Roz....is no longer with us.....

The time was always going to come to part ways with Rodney, but as she wasn't working and living the high life as a cleaner she didn't really have much reason to hang around in Cairns. So on Monday she packed her bags and is off down the East Coast and was last seen heading towards Mission Beach. Those who know Roz can appreciate how lame she is at keeping in touch, so our only guess is that she's still alive!!!!

The 'Ultimate' Party bus!

Nic on her way to victory

Me and Roz on the bus! Err, I think the guy intruder is Roz's pal!

3 musketeers!

We were quietly eating our dinner at our usual place, Rhino Bar, when we realised it was their 3rd birthday and they started giving out prizes for doing stupid things like naming the song or the film the song was featured on etc. Nic was picked at random from the crowd (I couldn't make this stuff up!) and the stakes were highered, she was paired with some English bloke, and along with lots of nationalities they were forced to sing their own national anthems over the microphone. Nic knew the words 'God save our gracious queen' and then dried up. How patriotic. Luckily her partner clearly had red white and blue blood and sung the rest of the anthem all the way to winning them a big prize! Well, he won a white water rafting trip, she won a trip on the 'ultimate party bus'! So we all turned up on saturday night and had a free BBQ and then got on some open topped bus and were carted around some of the best (and the worst) bars in Cairns! It was pretty funny, and Nic once again participated in a game on the night, with some Napoleon Dynamite looking German guy, but got kicked out before it turned smutty! Thank God! The night was pretty good but I'm glad our tickets were free put it that way!

Another day, another tragic uniform

The uniform, the Weaver, the pout TM

Red is SO your colour darling

The housekeeping work has dried up at the moment (yes we are trying hard to get over it too), but fortunately the same agency does food and beverage work in various places around Cairns. For some reason we have ended up working in the Cairns Convention Centre for quite a few evenings doing events, with up to about 700 people in attendance for dinners and conferences etc. The highlights so far being an event for 'Equine Veterinarians' (yes, that's horse vets), the Property Council of Australia, and the highly anticipated 'Australia Suicide Prevention Group' tonight. Pretty grim! Roughly only about 5% of staff for an event are actually permanent, so the rest is made up of us agency chumps. Add in to the mix that the permanent staff and organisers couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, and we all pretty much stand around not knowing what to do, and simple questions from the guests such as 'where are the toilets' seem to out fox the best of us. It all makes a good impression! Ha! Well we manage to last the night just pouring drinks and handing out food, it's not hard stuff. Oh and it does not dissapoint in the uniform stakes! We both look like our fashion is inspired by the candle from the Beauty and the Beast. Oh and we both got to wear hi-vis tops the other day. SEXY!

FINALLY Kat, Nic and Roz get a job where they use their degrees

How not to fold a bed 5 star standard

Nic making the uniform look good

Nic demonstrating the difficult art of towel removal

Finding ourselves sort on cash yet again, we took drastic action. We thought finding work in Cairns would be easy as it is full of pubs, restaurants and generally full of tourists that need our work! Well that's what we thought. We signed up to an agency that seemed a bit funny and in asking to apply for general cleaning or hospitality jobs we were hit with a barrage of tests to weigh up our skills. I believe one of the vital questions was 'You find a spillage on a TILED floor, mention the 3 steps you would take to clean it up'. Many a rocket scientist failed this test. The next disheartened day we signed up to another agency who had given us name badges, security passes and uniforms within the first 5 minutes! This could be good! The next day Nicola and I both worked at the Cairns Convention Centre, waitressing for a conference on Viagra (hmm?!?) and then in the evening at an event at the Botanical Gardens, where the guests got progressively sloshed and we just stood back and minced as much as we could. This all seemed pretty easy, although we were gettting a bit fed up of waitressing and work like that, having worked so long in the pub in Mingenew. So we thought that all three of us would get together and finally do what our parents have been wanting us to do since we graduated. That's right, finally get a job that uses our degrees. You guessed it, we are now cleaners in a hotel! We got up at about 6am the next day and got in a minibus up to Port Douglas (about an hour North of Cairns) to work at the Sheraton Mirage hotel. It's not only a 5 star hotel, we had to sign a disclaimer to say that if we meet any celeb guests at the hotel we are not allowed to speak to the media. We had high hopes for this place and getting to spend the day cleaning on your own means optimum mincing time. The reality my friends, was so much harsher. We were shown how to clean a room, both for a new arrival, and for an occupied room, and it is painfully thorough! Even the taps get brasso-ed, towels, toilet roll and tissues folded in a certain way, baths sinks and toilets get dryed off and every single bloody room gets vacuumed!!! Even after all this your rooms get checked and undoubtedly asked to clean something again. Nic and I kind of just got on with it but Roz decided to challenge the rules and after a heavy night ended up being sick in a guest room and generally being, how should I say, not 5 star quality! Her supervisor was a bit of a hard arse and made Roz 're'hoover a room (the 're' as in she swore blind that she did it, but obviously she hadn't!) and generally check every single thing that she had done until the height of it all, when she started shouting at Roz and generally telling her she was doing a rubbish job! Nevermind, after 4 days Roz made out with as many toiletries and teabags that she could smuggle out and swear she would never work there again. Nic and I are going to keep going as our money situation is slightly worse! If you want to check out the ritzy hotel then go to www.sheratonmirage.com.au