Ora Banda

After I had to leave the farm because the harvest was over, I didn't have a plan again. I wanted to keep working because the money wouldn't have been enough to travel for 10 weeks.

That's why I decided to look for another job for a few weeks. I had better luck here in Western Australia.

After the farm, I moved in with a grandfather who hosts backpackers. I lived there with 4 French girls and a German female backpacker.

I had a good feeling and thought I would find a job. I wrote my story to my friend in Australia on WhatsApp and she said they were still looking for someone in her place starting next week.

I agreed immediately. A week later, I took the train to Kalgoolie, which only took 3 hours.

From there, a colleague welcomed me and we drove to Ora Banda, which was 70km away.

When I arrived there, I was speechless. I thought there was nothing on the old farm, but here there was really nothing except for this pub.

It's indescribable. There were small sandy roads and many trees around the pub. There was no internet connection or phone signal. We were glad that we could use our neighbors' WiFi in our room in the evening.

I can hardly describe the life there, it's just different. But it was a very exciting experience that I wouldn't want to miss.

You live very isolated from the outside world. The nearest shopping opportunity, gas station, etc. is 70km away. There are only a few people living in Ora Banda. Some of them would come to the pub in the evenings and have their after-work beer with us. It's all very family-like because everyone knows everyone. In Ora Banda, mainly men aged 40-70 live. They don't have houses there, but live in their camps in the bush, in their caravans or tents.

The job of most people in Ora Banda is to search for gold. I got to accompany Rob for a day. It was extremely interesting. We went on a gold hunt with a metal detecting device. You get headphones and can recognize whether there is gold nearby or not based on the sounds. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything.

Some people there have become very dear to me because they are very warm-hearted. They were always very happy when my friend and I were working at the pub.

Many tourists come to the pub on weekends. They are interested in the history of Ora Banda and the workers who search for gold there. Some even come there to search for gold themselves.

There are several gold mines around Ora Banda. My friend and I were allowed to visit one and ride in a huge vehicle.

We lived next to the pub near the neighboring campsite.

We lived in a kind of container. But we had a small TV and DVD player. It's hard to describe how it looked there. I never thought I would live like that, but we had everything we needed. A bed, a roof over our heads, and hot water. When you travel for so long, you get used to certain things and learn to appreciate the things you had at home. But you also learn that you can live well with little and that you don't need much to be happy.