“Travelers, Bypass This Place at All Costs!” Oh, I Want to Go There Next!

By Britton Copley (travel mate from the United States, we met in Chiang Mai, Thailand)

Man Did I Grow to Love that Dust Bowl

Sitting at the airport I found just one portrayal of the place I’d be living for the next 4 months. The Trucking Life YouTube channel described the location elegantly: “Travelers, Bypass This Place at All Costs”…“There are several towns in Australia where the Devil spits out all the shit he doesn’t want in hell; this is one of them. A dirty, shitty, dust bowl”. Man did I grow to love that dust bowl.

An All-Rounder Worker at the Kulgera Pub in Australia’s Outback

In order to elevate the status of my Australia work visa from a one-year visa to a two-year visa, I needed to work remote, above the Tropic of Capricorn for a total of 88 days in Australia’s Outback. I got a job as an “All-Rounder” work-hand at the Kulgera Pub (“Kulgera”), a roadhouse located in the red center of Australia along the Stuart Highway, a famous 1,750-mile path running between Adelaide and Darwin.

I bit different from the tasks asked of me in my previous life as a Mechanical Engineer, the following is a list of some of my many jobs at the Kulgera roadhouse. They weren’t playing around when they told me I’d be helping out all around!

	“All-Rounder” Jobs
Barman	Gas Station Attendant	Hotel Reception
Kitchenhand/Fry Cook	Delivery Truck Forklift Driver	Shop Keeper
Dishwasher	Server/Waiter	Barista
Pool Cleaner	Handyman	Tow Truck Driver
Caravan Park Security	Accommodations Manager	Tourist Village Accountant

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Part 1 – Welcomed into It

The roadhouse in Kulgera is like no place I have ever been. The Kulgera pub ceiling is covered with hundreds of hanging bras, all signed and hosting messages for future visitors to read, like “Hotties Call Cindy if you’re in Gold Coast – 8956-0973”. You aren’t allowed to donate an extra bra, it has to be the one you are wearing – a policy many protest, but others cross the desert eagerly, excited to stand atop a pub table and bare all. In a small community of 25, its huge news if someone’s top is coming off. We would broadcast the news over the roadhouse radio, even the cooks would come running out of the kitchen, during mid-dinner rush, to catch a look.

At the Kulgera roadhouse, I learned to revel in the different speeds of life. During mid-week “slows”, I learned to be comfortable, calm, and relaxed, at levels I didn’t know were previously possible to attain. There’s a joyful place past boredom when there’s literally nothing going on. I can picture myself now, sitting and scrubbing sheet metal walls with a sponge and nearing hour five of no customers. On the other end of the spectrum, weekends would get wild at the roadhouse, the nights never-ending, as droves of station hands and teachers from nearby communities would drive hours to congregate at our pub.

The long-term locals taught me how much the environment can influence the way you think and act. It’s a more primal, raw, collaborative, and dependent existence out in the Outback. You really need to have everyone’s backs because there’s no other option. I now believe you can get on with just about anyone, if needed. You certainly need one another when the 2G Telstra Tower goes down for days and life slows to a crawl.

Life at Kulgera was so ridiculous I would often ask myself “Where am I?” Once, I found myself dodging fireworks that were shot horizontally across the ground. We had nowhere to run as we were wedged between a barbed wire fence and a burning pit of glass- “Outback Recycling”. On another near death occasion, a 15-year old-boy almost mowed me down with his dirt bike when he came flying down the dirt track at 110 km/hr. Somehow, he successfully dodged me, and the myriad of roos (kangaroos) and cows that crossed in his path. The next morning I walked into the kitchen to find the maniac dirt biker’s 11 year-old sister working the grill in her flip-flops. That same night, I was awoken by gleeful shrieks as the little girl and her older brother drove the forklift outside my room after midnight. “Where did these people come from? Where am I?”

I discovered that each person who finds themselves out there, in the middle of nowhere, has a story, and part of my fun was learning from them about the obscure places they’ve been to and the people they’ve encountered along the way before ending up here, in the Outback.

Part 2 – Back and Better (Getting Lost in It)

Each of my experiences naturally rolled into each other after my initial jump to Australia. Friends I met in the Northern Territory at Kulgera joined me over in New Zealand and raved about Southeast Asia. So I went.

When I returned to Australia and was looking for another work gig, it was my friend from the Kulgera pub who set me up with my next Outback job at the Auski Tourist Village in Karijini National Park. This staggering park in Western Australia contains a series of magnificent gorges and pools. Massive mining operations consume the area and are responsible for nearly all the jobs and GDP for the western half of the country.

There are several towns in Australia where the Devil spits out all the shit he doesn’t want in hell; this is one of them. A dirty, shitty, dust bowl.

Trucking Life YouTube Channel’s description of the location of Auski Roadhouse

At first, I helped tourists with advice, stocked shop shelves, and took orders, similar to my time at Kulgera; then, it all changed. Within 2 weeks of arriving at Auski I was brought up to the big leagues and promoted to Accommodations Manager, a thing of absolute comedy to myself and friends. I had zero prior experience doing anything in remotely the same ball park, but I soon found myself responsible for the comfortable stays of over 200 guests each night. The very hands-off owners lived 18 hours away in Perth, so it’s not like they could pop over if something were to go wrong! When a guest was bitten by a Western Brown Snake, a global pandemic rolled around, or our maintenance worker chopped off his thumb, it was on us to work it out. Somehow, us kids (backpackers) successfully ran the show for a few months! This lack of oversight had its benefits. Everyone did their jobs and worked hard together; during the day, I was responsible for signing off on million dollar oil contracts and, at night, the staff partied with the miners. Madness.

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One of my main takeaways has been that you need to roll with what comes at you while traveling. If you stay positive, smart, and keep going, then you will stumble upon crazy unique experiences you couldn’t have ever dreamed of. It’s all on you – and that’s beautiful if you ask me. Your experiences, happiness, and confidence is created each day; you wake up and decide (truly decide) to keep going. Learn not to seek comfort, but to slow down and enjoy the minute to minute community that you’re getting to be a part of, that so few will ever be able to comprehend without having been there in it with you. And that’s OK!

Upon returning to the States I couldn’t figure out what the disconnect was when I saw my friends in the same old places, thinking the same old thoughts. Eventually, it became clear. I experienced and lived way more days than they did this year. During my days, I decided exactly how I wanted to live each and every hour. There’s something pure and freeing about that, and I believe this freedom of choice is what people are really chasing. Choose to do nothing, choose to keep the same path or audible it; without having to talk it out with your girlfriend, boss, or parents. The world is yours and everything is ready for the taking.

Thanks for reading and thank you Tanner for the opportunity to host my rambles!

Cheers!

Britton

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B’s Expert Tips for Backpacking in Australia

• The video I watched at the airport is pure Australian Humor Gold. Well worth a couple minute watch for the quotes in it alone.
• Give the Outback a try. The cities and the coasts might be fun – but as my old mate Cobby would say, “the best education in the world is in an Outback Pub”. I wouldn’t trade it for anything and no doubt when I return to Australia I’ll be flying straight into Perth to take in more of the Outback lifestyle. It’s a mix unlike anything I’ve been able to find elsewhere.

• Take any random short term job opportunities that comes about or just ask people if you can help them out – it’s one of the best ways to meet locals and learn from others. In most populated areas you can find weekend gigs if you know a festival or event is coming up. I did a long weekend as a Carnival Announcer and had fun battling an insurmountable language barrier while helping a friendly Vietnamese grandma run her Bánh mì cart.
• If you don’t know where to go next, find a Workaway (or similar work exchange for food/housing) for a week or two. You’ll bring your cost of living down to near zero and by the end you’ll have a much better idea of your next steps. This is the strategy I used when I first learned about rural work in Australia while living free on a Sunshine Coast beach.
• With rural work your food/housing generally costs you ~$70 out of your paycheck each week. It’s one of the best ways to save money while on the road. They don’t care about your skills at all – just speak English pretty well, have a good clean CV, and be able to get out there quick!