right words to describe the feeling if you see Aborigines. Drinking the whole day, lying around everywhere, begging for some cigarettes or alcohol, screaming and beating each other – even there kids. On the street, in the middle of the day, nobody cares. If you try to help, they beat you too.
It´s shame that it had to end this way for them. Everybody knows who´s guilty for that but nobody talks about it.
A friend of mine, Mel, works with aboriginal kids to give them some chances for there life. My biggest respect, they can be very cruel. You really can feel “The stolen Generation” here.


Veterinary Center , Kununurra , Western Australia

I also worked in a very small veterinarian which was a big experience for me. I never worked under such crazy circumstances but I really liked it. We just had one room for the treatments and operations with flies everywhere and the sterilizer was older then this 50 year old building. No laboratory – it has to go to the next one, 5000 km away – per airway. No x-ray – 4 hours away is the next one. So we had to sneak in the hospital for human beings if it was urgent. We raised some baby kangaroos. Lots of kangaroo mums dies in car accidents and the baby in the bag were left behind. Lovely people, I liked it a lot.

Then one day, I met my fate. My honesty and strong ness towards my supervisor finally had an end. I told him I don’t like working with him and in the next possible situation he fired me. He was such an asshole, I don’t need that.
Well, that’s ok, cause the next day, I found the best job ever.