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Who could pass on the opportunity to work on the Great Barrier Reef ? We couldn’t! Working as you travel can be in unique places.
Most people have heard of Hamilton and Daydream Islands. We headed to the most Northern island in the Whitsunday’s, Hayman Island. Hayman is a luxury 5 star, private island resort. Closed since Cyclone Debbie in 2017. As a result It has millions being spent on renovations and is due for opening around July 2019.
While caravanning and working around Australia, Larry was getting calls from our old work place, Hayman, asking for information on work related issues. Also asking if he wanted to come back in a more senior management role. As we were leaving the WA cattle station we were on, we had a few discussions about it. I wasn’t that keen.
Don’t get me wrong, Hayman is one of the most stunning places in the world to holiday.
Around 400 staff live permanently in a small staff village with a diner, corner store and bar. Like any work place though it can have it’s challenges. You live with the same people you work with 24/7, have 3 meals a day with them and feed of each others energy.
Unfortunately negative Nancy’s can be like a virus. When last there this was common place. Along with finding out I had a painful and exhausting autoimmune disorder, I was more than ready to leave when we did.
Since leaving, Cyclone Debbie had hit, with devastating effect. Consequently the resort had closed and most staff had been stood down, till who knew when ? Larry has a lot of knowledge about the engineering side of the island and they were keen for him to come back and help out.
Subsequently, Emails were going backward and forth on the new workings of the resort, the staffing and what we were willing to come back for.
I was happier going back as things had changed. Also knowing I could go back part time and have light duties was great. Our accommodation was not going to be in the staff village this time either but a town house looking over the coral sea and Langford island. Having our own kitchen was a blessing.
We decided heading back would be a great place to save again. Now that we knew how much money we would roughly need each month, we decided to go back for a year. During this time we could save and possibly not work for another year? Gotta love that idea!
Firstly we headed back to our old home at Gunna Go Caravan park in Myrtlevale (not far from Airlie Beach). Previously, we had stayed here a for a few months when we first bought the van and before we hit the road. It was so great to see the owners Joy and Shane as well as Amber and Zack. They were still sorting the place out after Cyclone Debbie but we asked if we could come home for a while. We chose a place to park and set the caravan down for a good earned rest (More on Gunna Go)
Coming home to the van on weekends, well, it was like coming home 🙂
Certainly, working and living in paradise is great but I love our little home on wheels so much more. Working as you travel can involve boats, planes and automobiles. During our time, we sailed across the coral sea over 60 times, to get to the mainland and back.
Larry’s first job on the island way back in 2011 ( a couple of months after we met I might add) was as a mechanic. He left the island to be with me before we both went back together.
My first job was in the laundry then in housekeeping, reception and as a gardener. Larry got promoted to utilities manager. We worked on Hayman for four years, to save enough money to buy our caravan and travel full time as we do now.
Returning back this time, I joined the gardening department again and Larry was promoted yet again, this time to Engineering manager.
Working in the gardening department involved hand watering the hundreds of newly planted trees and shrubs amongst other random things like asset auditing. Larry’s job was more organisational and computer based than his previous jobs.
As usual he has his finger in every pie, managing to get a Cert 3 qualification in water and waste water operations during our time there. That might help with future work around the track.
Thought about house sitting as you travel? Check out Aussie House sitters and use our discount Coupon Code “AHS15%off”
Unbelievably we stayed on Hayman for 16 months instead of 12. Larry has been and still is, adding upgrades and tech to the van. Look out for his posts on these in the future as well as some videos on our You Tube channel.
The road is calling and so is Hayman, wanting Larry to go back for a couple of weeks to do a hand over. Either way we will be hitched up soon and discovering new places again.
It’s been a few years since we have seen family and friends between the Sunny and Gold Coast so we will head slowly down south. Yes this is against the grain and might be cold but no hordes of people but we have installed a diesel heater.
Prices stated in blog post are correct at time of publishing and will not be updated unless re verified
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