Free Summer Down Under by Alison Pensy

listening.”
    “Well, I grew up on a sheep station. My
parents own one. A friend of their’s, who also owns a sheep
station, needs some help for the lambing and shearing season. I
knew you were running out of money and wanted to experience the
true Australia, this would help you with both. I thought you would
like to consider it. I told my Mum that I would ask you and let her
know tomorrow, before they look elsewhere for someone.”
    “Wow, that is a proposition. I hadn’t even
thought of doing something like that. I just assumed I’d get a job
serving in a restaurant or something. But being a ranch hand didn’t
even enter my head. Don’t you need some kind of experience for that
kind of thing?”
    “No, not really,” she said. “They’ll show you
how to do everything. It basically involves working with sheep on a
day to day basis, and maybe some cattle.”
    “Let me think about it,” Sam said, forcing a
smile.
    That night, Sam lay in her bunk thinking of
nothing but Sophie’s proposal. A knot was tying itself in her
stomach, the same fearful knot she had experienced while being
chased by the shark. If she had to admit it, she felt
terrified.
    She had come to think of the backpackers as
her home, she felt safe there surrounded by Sophie, Moose,
Jensen and the others. But money was running low and a job had to
be found in the near future. Nothing had turned up in the town and
time was growing short. If a job didn’t present itself soon, she
would have to go home; Sam was determined that was not going to
happen just a couple of months into her adventure.
    Sam also reminded herself that staying in one
town for the whole year would be silly. The whole objective of her
trip was to travel around the country and see as much of it as she
could. How easy it had been to slip into a comfort zone, and now it
was terrifying her to think of leaving.
    She mentally slapped herself while telling
herself to suck it up and take a leap of faith. Hadn’t she come to
see the real country, not just the touristy places that everyone
else sees? Didn’t she want to do things that are not common place
for people to do? Things she could never do back home in England?
Working in a restaurant could be done anywhere in the world. Sam
should know, she had spent the previous year working in several to
earn enough money for her trip. Serving tables would not make for
interesting story telling, of that she was certain.
    She remembered the way Daniel had described
what he did on his parent’s sheep station. Riding around on horses
and motorbikes, herding sheep, and goodness knows what other kinds
of exciting jobs she’d experience. Now that would definitely make
for some interesting tales.
    Sam didn’t get much sleep that night.
Excitement, fear of the unknown, anticipation; they all played a
hand in her restlessness, but first thing in the morning, she would
tell Sophie that she’d take her parent’s friends up on their offer.
Sam was going to be a jillaroo.
     
    ***
    Sophie was excited when Sam gave her decision
and she got on the phone to her mother straight away.
    “Mum told them to expect you next Monday,”
Sophie said, and then proceeded to make arrangements for Sam to be
met by the people she was going to work for.
    Several phone calls later, she was handing
Sam a piece of paper with the name of the hotel to meet her new
employers, the time she had to be there, and their names.
    A few days later, Sam was being seen onto the
bus by the group of friends she had grown very close to. Sophie,
Moose, and Jensen had come with her to the bus station. Several
hugs later, she was ready to board.
    A lump was building in the back of Sam’s
throat, knowing she would likely never see any of these people
again. Goodbyes were not her favorite pastime, but they were part
of the job description of a traveler. She bit back the tears as
Sophie handed her a ticket to the middle of nowhere.
    “You’ll do great, kid. Just see if you
don’t,”