The first break couldn't have come soon enough. I had no more energy, had lost heaps of weight and was mentally & physically exhausted. I was delighted when we were suddenly taken off the job. In the space of a 3 days I went from not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel to being in Bali with a small stop over in Darwin.
The only reason why we had to stop work so abruptly was because of an indigenous land right claim. We were basically kicked out. I initially chose to go to Darwin on break, and when I saw what was awaiting me there; Loudness & debauchery, I opted for Bali instead.
It was great to be back in Asia. Good & cheap street food, friendly people, amazing weather... I spent the first week recuperating and was still a little bit knackered after 10 days. I kept on asking when the job would recommence and was always told another 10 days or so. Basically, my boss had no clue and rather than admitting so, he just kept repeating the same crap over and over again. Fortunately some friends arrived in town unexpectedly and I changed my flight to a later date.
It was nice to be out of Australia but I did miss it. It was easy to go back to backpacking around the world with all the money I had made but I knew there was more for me out there and I returned 2 and a half weeks later. As soon as I got back I called my boss and asked him when we'd be starting work. I was simply told the same crap...
I decided to find some work in the meantime and found a job the same day I returned at a popular nightclub picking up empty glasses and doing other undesirable chores around the venue. The work was worse than bad. 15 minutes in that place felt like 2 hours. I worked at bad hours in a loud place, doing really lousy work for a lot less money than I had become used to. Despite all of this I never lost faith, and knew that I'd return to the bush for more work.
It was quite a change from Bali, but that's just what I was willing to go through en-route to my bigger goals.
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