Letter From James 4/2016

Hi Dad,

Yep all of the animals are here.  On my camping trip down in Victoria I saw a lot of Kangaroos and Koalas.  Up here in Darwin there are Crocodiles, many lizards, frogs, spiders, snakes, and wallabees.  I have seen them all and am trying to take photos when i see them.  Lots a cool birds are up here too.

Right now I am talking care of all the public areas at a resort.  I mostly clean toilets, sweep, vacuum, and drive around in a golf cart.  I also get to do two hours to drive to Jaribu and back everyday for the bank deposit, mail, and linen.  I get paid $21 in base pay, an extra $2 an hour in leave, and an extra $1 in retirement.  All the money I make before July 12th will be tax free.  After July 12th the government has said that the tax for backpackers will go up to 32.5 cents a dollar from the first dollar earned.  The rumor on the street though is the Australian parliament wont but that through.  I hope not.  I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that the Australian dollar keeps rising.  4 months ago it drop AUS/US .71/1 which was great for me changing money over.  Now it is AUS/US .77/1 so if it keeps rising will be great for me when I transfer my money back.  It is crazy that I am making so much money for cleaning toilets!  And i am probably one of the least paid employees at the resort.  Backpackers are here in Australia to take all jobs that Australians don't want want to do.

We''ll have to see how the tax laws turn out.  I have learned that Americans can now apply to extend their visa into the second year if you do 3 months of farm or remote work.  I believe I have the remote category covered but regardless I think I will go down and pick grapes from November to February in Victoria and South Australia after this season in the Northern Territory.  I have heard that you can save $1000 a week during the grape season if you work hard.   Plus that will put me in the area to camp out and climb at some of the best climbing crags in the world.

My day to day life.  I wake up at 4:30, well before sunrise, and get ready and have some breakfast.  All food and accommodation is provided for $200 a week.  I have my own room and bathroom with AC, TV and fridge.  At 5:30 I start work while it is still cool.  At 7:00 am I take a 15 minute break to eat a hot breakfast then I break again at 11:00 for lunch.  At 11:30 I drive to Jaribu then at 2 PM i'm off.  I take a nap which I have been working on techniques to lucid dream every night and every nap.  Then yoga, run, and work out to train at climbing once I get back down to Victoria.  Then dinner at 5 which is usually pretty good.  Then I will kick it in the break room with other staff playing pool and ping pong.  I try to be in bed by 8:30. I get Fridays and Saturdays off where last week I went on some pretty cool tours. 

Friday night is poker night and I am quickly building reputation as being a poker shark.  I have stayed in till the last hand (4 hours) all three games and I have taken home $150 dollars in the past three weeks ($20 buy in, cash game).  One of my roommates back in Melbourne (I met in Bali) was a professional poker player online.  He has won something like $200,000 in the past 5 years of playing .  We would play small cash games but he would give us really good pointers.  In the end you need to know the probabilities which takes playing and watching poker a bit.  Then make a pattern of value betting on a good hand (pre flop, flop, turn, and river) then match that exactly when you bluff.  When you are successful in a bluff show your cards so you get under the other players skin, and then they will think you will be bluffing more and will then call your value bets.   Then noticing inconsistencies in other players will usually mean that they are bluffing.

Today I finished a book called Wall of Death.  It is about the history of one of the most difficult alpine problems in the world The Eiger Norwand in Switzerland.  Or the Ogre North Face.  It was a thrilling book of brave mountaineers taking on this mountain.  So many of the early climbers died.

I have now have many more traveling plans.  It's a big world out there with so many things to do.  Right now my mind is dancing around ideas to teach English in Chiang Mia, go to meditation retreat for a few weeks, check out the mountains of India and Nepal.  Get my divers license maybe in Cambodia. Asia is wonderful place where money seems to stretch 10 times as far as it should.

Getting back to your questions I haven't answered.  No rock climbing here in Kakadu.  At least none that have been establish.  The coldest it will get this winter (July) is around 28 degrees Celsius.

Yeah when I drove up to Alaska.  You should do that drive!  Whew! I guess that could count as my first day I went out traveling even though I don't really count it till I left for Thailand.

Good to hear everyone is doing their thing.  I can't wait to hear about your time in Costa Rica and Panama.  I want to hear about it!  I hope Mom likes her time going outside of the country!

It is fun to get foreigners view of Americans.  They all think we're so stupid for the most part.  And they love talking about all the things that Americans have wrong.  It is funny because they act like they know so much about America!  But they really only know this plastic media version of American that is very misleading.  And off of that false idea of how America works they can talk and talk about how stupid Americans are.  In a lot cases I totally agree with them. Most seem jealous in a hidden way that they can't own guns haha. But when it comes to politics this election is very strange indeed.  I try not to pay attention.  I find myself believing that politics are just there to give the public the sense that they have some type of say of what goes on.  Taking the camera off the oil, banking, and weapon industry billionairs who don't want the average American knowing who they are or what they are doing.  It is a scary world we live in. 

Love,

James     

On Tue, Apr 26, 2016 at 5:52 AM, Nelson, Scott R. <srnelson@visionbankcard.net> wrote:

Hi Son,

How are you doing down under?  What an adventure you are having!  I hope life is treating you well.

Nothing too amazing is happening here.  We are going to Panama in less than two weeks!  Jon and Julia are in the middle of finals.  Jon and Sara are flying to Hawaii this week.  April and Shawn are happy.  Steve and Becca seem to doing the family thing.  I called Steve last week.  We like to talk politics and international affairs.

Hope all is well!

Love,

Dad

From: Karen Nelson [mailto:karen_nelson@byu.edu]
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 2:10 PM
To: Nelson, Scott R.
Subject: RE: Money Transfer

James,
How are you doing? I saw your crocodile post today. You are now in Kakadu national park? Crocodiles, Kangaroos, spiders and snakes? Have you seen all of them? Do you get to rock climb at all or too dangerous out there?

I hope you are doing well! I was thinking about your graduation the other day and then how you were packed up and drove off for Alaska. You’re a great person and I love you so much!!

How’s the temperature where you are? Not getting cold yet?

Sending love,

Mom