Fort Bragg

This was my second experience using the workaway website. I had organised it before leaving Australia and apart from pushing my arrival date one week back, it all worked according to plan. I was welcomed by a whole host of other workawayers/HelpX -ers (another similar website) - there was Australian Mandy, English Lucy, American Matt and German Christine who was 20 and the closest to my own age.

The Bed and Breakfast was beautiful and old, which unfortunately meant that a lot of the showers and sinks etc. were breaking, however, apart from that, the rooms were each individualised and really really beautiful. The first room I got to stay in was called Raven, it was white with dark wood furniture and a hot tub instead of a bath or shower.

My job would start at 9 am, I would go downstairs and start cleaning the kitchen with Christine. Once all the guests had finished breakfast, we could clean the dining room too before taking a break at 10am to eat our own breakfast. After breakfast, we would start helping Angelina (the mexican cleaning lady) to clean all the rooms, make the beds and -once again- clean the toilets.

Somewhere between 13.00 and 15.00 we would be finished with the work load and the rest of the day would be free. Fort Bragg is a very small coastal town. The coast line there is extremely beautiful and wild looking. However, there isn't that much to do there.

A little house I found in the streets of Fort Bragg

We went to the Cinema twice (on the two Cheap Tuesdays that I was there) - the first time to see World War Z (a Zombie movie with Brad Pitt) and then The Heat (Comedy Cop movie with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy) both were extremely good movies although, not being a big Zombie fan, I definitively prefered The Heat.

During one of our daily cleaning sessions, Christine and I found a $3 tip in one of the rooms, which inspired us to make a short film called The Cleaning Lady. We shot it within 30 minutes and after finishing our chores, we edited it within an hour. I personally think it's one of my best films so far and I am really proud of the way it turned out especially because it was so spontaneous and unplanned!

Here is the think: The Cleaning Lady

Christine and I

After this experience, and after Christine and I realised our very similar interests, we started creating ideas for other short films. This led to two more short films, following on from the original The Cleaning Lady and becoming The Cleaning Ladies as a three part series!

The Cleaning Ladies - "Diva"
The Cleaning Ladies - "Mine"

After shooting the final, Taylor Swift inspired short film, it was time for me to leave Fort Bragg (The owner of the B&B was returning from a holiday that weekend and all the workawayers were leaving around the same time). Once again, I had used workaway website to find myself another place to stay for the two weeks before I had plans to return to Mill Valley and go to Lake Tahoe with Rachel, Iman and their friends.

I got on the only bus leaving Fort Bragg per day (leaving at 7.05am) and took it for 3 hours, all the way to Santa Rosa through some lovely scenery including the famous Redwood trees! This experience has really rekindled my love and passion for making films and I am really hoping this kind of thing continues throughout my University experience... I really am considering making Film Production my final career choice.

Matt, me and Christine

Enough of the deep stuff,
Speak soon,
Lucy xxo