On to Brisbane...

Once Ashlynn completed her three months of working in northern Australia in mid-February, it was time for she and Bjarne to start their journey south. First they spent one final night at Tropic Days, the hostel where they first met.

Then it was time for a makeover: short hair and reading glasses...

...and even a short time with green hair.

After another few days of camping, they arrived in Brisbane, which they totally loved. Hard to believe this gorgeous scenery is part of a public park downtown rather than a posh resort.

How cool that she got to meet up for a drink with James, a classmate from elementary school who had moved back to Australia when they were just 11. 

She thought it was really fun to explore the city by electric scooter. They originally had hoped to drive all the way to Sydney, but soon realized that would take too long so they ended up flying. Little did Bjarne know when he found a storage place to leave his car, that he’d never see it again.

Camping Down Under...

While many of their colleagues from Fitzroy just hung out in Cairns on their days off, Ashlynn and Bjarne used that time to go exploring. Not only did he have a driver’s license, but he had the money to buy a nice used car from some other backpackers. It even came with a bunch of camping gear.

Meeting Bjarne definitely expanded Ashlynn’s options to see the back country that she never would have been able to access by public transport. 

They spent most of their days off camping...

...and hiking. 

She said this was a crazy tough hike since she wasn’t exactly dressed for climbing with ropes.

Nice to know that she thought of me occasionally. 

They were very lucky as they never encountered any of the many poisonous spiders and snakes that Australia is famous for.

Luckily, their close encounter with a cassowary, which is usually considered the world’s most dangerous bird to humans, was peaceful. 

As you can see, they managed to visit quite a few waterfalls during their wanderings.

What a magical time this was! 

Meanwhile Down Under...

Ashlynn continued to work and live on Fitzroy Island until mid-February, when she reached her goal of three months of employment in Northern Australia in order to earn a second holiday-work visa.

During her last week, she got to concoct her own cocktail for Foxy’s Bar which she aptly named Ash Attack!, which she still hasn’t made for us. 

She was surprised how much she enjoyed working at Zephyr’s, the fine dining restaurant. The clientele were just those guests who were staying at the resort, so she enjoyed having the time to actually chat with many of them as opposed to the hectic pace at Foxy’s.

She also worked a bunch of shifts at the pool bar, which gave her more responsibility as she worked the entire bar on your own.

How convenient that Ashlynn managed to find a boyfriend who is dive certified, advanced even. I had figured they would go diving whenever they could, but they actually only went twice; once shore diving and once from a boat, shown here. They dove on their own and saw a sea turtle and were followed by a remora (a fish that looks like a mini shark) for about 10 minutes. She’d heard that the Great Barrier Reef can be disappointing since folks have such high expectations, but she loved it. The visibility and colors were incredible, like something out of a David Attenborough documentary.

She went snorkeling around twice per week while Bjarne was working (he worked more day shifts while she worked more evenings). It was pretty convenient since it was only a one-minute walk from their room. She would have snorkeled daily, but she had to wear a stinger suit each time as there’s a lot of problems with toxic tiny irukandji jellyfish that time of year. There were lots of baby sharks, rays and turtles right at the shore. 

She found this cute sign along the beach.

Despite being a bartender, Ashlynn never had a cocktail on Fitzroy until her last day.

The beach was the only place where they could get any reception on their phones as there was no WiFi for the staff, so we didn’t hear from Ashlynn very often.

She enjoyed beach life with lots of time spent hanging out and reading. She’s just confessed to going swimming without a stinger suit many times despite knowing that six tourists had to be airlifted out within just two weeks in January due to those nasty little jellyfish—glad I didn’t know that then.

Ashlynn was excited to be able to volunteer at the Turtle Rehabilitation Centre on the island. Unfortunately, when she started working at the fine dining restaurant, the hours didn’t work out, so she only did about 10 shifts of helping to feed the turtles. She was completely overjoyed when she was asked later to cover for one of the marine biologists on her days off. So instead of getting paid to mix drinks and take food orders, she got paid to give two tours of the center per day for about a week. The main emphasis was public awareness. What incredible luck considering this is the field she wants to go into and now she has had actual experience.

Julz, a green sea turtle, had been in the center for about two years after being injured by spears used by illegal hunters. Ashlynn fed her cabbage and scratched her back, which she seemed to love. She was relieved to learn that Julz had fully recovered and been released on August 14.  

Ashlynn was fascinated to witness a turtle release while on the island, but was heartbroken to learn that Myrtle was immediately injured by a passing boat and returned to the centre the following day. Sadly, she didn’t make it.

What a relief it was for me that Ashlynn didn’t end up working as underpaid labor on a farm in the middle of nowhere in intense summer heat, but instead got to work on a tropical island in paradise.

Working in Paradise...

Although Ashlynn enjoyed working at Howlin’ Jay’s, they were unable to give her enough hours to meet the requirements for her to earn a second visa, so she continued to look for other options. She was excited, but didn’t have high hopes when she was invited for an interview on Fitzroy Island, which was a 45-minute ferry ride from Cairns. She was surprised when they offered her a bartender job on the spot. What incredible luck! Instead of working at a fried chicken restaurant or toiling away on a distant farm, she would be living and working on a tropical island on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.

On November 22, Ashlynn started working at Fitzroy Resort at Foxy’s Bar, the island’s casual café, and living in the employee accommodations, basic rooms with two beds. She was paid well and charged just one hour’s wages per day for her room and board; although she could keep her belongings there, it was nice that she wasn’t charged for her room on her days off, which were always spent off the island. There weren’t any vegan options on the menus, but luckily some of the chefs would make her special meals so she didn’t have to live on salads alone.

I borrowed this photo to show the 100-room resort. Ashlynn ended up rotating between Foxy’s and Zephyr’s, the fine dining restaurant where she was also waited tables. She also did a few shifts at the pool bar. Bjarne originally had intended to do a six-month internship on a farm, but only lasted two days of picking bananas. He then found a gardening job and hoped to see Ashlynn on her days off. On her first day at Foxy’s, she referred to him as her “boyfriend” (although she didn’t consider him to be at the time) to the manager to help him get a job.

Bjarne had no restaurant experience, but they were willing to interview him; less than one week after their first kiss, he also moved to the island. Not only did he become Ashlynn’s first boyfriend, but they also started living together. Their first room had single beds, but eventually they moved into a nicer room with a double bed.

The island is covered by a rainforest and is protected as a national park with several hiking trails. It is surrounded by beautiful beaches and a coral reef. They only went shore diving once and had to wear special stinger suits to protect against the jellyfish which invade the waters every summer.

Hard to beat the view during their three-minute commute to work. 

Amazingly, Ashlynn managed to avoid getting entirely sunburned during her nearly three months of living in paradise.