Backpackers

It's that time of the year in the Top End and the agricultural regions around Kununurra attract backpackers from all over the world.  They come to take advantage of the fantastic weather and the ample work on offer from farms and also in the tourist sector.  Some have excellent language skills and others less so but they all manage to fit into the lifestyle and make the most of the money so that they can continue their travels to other parts of this great country of ours.  They also manage to live, while working, on the most shoestring of accommodation budgets and with very few luxuries.  In saying that, the backpacker always manages to make the most of what's available to make their home.
Almost all backpackers live in the campground at Hidden Valley caravan park and as we are just across the road, we get a bird's eye view of what goes on on a daily basis.  No other caravan park in town allows backpackers because they have a bit of a reputation as being disruptive and roudy however we have not, as yet, experienced any of that.  We have been told by other permanent residents about disturbances created by BP's but thankfully, we must be at the civilized end of the campground.  The social dynamic is made up of couples, groups of guys and groups of girls.  The groups vary in numbers from just two friends travelling together to larger groups.  It sounds like I'm describing a primate colony on a David Attenborough wildlife special.  These groups of BP's tend to keep to themselves but come together at meal times in one of the two camp kitchens available here and catch up on the days activities.
The main countries represented here are Japanese and French with an obvious sprinkle of other European and Asian nationalities.  Young Australians are also in the mix but they are not as prominent as the international BPs.  There was evidently some recent trouble between the French and the Australians, a kind of turf war I was told, which resulted in the French BPs being evicted from the caravan park.  The managers of the park are kept quite busy keeping everyone in check and there have been evictions since we've been here.  The reasons range from disruptive behavior, failure to pay rent and using power when they've paid for a non-powered site.
The exclusive accommodation in which BP's stay are tents, dome tents ranging in size from the two person variety right up to the family tent with several rooms.  Some groups have several two person dome tents in a circle with living space in the middle.  The next necessary item in the BP's arsenal is the tarp.  Tarps are strung up all over the campground usually in any nearby trees with tent poles being the other option for holding them up.  I have even seen tree branches holding up tarps.   These provide more shade than rain protection as the days get quite warm.   I have been told that some BP's stay as long as they can but the first rainstorm usually flushes them out of the area.  For those more upmarket BP's there is the temporary gazebo.  A 3 metre square freestanding structure which also shades a tent .

Tarps are strung up in trees

Note the clever use of a supermarket
trolley

Ok, so now we have the main structure of the house (tent) taken care of which means its time to look at housing accessories.  Despite the fact that we are talking about flimsy, thin, nylon tents, it is remarkable what BP's add to this simple structure.  Rarely are camping tables and chairs included in the furniture range but milk crates with wood planks, fencing wire or pallets on top make great tables.  Chairs are more of the same or just sit on the ground.  However, some tent owners have old lounge chairs, hammocks, computer chairs or dining chairs amongst their possessions.  The camp kitchen provides a number of communal fridges and freezers for the BP's to use but I have seen bar fridges inside tents at several sites.  One site in particular has a chest of drawers and pedestal fans under their tarp with several lounge chairs for entertaining out the back of the tent which overlooks the ranges.  It can look a bit like a third world slum where all ones possessions are under a tarp with no walls although I think the BP's would own more than most refugees.

Lounges are a popular verandah
accessory

This site has a telescope among their
meager possessions!!

My personal favourite - the chest of
drawers and bar fridge

There is usually a ground tarp for placing all sorts of cooking utensils on and the Japanese BP's across the road from us cook in a large pot on a single burner stove.  Most BP's carry their cooking pots and utensils over to the camp kitchen to prepare meals, wash their dishes there and return to their sites with clean equipment ready for the next meal.  The Japanese BP's across from us are quiet and well behaved.  One could say they are disciplined in their behaviour and keep to themselves.  The French BP's tend to gather in large groups, almost mobs, to socialize hence their more roudy behaviour.  This was perfectly demonstrated to me the other day.  An employee from the Kununurra vet practice had come to our van to photograph Derek the snake and Matilda the lizard for next years phone book advertisement.  They wanted to show that the vet deals with animals besides dogs, cats and horses and were looking for other pets to photograph.  I was holding Derek outside the van and talking to the photographer when all of a sudden I was confronted with 10 to 12 French BP's wanting to look and in some cases touch the snake.  There was an Australian girl amongst them who said that this wasn't something they saw in France very often so it was interesting.  I was happy to obligue but was briefly overwhelmed by the mob approaching me to start with.  As a contrast, a lone Japanese BP from across the road approached Steve earlier while he was holding Matilda and asked questions and held her but was unobtrusive and quiet.

Fire twirlers extraordinare.

Sometimes I feel like we are across from a permanent performance of Cirque De Soleil.  The Japanese BP's perform a routine with two metal balls on chains and swing them around themselves without getting clonked on the head.  I don't know how they do it but it's interesting to watch.  Their hands and arms twist and turn to manipulate the balls and keep them moving without touching anything.  It appears to take a great deal of concentration and discipline to achieve this and must take regular practice to keep their skill.  Down at the French quarter, they do a similar performance using sand filled cloth sacks attached to ropes or poles but they go one better by adding the element of fire.  Yes, Steve called us out one night to watch this amazing skilled light show whereby the men twirled and twisted both poles and ropes while they were on fire. 
Several BP's work for the caravan park mostly in the shower block cleaning department.  A friendly French couple called Caroline and Jeremy cleans the toilet blocks amongst other jobs around the park.  Recently they were both asked to clean out an onsite van which had been abandoned by it's tenant.   The inside looked like an episode of world's worst horders to the extent that both of them were dry reaching as they threw all manner of food and other items in the skip parked outside the van.  It was hard to imagine how someone could live that way and in such a confined space.
Transport choices of the BP are interesting.  Many of them are picked up and dropped off by the farms that employ them which is handy for them but during their down time, they find other ways to get around.  Walking is the obvious choice as well as cycling with many BP's having different grades of bicycles in their possession from the flashy sports version to the cycle stuck together with chewing gum and wire.  The variation of vehicles is quite astonishing.  Beat up Troupcarriers which serve as localized buses ferry around friends and aquaintences made in the park.  I've been walking along the main entrance into the caravan park and watched the 4-wd 'Troupie' pull up on it's way in or out and pick up whoever happens to be going somewhere.  Other 4-wds of varying ages are used by the BP but no late model machines.  Early Ford Falcon wagons seem to be the vehicle of choice with the odd early model Subaru or Pajero in the mix.  I was recently asked to help jump start a Pajero by a European BP so I drove over to their site as the jumper leads were waiting and ready to go.   After many thanks, they thought it helpful to give me a tip about fallen leaves under the bonnet blocking the heater vents.  As we are parked under trees with constant leaf fall, I didn't have the heart to tell them that the leaves would be back there tomorrow.  Steve also offered assistance recently because he couldn't bear to listen as the Japanese BP's cranked over the engine to click, click, click, sounds.  Although Steve couldn't fix a flat battery, he created 'white man magic' and had the Japanese BP's oohing and aahing at his ability to get the car started.
I don't think any of the guy BP's own a shirt as they spend all day wandering around without one on.  Lucky them I say......as the weather certainly makes it tempting to walk around half naked.  They make up for it though with some brightly coloured boardies.   The girl BP's all own bikinis no matter what their shape or size.  I only know this as I spend a lot of time at the pool with Erin and Becca.  Not all the girls are built like models and good on them for still wearing bikinis and not being self conscious.  Some of the girls are shapely and I have spied our neighbour nearly walking into a light post as he wandered past the pool area on his way home from work.  When it comes to work however, most are very sensible in their choice of work wear.  I've seen groups of BP's after a hard day picking in the fields returning to the caravan park in head to toe cover.  Water bottles are whatever is on hand, usually an empty juice bottle or some have descent cooler bottles with the taps.
When BP's aren't socializing with others, they are avid readers and game players.  Quite often when we go to the pool, we will see BP's sitting in the shade with their buds in their ears or reading a good book or playing a board game with others.  Two French BP's decided to have a game of checkers by the pool the other afternoon.  Another group play a ball game with silver metal balls about the size of cricket balls which they lob high into the air in order to get close to a smaller ball.  It's a bit like vertical lawn bowls where the balls get tossed up instead of rolled along the ground.   They usually play this game in the dirt somewhere in the campground.
It's good to see the consumption of alcohol continues in the good old Aussie tradition despite the different nationalities.  I have seen camps with scatterings of beer receptacles on most mornings after a good night.  I have noticed that most BP's prefer to drink out of bottles and not cans.  I was in the office one day when a box of French wine turned up in the post.   I was told that some French BP's just won't drink anything but their home brews to the extent where they get it posted from France for them to enjoy.  That's dedication to the home wine industry but perhaps a bit snobbish as Australian wines are world leaders too. 
It has become apparent to me that BP's work hard and play hard as well.  They are very good at relaxing, partying and working.  They don't arrive with much but make the most of what they have and enjoy their down time after working.  The work does fluctuate and so they have to take advantage of time off when it arises as they do get called into work irregularly as the fruit and vegies ripen in the fields.  Although they have a reputation as being roudy and disruptive,  they seem to be hard working especially in Kununurra's hot temperatures and don't ever seem to be bored with plenty of people to associate with and things to do.  Of course this is just my perspective since we arrived but living just across the road from the campground has given me some interesting insights into how these young people live while working in a strange country.  I suppose the main thing to remember is that they are young people experiencing life so they are going to act like young people do.   That last line makes me sound like an old person!