Signs of life from Lizard Island

December 19th, 2005 at 12:00am

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! Wow. Time has flown by this year. I have no great excuse for why I haven’t updated the site in months and months, and I apologize to anyone who has actually bothered to check in. I am STILL on Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, coming up on one year here actually. I don’t work at the resort anymore though. Lucky for me I was offered a temporary position (for 3-4 months) at the Research Station on the island, and I have been working on the ‘other side’ for just over a month now. My position here is called ‘Maintenance Assistant,’and encompasses everything from general light housekeeping to driving the tractor to picking up researchers from the airport. The people here are really nice and the job is a million times better than my old job at the resort. I’ll be sure to update the site a bit more regularly now and will have a chance to get more into the job later.

As for what else had been happening, well we all have our ups and downs in life and for some reason unbeknownst to me it was my turn for a low, slow, and depressing year. The bad news is that I had to go through it. The good news is that I think the worst is over. Most of my misery involved the ending of a 2.5 year relationship that I really thought was going somewhere, and yeah, in the end it didn’t. I don’t tend to get into much detail about these things on the website because for one, you’ve gotta keep some things private, and two, there is another person involved who may not want their dirty laundry aired. Really that is the main reason why I haven’t updated the site in months. I just didn’t have anything to say.

In addition to that, I was working a job that I really didn’t mind, but my bosses were completely dysfunctional power-hungry control freak ‘corporate psychopaths.’ And so no matter which way I turned, I just couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. Oh how I longed for those carefree days in Thailand!!

In the end, I found survival by just turning off my brain and going through the motions, waiting for a sign or a hand to lead me to another path. I guess I got it in a way when I was offered the position to work at the Research Station. If nothing else it serves as a sort of transitional phase until I get myself to the next place. Figuratively speaking that is. I still love the reef and the island although at times I do admit feeling a bit restless from the remoteness of the place. It would be the perfect job for a couple, but as a newly single chick it’s a bit barren. And not because we haven’t had rain in 3 months! Anyway I am meeting a lot of good and interesting people at the station, and the social scene here is quite busy in between movie night, barbeque night, dinner parties, and game nights, so I think it will be a very positive experience. I am looking forward to a new year in 2006. And I wish everyone all the best for a very happy, healthy, and safe year for the future.

Here’s to healthy colons for all!!

The beach at Lizard Island Research Station

Snorkling with dolphins, my first day off at LIRS

Beautiful underwater images of the GBR

Entry Filed under: Australia,Diving,Lizard Island