Australia is a massive country it’s true, but so is the USA. The difference is the lack of population between townships (outside of major metropolitan areas of course). An Australian friend put it well when she said: “No matter where you are in Australia, it’s about 6 hours to get to your next destination.”
The drive between Airlie Beach and Gladstone is 590 kilometers of Queensland bush and sugar cane fields. I was yawning from the start. The highway touched the coast only once at the tiny settlement of Clairview, a perfect chance to stretch my legs and eat a mango under the shade of a small tree by the shore.
I couldn’t bring myself to get back in the car, so I walked to a nearby park and did some yoga, then lay down under a tree. I was dozing off when my phone rang. It was May Lee, an American friend living outside Melbourne. We got into a conversation, so I took the phone back to the car and she kept me company for the second leg of the drive.
Gladstone is an industrial town, not so picturesque. My Airbnb was rundown and pretty gross actually, but the sheets were clean so I went straight to bed and left early. In the morning I parked the car at Gladstone airport, put the keys in the dropbox and waited for my Help Exchange host to pick me up.
1770
The Help Exchange website suggests that traveling “helpers” offers four hours of work per day in exchange for accommodation and meals or two hours of work per day without meals. It’s intended to be a mutually beneficial cultural exchange.
I agreed to 3-4 hours a day of landscaping, customer service, and room cleaning at an accommodation business of 4 apartments in the tiny seaside town of “Seventeen Seventy,” population 76.
I was struggling to find transportation from the Gladstone airport to the town of Seventeen Seventy, so I sent a few emails to Maggie, my host. Her only response was: “There aren’t many options.”
She runs a hotel, so I was confused by her lack of basic communication and hospitality knowledge. I started to feel unwelcome but I had nothing else prepared and nowhere to go.
The day before I arrived in Gladstone, Maggie finally called me back. She was visiting friends in Gladstone and offered to pick me up and bring me to the town of Seventeen Seventy. What a relief!
I was a bit surprised when a Filipino family pulled up to the curb at Gladstone Airport, though it somewhat explained the communication (or lack thereof) differences. “Well, I guess I’ll have a Filipino cultural exchange,” I thought.
On the drive back to Seventeen Seventy, I learned that Maggie manages the lodge for the owners who live in Sydney. She gained citizenship in Australia through her mother, who married an Aussie and lives in Brisbane. Maggie started managing the lodge in Seventeen Seventy by herself, but became lonely in the isolated community and sent for Chris, an old classmate from the Philippines. They married and now have two children.
Arriving in Seventeen Seventy, Maggie quickly began preparing rooms for arriving guests. She said I could take the day off to orient and get settled. I was eager to show my value and willingness to work, so I jumped right into mopping floors instead.
But as the week progressed I felt my goodwill being taken advantage of. Maggie suggested that I could finish work early if I completed my duties. So I worked quick, efficient and hard, but instead of getting off early, she assigned me more work!
The ‘accommodation’ provided was a bed in the office with no window, no ventilation, and the air-con was “broken.” Queensland is hot! I asked for the location of the bathroom and learned that I don’t have one! She pointed out the public restroom in the park down the hill and said I could use the outdoor shower and toilet within the ‘penthouse suite,’ suggesting I bring cleaning supplies with me to act as though I’m cleaning it. “But what am I to do in the middle of the night?!” I thought.
This was not a Help Exchange as intended by the program. This was free labor and exploitation of travelers in a vulnerable position far from home. Maggie gave me $50 a week for food (not nearly enough) and showed me an electric hotplate and refrigerator I could use in the pool shed. When I pointed out the mice droppings and cockroaches, she said that’s my job to clean.
Maggie made herself scarce. She would show up for 1-2 hours per day to do office work but rarely looked up from the computer or cell phone to speak with me. I gave up on having a relationship with her.
Communicating with me only through text messages, she filled up my phone with lists of things to do. It was too much! She basically trained me to do her job, then left me alone while she booked guests remotely and collected her commission. With no host presence at the lodge, guests were confused and wanting me to host them (even though I knew nothing), so I wasn’t able to use the lodge to hang out or relax. I was never off work unless I left the premises.
Travel in and out of the area seemed sparse and expensive. Since I’d planned to be here a while, I’d made no arrangements yet for my next destination, so I decided to deal with the situation long enough to figure out my next step. Everything is temporary, and I do my best not to raise my blood pressure unnecessarily.
On the bright side, the town of Seventeen Seventy is a stunning slice of paradise! Captain James Cook made his second landing in Australia at this site on May 1770, hence the name. It contains a spattering of houses upon round hills at the tip of a peninsula. There’s a few restaurants, a tiny marina, a general store, and a campground.
In the second week, I set some strong boundaries with Maggie. She was defensive, but I stood firm in my conviction because she was in the wrong. I continued to work hard but I took my afternoons free to explore, hike around, and sit by the shore watching the magic play of clouds, colors, and light.
The night before I left, I splurged and went out for dinner followed by a star-lit walk in the warm breeze. Besides Maggie, I would actually miss this little spot on earth.
The next morning I caught a 6 a.m. shuttle to Agnus Water, then a bus south to Hervey Bay, a spread-out town of 60,000 inhabitants best known for whale watching and the jumping-off point to the worlds largest sand island, Fraser Island.
Arriving in the midday heat, I caught a taxi to my Airbnb, a gorgeous open-air house uphill from town. The season for whale watching had just passed, and I hadn’t scheduled sufficient time to visit Fraser Island, so I was just passing through Hervey Bay.
My hosts had a bike for me to borrow, so I spent the day exploring the beautiful 17-kilometer esplanade through several suburbs along the waterfront.
That evening was odd. My hosts were very kind, I liked them, but they had relationship issues mixed with excessive alcohol use. I had to excuse myself when the drama started. Heavy drinking seems to be the norm in Australia.
The Gold Coast
The next day, I got to the airport headed south for the Gold Coast. For some ridiculous reason, I had to fly all the way to Sydney and then double back up. An old friend from California picked me up after dark at Coolangatta Airport.
Madhura Priya married an Australian and settled here years ago. I was so grateful for her unexpected hospitality. Her sweet home in the little town of Uki looks up at Mt. Warning, the remnants of an ancient volcano.
A gorgeous sunset, a cuddly kitty and a cup of tea – for a weary traveler, nothing beats the warmth of a friend. A concert of crickets sang me to sleep.
