GBR
Trip Start
Nov 28, 2007
1
5
17
Trip End
Dec 14, 2007
Cairns,
Australia
Sunday, December 2, 2007
The trip was great. The beginning wasnt exactly yeay! though because like reviews i read, i hopped on the operator with the most unstable boat. And now I realise the validity of reviews. 2.5hours of battling the onsurge of sea sickness. not quite my definition of fun in the sun.
I realise I've been writing this travelogue in a narrative tone, to say I am simply listing out the occurences and happenings of the day but not quite providing any introspect, etc. I'm not sure if i feel bad to myself about that but I guess I just want to remember somethings. Continuing on.
To cut things short, I got to cruise the GBR with my legs hung over the side of the top deck, clear skies, blue waters, sun shining. Though I avoided the sun by staying inside and having a chat with a great girl cause unlike the other people, i wasnt quite keen on baking myself so soon. more than enough time for that. Met a couple of great girls, to be slightly more accurate not quite girls but ladies. And I realise how people travelling in pairs (besides the 2 espanolas I met) tend to stick together so tightly they kind of function as one. but thats very normal just interesting to realise.
Views
I snorkled, the initial time was frightening, I freaked out like crazy in the water. everytime water entered my snorkle I thought I was going to drown there and die and become one of the skeletal fixtures for corals to grow over. I went through series of "sputter sputter, panic, desperately try to trap water which was impossible with fins, flip over on my back breathe and remind myself to relax". repeat x 30. And over the shallow reefs I keep panicking about hitting into the reef and dying of coral poisoning and cuts, since I was only in a bikini. Just another masnifestation of my paranoid nature but still carry on doing things. Whether thats good or bad i'm not quite sure.
But snorkling wasnt enough, so i took on an introductory dive. they made it sound so simple. to cut it short, I couldnt control my directions (up or down) and now I realise it was because I didnt kick hard enough. It seems really stupid on hindsight now because its just like me expecting to move without walking. So there I was, sinking sinking sinking and i actually sinked so much, I knew I was going to hit the corals and so at one point I turned around and ended up sitting on a coral. I felt really bad about that happening because really, its people like me who kill the corals, not only global warming. but imbecilic tourists like me who damage the reef. Same as flying over to visit places and as a result of the carbon output of your flight indirectly contribute to global warming which will resultingly, in this case, cause the extinction of the reef. I'm not quite sure how I can reconciliate this conflict within myself, but I'm guessing carbon offset will help.
Lunch was great, had interesting conversations and learnt things and the perspectives of seperationalists and more. One from Quebec and another from Basque. These are things you can read and learn as much as you like about but they only take on life and realism when you actually interact with someone who actually lives and breathes what you only read about.
Snorkled again and this time, I took a wetsuit which really helped with the bouyancy and provided warmth and panic didnt exist within current considerations. but i realise i did stay near the boat, just in case my ankle gives way, i get muscle cramps, stopped breathing, get a stroke, suffer amnesia, think im a fish, etc. I did just mildly sprained my weak left ankle again while putting on my fins and it hurts at certain angles now but i gritted in and continued snorkling. It was really peaceful lying there on the ocean surface observing life going around on the reef. It felt surreal, and as much of a peeping jane i was being, i really enjoyed it. I have this distaste for patterns and I dislike most high density natural almost repetitive patterned things, like raindrops on a glasswindow, butterflies (urgh) patterns, etc. and with that assumption, I thought I was going to find the corals and all ugly. Surprisingly I didnt. There I was lying on the ocean watching life go on in the reef and suddenly I realise, all this amazing enclave of life will die out soon. The GBR will die. And I'm glad to be able to see it still though in a crooked way travellers contribute to the accelerated death of the place. I wonder if there's anyway we can reconciliate life. As the extension of my previous beliefs goes with contribution from Graham I met the previous day, life is a balance of choices, not so much good or bad but which positivity do you value more. On hindsight, next time round, I will go further and explore more, if I get the chance to again.
On a useless note, the dive instructor was being extremely whats that word called, humouring? with me. His method of doing that was channeling it through flirting, including saying you can stay in australia longer if you married an australian guy and almost idiotically, like asking me how old am I and when I said 20, he said, damn you look 25. I sure as hell do not so this takes on a backlash effect. also exclaiming to another colleague about "you should have seen min in the end, she was great, swimming like a fish" after the dive, in front of me. hello? I'm not 16, not lowly iq-ed, and neither am i lowly eq-ed. I knew I was terrible and sure as hell wasnt any where swimming like fish. And plus he tried to hug me from the back, and instantly I put my arms in a loose cross in front of my chest in case he "mis-aimed". disturbing. Somehow I cant help but think he's like that because I'm asian. I was the only asian on the boat btw. And is it the whole stereotype of asian girls being this muddle headed smiling, no eq, kawaii crap? I know he has good intentions and was just being friendly and nice. but when someone treats you with the assumptions of you being a eq-less being, you cant help but feel abit pissed.
Last but not least, I got to boomnet, that is lie on a net behind the boat while the boat goes at goodness knows how fast, with the waves lashing into your face. am I glad I have relatively strong fingers. so there all the young people were on that net and obviously there was a boat at the back to catch all the fallen. it was fun except for all the falling clothes. and so you could see most people desperately trying not to lose their clothings, girls holding on to their bikini tops, guys their pants. it was funny to say. and of all days I chose to wear my toga piece. needless to say, it did fall off, to the onlook of all the other people watching from the top deck and i pulled it back immediately. but frankly, i dont quite care and im not going to pretend I do or it bothers my modesty. so that speaks for itself. One of my new found friend fell off together with her pants, just the shorts though. the thought of it is just funny.
Crusing
And so the trip rounded up with falling asleep basking in the sun.---
Came back to pack up and went out for the night again, went for a walk around the night market, caught a beer at an irish pub with (names for my own reference) molly the sweetest funky peaches and cream brisbanite, two espanolas isa and sonia, gorgeous quebec-an chloe and the badjokes, white teeth american russ who was obviously infatuated with molly the moment he saw her, somethings are that obvious. have to say sorry for the bad descriptors used but they are honest to goodness. and headed to giligans with molly and russ, consists of a super red (therefore really artificial additives) hot dog and half an hour of sitting by the curb side falling asleep. Its some half club thing with backpackers resort, basically one of those party places but supposedly the best in town. Music was horrible to me some mix of dance and random rnb. goodness knows how they danced, which most cant anyways. And russ although admittedly says he's the white man who cant dance, I do beg to differ a little. Molly's always great so what the heck. I have to say, i really prefer the singapore clubs, oh added to list of to dos when back, go clubbing and be happy with the crowd and watch the girls shake their things.
Pubbing Cairns
Rounding that up, I had a great day, what more can I say.
