I'm in Byron Bay, at the international headquarters of the company I work for. It's a small tourist town on the beach in northern NSW. Ostensibly I'm here for training, but they're not really organised enough for me to be trained. So there's a lot of reading of course-books during the day and sporadic one-on-ones with the people I'm really here to suck dry.
Now to save money, I'm staying in the room above reception. Not bad as far as rooms go - better than some hotels I've stayed at. There's a minibar, a reasonably comfy bed and I've got the keys to let myself in and out.
But I'm so friggen bored.
You'd think, at an international technology college, that I'd be able to have a decent internet connection. Uh-uh. The connection is fast enough, but drops out every 30 seconds or so. This means that IM sessions stop and you have to reconnect the client. Usually you lose 4 out of every 5 posts someone makes. Internet radio is blocked as is BitTorrent and any other worthwhile downloading protocol you care to think about.
The dropouts affect my FTP connection too - so I can't use the evenings to complete the server migration of my own business like I'd planned.
There's no TV. NO TV!!! I don't even like TV that much, but I like the noise in the background. The computer I'm on only has a CD-ROM drive, no DVD.
I'm fed up with books, so the reading material I brought just serves to irritate me further.
Plus, we're in the middle of friggen nowhere, so cell-phone reception bites major ass. I can talk about as well as I can IM.
I was given the company pushbike so that I could make the trip into town. I recognised it instantly in the bike rack by the cobwebs that covered its frame so completely I thought it was bought from the set of The Addams Family. When I cleared away the creepy-crawlies I found the tires were completely flat. I spent ages locating a bike pump and reinflated them. I noticed that the bike was a bit too short for me when I went head-over heels because the front brake is irreperably busted as well.
I gave the bike back.
Basically I'm bored. Really bored. Insanely bored. I've been here since the start of the week and don't leave until the end of next week. A gaping void of absolutely zero entertainment stretches before me......
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
You said tourist town. Doesn't that imply some sort of local attractions?
Posted by Troubadour (Member # 83) on :
You'd think so. But rank feral hippies and overpriced burgers from Hog's Breath Cafe don't really do it for me. It's a tourist town in the sense that clueless people come here because they don't live near a beach and don't realise that the beach alone should be reason enough to come.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Was there meant to be a negative in that last sentence?
Um . . . well, if you're bored with reading, I guess you could write. Ever wanted to try your hand at the Great Australian Novel?
*pat pat* Good luck!
Posted by Troubadour (Member # 83) on :
lol - I've re-read the last comment several times and it seems perfectly coherent for that of a man being driven insane.... Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :
When I travel to nowhere places I take my Dremel tool and make Cub Scout Pinewood Derby cars. Gets sawdust all over the room.
Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :
This is what I do when I'm super bored.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
I quite enjoyed Byron.
But we did go in the off season - and only for a night.
And even so, I had my fill of tie-dye and henna tattoos by the time we left.
The main pub (I have *no* idea what it is called) with the big outside area isn't bad. Big screen tvs, usually with surfing on - not unpleasant to watch while sipping a beer.
But if you can't get into town... um, solitare?
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
And Rivka - I think the point Troubs was making is that Byron Bay isn't just about the beach.
In fact for a lot of people the beach is the 'reason' to go but they don't actually swim or spend much/any time there - they just eat overpriced mass produced food, buy healing crystals and mystical unicorns and then rave to all their friends about what an experience it was.
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