Now think abut working there. Living in dorms. Working shifts. Eating in a staff cafeteria and staying 4 days on, 3 days off the island. All island activities are free for you; kayaking, tours, paragliding, everything. The other staff are a motley crew of international and Australians, young, carefree, living the dream.
Doesn’t it sound amazing.
I was at Tangalooma on Moreton Island and even writing it now, it does sound amazing. And I’m wishing I’d taken more advantage of it at the time. But what was I doing there? Possible the sweetest job on an island of sweet jobs.
I was the masseuse for the resort half of the week. I had my own grass hut actually on the beach, took the bookings that I wanted and was able to lock up and lie on the sand whenever I didn’t have a booking. Amazing.
All the staff on the island live in dorms or single apartments behind the resort, garishly coloured buildings built for practicality not looks. At any given time people would be sleeping so staff on time off would fill the bar. Day or night at least half the people in the bar were staff on time off. I’m sure it’s an effective way for the resort to retain most of the wages it had to pay out. The other staff area was the cafeteria. All meals were provided and because of the randomness of shift changes food was always available. The other staff used to complain incessantly about the food quality but I wasn’t there long enough to get sick of it. It was fantastic! The cruisiest moving out of home ever.
One night I finished up at my little hut and wandered out to find a couple of the staff had set up a picnic on the sand outside. They invited me to join them, sharing their cheese and wine ‘from the mainland’ while we watched the sunset over the water and they discussed the benefits of pineapple juice in a relationship. Great times.
I was only there for a few weeks I believe. The isolation was a little hard, as I worked by myself I didn’t meet many of the other staff. I wasn’t in any uniform so I wasn’t obviously one of them. I spent my spare time wandering around the island, lying on the beach reading… just whatever. I spent three days a week on the island and the lady who actually ran the massage part of the resort was there the rest of the time.
So why did I actually leave? One morning I got back to my little hut to find that someone had broken in and taken the cd player, the oils, candles, a bunch of things. I’d locked it but being a grass hut it wasn’t really secure. And as I was the only one with the key, I was asked to leave on grounds of theft. I was pretty bummed. (Hopefully I don’t need to put in here that I didn’t actually take them and was pretty upset about the whole thing.) So that ended my dream resort job.
Cons: Think of it as living/working in a very very small town. Everyone knows everyone, gossip is rife etc. On time off staff are generally bored and all most people do is drink so there’s generally plenty to gossip about.
Pros: The scenery. The resort. The location. Etc. The people. (I just like hospitality people I think) Choosing your own hours. Free/cheap resort amenities and activities. Dolphins every evening! (to watch, not eat) and laid on food and accommodation.
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