Day 260-266: Cairns
Trip Start
Sep 12, 2004
1
44
57
Trip End
Jan 05, 2006
Cairns,
Australia
Sunday, June 5, 2005
Last early start with another 5.30 get up. Couple of roadhouse stops in the morning before a stop at some waterfalls around lunchtime, then a quick pic stop at a windfarm and finally stopped for lunch near Nandroya Falls in a rainforest where we went for a 2 hour rainforest walk down to the falls. The falls were pretty cool and the Germans went for a swim, but it was a little chilly. One of the major things we noticed this morning was how dramatically the landscape had changed from flat desert to green rolling hills, plus the cloud had arrived and it was pretty chilly compared to what we were used to and it was unusual not to see the sun.
Marco had perked up a lot since last night and we chatted quite a lot whilst we were on the walk, finding out about his family and what he was thinking of doing when he gets back home. Coz he's Austrian he can't get a Working Holiday Visa so is only here for 3 months and is gonna be flying to Malaysia in the next couple of weeks. His talking of going that way has made me start to think about nipping to Asia for a little while if I get back to Sydney early. I'm probably not gonna need 2 months to get down the east coast so I'm thinking if I get back there early July I'll go to Thailand for a couple of weeks....we'll see. After the rainforest walk it was pretty much straight through to Cairns, arriving about 5pm. We all got dropped off at our respective hostels one by one, me ending up at the Traveller's Oasis, I did want to stay at Dreamtime but they were fully booked.
Chucked my stuff in the room, 3 bed dorm all with proper single beds, no bunks which seems to be pretty common down the east coast. Looks like one of the blokes had been there a while as there were clothes and shite strewn everywhere, carpet didn't look like it had been hoovered for some weeks either, being a Monica-style clean freak this was mildly distressing. Neither bloke was in the room either so no idea who they are. Had about enough time to shower and get changed before heading to Rattle and Hum bar for the free post-tour meal. The tour guides weren't there but everyone else had made it in. Food selection was ok considering it was free, I ended up having a Chicken Ceasar Salad and went crazy and bought myself some herb and cheese bread.
Once the alcohol started flowing people chatted a bit more, bloody expensive to drink there so didn't have very much. After food we went to the Woolshed, which is pretty much the same as The Vic in Darwin, a generic backpackers pub with the usual types and entertainment. When we arrived there was some sort of quiz happening, boys v girls, and if you got a question wrong then you lost an item of clothing, and then for no particular reason the girls had to show their tits....woohooo! One saving grace was that they had Strongbow on tap, and it was only $7 for a jug of the stuff with raspberry cordial - no idea why the raspberry - but it went down well and made the place mildly tolerable. Watching Tomo get drunk for the first time was pretty funny too. We then went to PJ O'Briens, an oirish bar as you'd can probably guess, little bit tamer than the Woolshed but a similar vein. Bored out of my mind at this point so left about 12.
Tuesday 31/05/05:
Slept with the ear plugs in after the messy bloke came in about 2am and proceeded to snore loudly. Up and out for a jog at 9, bloody hard work again but managed to do just over 30 mins, stopping off at some convenient exercise equipement placed along the Esplanade to do some situps and pushups. People in the hostel are pretty friendly, almost everyone said hello - it's a small place, think there's only 50 beds. Met the messy bloke, Ray, ex-American who's been over here for 14 years now so has no US accent at all. Spent the morning catching up on laundry, slaving over a hot washing machine for what felt like forever. Finally escaped just after lunch, decided that although the hostel is friendly it didn't make up for the fact that it was generally scuzzy so went hunting for something else. Too much choice in this place but in the end went for Global Palace which is right in the centre, it's an extra $2 a night but much cleaner, however it's also bigger so may not be so friendly, we'll have to see how it goes when I move there tomorrow.
Afternoon was spent using some of the free net time that Phill and Dan kindly donated before they buggered off to NZ, had to write up the tour and as usual it took ages. Didn't really see much of Cairns but the weather was absolutely shite so not really missing much sitting on a computer in Adventure Travel Bugs. At the minute it's cloudy and drizzly here, which is unusual - haven't seen rain since Melbourne! Cooked up some dinner at the hostel and headed out to meet Marco to go to the flicks - half price Tuesday again. By now it was pissing down, even had to get the brolly out, not cold tho so still just walking around in a t-shirt.
Nothing really good on at the cinema but still cheaper than going out and having a few drinks so ended up plumping on Amityville Horror. M was talking about how he used to just walk into the cinema in Melbourne with his friends coz there was never anyone checking tickets.....so as there was no one checking at this one either we wandered straight through - clearly he's turning me into a criminal. Did shit ourselves a couple of times when one of the staff walked round the cinema while the film was on, tho they always seem to do that but I've never seen them do it twice. However all was well and we escaped and saved a whole $7.10....quite a good feeling going out for the evening and not spending any money at all. After we wandered around the city for a bit, neither of us wanted to drink so went back to his hostel. He's at Shennanigans...another oirish bar, actually his room is pretty good, has a telly, ensuite and a fridge for only $17, only thing is that there's no kitchen and the only place to go if you're not in your room is the pub.
As usual he was talking about what girls were hot on the TV, talking about the kinda girls he likes, then he asked my what women I liked.....finally I thought it was about time to actually tell him...."If you hadn't realised already I'm gay Marco".....think it took a couple of seconds to register but he didn't run screaming from the room and said it wasn't a problem so I hope that's the case, we'll see if we carry on hangin out. Headed back to the hostel not long after midnight.
Wednesday 01/06/05:
So it's June already, bloody hell, only 2 months and I wanna be back in Sydney, and it's 2 months since I left. Checked out at 10, the owner, Marc, offered to drive me to the new hostel which is really cool coz it saved me a long walk or a taxi fare more likely. Guess that's the sort of thing that you don't get with the big hostels. Arrived at Global Palace about 11 and settled into the 4 bed dorm, another no-bunks job, no one else in the room, really clean and loads of room too...very nice. By the time I'd had a shower the room was full - which wasn't a surprise as they said they're pretty much always fully booked. Three canadians in the room; Dennis, Jordan and Sam (girl). Brief chat where I found out they'd just been on a dive course which they said was excellent fun.
Spent the afternoon wandering around the city working out which dive company I was gonna go with, which tours I was gonna book and when I was gonna go. Finally a plan came together; 2 day tour to Cape Tribulation on Fri/Sat ($100), then a 4 day dive course from Monday ($310) - they're pretty good prices as there's some good deals on at the mo, tour shop woman also said that the weather should be better by next week so it'll be a better time to dive. So I'll probably leave Cairns next Sunday, gotta get my Greyhound pass sorted too while I'm here - disturbingly I'll have spent over $1000 by the time I leave Cairns, tho that will include the pass to get me all the way down the east coast but jesus it's gonna cost some money....gonna have to keep an eye on the old bank account. Also went on the hunt for some clothes, keep getting holes in the pockets of one pair for trousers and I've sewed them up a couple of times already so think it's time to get some new ones...and socks seem to be an issue with holes rapidly growing in them.
Weather was shite again this evening, didn't hook up with Marco in the end, thought maybe he was avoiding me since last nights news but he assured me that it wasn't a problem so guess I have to take his word on it. Went to get my free meal at PJ O'Briens - you get one when you stay at the Global Palace. The choice was Irish Stew, Soup of the Day or Vegetable Curry, I had the latter....I had to locate a microscope to actually see it when it arrived, it would have barely fed a small rodent, nothing like the decent free food you got a the Vic, but hey, will help get some of that extra weight off I guess. Read in my room for a bit but the 3 Canadians turned up and decided to have a loud conversation between them, got on my nerves after a while so went for a wander and killed some time on the net before going to bed at 12.
Thursday 02/06/05:
Couldn't go for a jog this morning coz I seemed to have done something to the tendon on my right leg when I went for a jog the other day, it's been real tight on and off so didn't want to make it worse. Back up plan was to hire a bike and go for a ride around the city, but after looking at the weather outside didn't think it was a good idea as it was threatening to rain and generally a bit miserable. So as any normal person would do on a rubbish dead I headed for the cover of Cairns Central shopping centre. Hooked up the Marco for lunch and a wander around the shops. Finally got a new pair of shorts to replace the Fat Face ones with holey pockets, Marco suggested I spend $90 on a pair of Billabongs but frankly that's far too much money, so I bought some $50 ones - Jacks Surfboards, never heard of it in my life but they have a thousand pockets in which to secrete my various crap so they'll do the job. Also had a look at some digital cameras, still got this niggling desire to buy a smaller snapshot camera, found a Sony that my batteries and memory sticks will work in for $314 which is pretty good...will ponder on it.
Lunch was a not very healthy curry from the food court but tasted very nice, clearly M isn't bothering too much about the diet he's been going on about - slim shakes and everything! M buggered off to go have a nap as doing nothing all day has been taking its toll on him. I bought some industrial strength insect repellent to help prevent even more fecking bites, my feet are so itchy. Went to a chemist and she suggested taking some B vitamins coz apparently it stops you getting bitten coz it changes the smell of your blood and they don't like it, so bought some of them too. Apparently it's March Flies which have bitten me not mozzies, and their bites are worse and take longer to stop itching....joy! Some net stuff later in the afternoon.....checked out this B vitamin for bites thing and everything I found says there's no evidence to prove it works....$18 well spent then.
Evening was uneventful, Marco didn't want to do anything and I had to be up early the next morning so had an early one. Bloody canadians were in the room almost all evening, then they went out and made a shed load of noise when they got back after midnight, selfish bastards.
Friday 03/06/05:
Picked up at 7.30am for the Adventure Tours 2 day Cape Tribulation tour. Full bus and the first stop in the morning was the Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary which was pretty cool as generally the animals were wandering/flying around outside of cages. It was the first time I'd been close up to some of the native birds; kookaburras, cassowaries, cockateels, parrots, etc....there were the usual roos and wallabies, a few freshwater and a bloody massive saltwater croc, emus, koalas, etc,etc. Spent a couple of hours wandering round and had my pic taken with Elvis the parrot - why Elvis I don't know coz he didn't sing any of the songs.
Mossman Gorge was the next stop with a short rainforest walk then a swim in the river....not really swimming in river weather with it being cloudy but still kinda warm, however the water was not but braved it anyway as did a few others. After the swim we went into Mossman itself for lunch, no food included on this tour so had to buy it myself. They stopped at some cafe but didn't like the look of the menu so wandered off up the road and found a pub that was doing fish, chips and salad for $5.50 - bargain! After lunch we travelled further up to the Daintree River where we went on a river cruise searching for crocs and stuff....we saw a few lying in the riverbanks, tho at first they looked like plastic models coz they clearly weren't moving, however did see the odd blink so guess they were real. Loads of snakes on trees tho they were tiny and the odd Kingfisher. The tour guide was actually really funny for a change and it was a nice gentle cruise up river where we met the bus again and headed for the final destination.
Arrived at Cape Trib Beach House about 5pm. Still overcast but wandered down to the beach anyway, as you can guess from the name the place is right next to the beach and if it has been sunny it would have been absolutely spectacular, unfortunately it was windy too so the water was churned up a bit an no longer the beautiful blues on the postcards but more grey. Was in a dorm with an American called George and a foreign couple who must have changed rooms in the evening coz they disappeared. With the shite weather I hung out in the bar/bistro area and got chatting to 3 Hungarian guys - you don't meet many Hungarians over here. We did the usual pool thing and upon discovering that they were drinking $8 for a litre of wine I joined in too. We were slowly joined by George and two Scottish girls during the evening and just sat around chatting with the sound of rain falling - I guess it's too be expected being a rainforest and all. I'd bought some tinned meatballs and spaghetti with me so had that mid-evening not wanting to spend money on food....you'll find out why I mention this later.
The wine was doing it's trick and late in the evening we moved on to the left over right hand game - well you gotta improvise. Alcohol continued to flow until we'd kinda given up around 1am. Didn't feel too bad when I went to bed, George and one of the scots girls were in bed together in my dorm so I pointed out that if they want to fuck they can go somewhere else - I was in no mood to hear a couple of hetties having it off keeping me awake.
Saturday 04/06/05:
So at some point after falling asleep I wake up all of a sudden and within about 2 seconds I spewed all over the floor next to my bed, including catching the front of my trainers and thongs which were under the bed - which is where the spaghetti and meatballs come in. I didn't feel that bad when I went to bed so I'm thinking it was the food......maybe. Anyway I had to proceed to attempt to clean myself and the floor up, walking backwards and forwards to the toilets and kitchens in the rain in just a pair of shorts, this was not fun and my god there was a lot to clear up. Had to wash the trainers and sandals too so these were now soaking wet. Bedsheets had to come off and somehow, and god knows how, I'd even managed to splash a little up the wall behind me. Eventually, with the clean up operation complete, I moved beds and fell asleep with no sheets but just a blanket to keep me warm.
Woke up a couple of times but finally got up about half 9 feeling extraordinarily rough. George had already left, must have gone on a tour, and Scottish girl left about 9. Really wanted a proper big breakfast but wasn't gonna spend money on the obscene prices they were asking so had a banana and some milk. Was pleased that my clean up operation had gone well, the room didn't stink of sick, tho my trainers had a lingering odour which I'm hoping will disappear when they dry out. It was still pissing down and humid so the likelihood of anything drying out was very slim. Checked out a little late but couldn't really give a shite with how I was feeling. Saw the Hungarians who didn't seem to feel as bad as me, so I'm still thinking it's the food. So with the weather being shite there's absolutely nothing to do, you could go sea kayaking, jungle surfing, walking, biking or horse riding - but none of those were very tempting in the rain. So, with the Hungarians, we sat in the bar/bistro area all day....all bloody day...passing the time with cards. Nipped to the beach for a little bit when it stopped raining too to get some pics. Also stuck my sandals in the dryer coz I was getting sick of only having wet footwear - couldn't dry the trainers coz they'd have trashed the dryer.
Slowly felt a little better and by lunchtime was almost alive, had burger and chips for lunch which was shite for the money but needed some lard. Scottish girl appeared later in the afternoon and she too had a massive hangover and she was on the white wine too....so now I'm thinking it's a combo of wine and food. Speaking to the Hungarians it turns out I got a trip worth $185, the tour company do two 2 day tours up here, one has the wildlife park and cruise included for $185, the other doesn't and is the one I paid for....so that's a rather fortunate turn of events, the Hungarians of course weren't amused that I'd only paid $100 for it. The bus picked up at 5pm and it was a straight run back to Cairns, wasn't looking forward to it with all the windy roads and me still being slightly delicate so sat at the front so I could see the road. Took 3 bloody hours to get back once we'd done all the pick ups and drop offs.
Checked back into the Global Palace, new room, 2 pommie boys in the room; Lawrence and Alex. Nice guys actually, friendly and chatty, better than the Canadians. Now had every intention of going out tonight to the homo club as it's possibly my only sat night here. Needed a nap tho so laid my head down at half 8, sent a message to Marco to see what he was up to but no reply. Woke up again at 10.15 and the light was out and the other guys were asleep, frankly I couldn't be arsed to get up so that was Saturday night over.
Sunday 05/06/05:
Woke up about 8 feeling bloody marvellous, that nice long sleep did the trick. The 2 guys were diving today so they were already up and about getting themselves sorted....don't envy them really, still overcast with a breeze but at least the rain had stopped, I'm praying that next Weds/Thurs is gonna be good coz that's when I'll be on the boat. Wanted to hire a bike this morning but the only hire shop I know of was shut, then wandered round trying to find a net cafe where uploading my pics would work, coz so far I haven't found one, and again being a sunday morning loads of stuff was shut, guess I should have had a lye in anyway.
Nothing particularly eventful happened in the afternoon, still thinking about getting a new camera but beginning to think I should wait a bit just in case I go over to Asia. Another new guy arrived in the room, Paul from California, they were all chatting when I got back to the room. Ended up hanging out with them for the evening, started with some cards and booze on the balcony and then went out for some drinks about 10. Checked out the bona-fide oirish bar Shennanigans which had some live music and genuine Irish drunks in it, moved on to the Mad Cow which was dead. What I like about these guys is they don't really like the Woolshed of PJs...so they're right on my wavelength, however by midnight we'd run out of choices so they went to the Woolshed and I headed back to the hostel, I was almost tempted to go to the homo club but had to be up in the morning plus being a Sunday night it would probably have been dead.
The guys were back within half an hour stating what they already knew to be the case - the Wooly was shite. Diving course from tomorrow....yay!
