Cairns

Tuesday, May 1st ‘07

Leaving today for Cairns. I’m both happy to go and sad to leave. I’m spending the day packing and getting ready to leave. His parents are really very nice. I wish I could’ve found a house warming gift yesterday. Helmut, Drew’s father is driving me to the train station downtown this afternoon. Patricia, Drew’s mother, just made a sandwich for me. They are great! They’ve really taken care of me. I’m so grateful and a bit embarrassed that I have noting for them.

Oh crap! Helmut just dropped me off and I dropped my glasses in his car. Called Patricia telling her that I’ll wait for him where he dropped me off. Then Drew called me as his father found my glasses in his car and would send them to me by mail. I told Drew I really needed them if he could bring them back to me. I could wait as I was 20mins early for my train and the next one would also get me there on time. So Drew called me again telling me his father’s home and I said ok, I’ll wait for them thru mail. On my way to the train, Drew called me again telling me his father already left the house. Now, I’m really embarrassed to have him do this much traveling. I definitely have to find something.

Now, I’m on the train to the airport. Getting closer and closer to Cairns. In the airport a couple of mins before boarding the plane. Texting Richard a last goodbye. On board the plain on my way to Cairns on a 2h25 min flight. Surprised about how nice I’ve been treated by Virgin Blue. My watch’s bracelet broke and it bugs me to not have a watch. I’ll have to find a replacement bracelet.

Arrived in Cairns waiting for the shuttle to the hostel. I should be happy being on the coast of the great barrier reef but all I can think of is how lonely I feel. I went from having friends and a social life to being alone and restarting all over again. I know that’s the deal that comes with traveling how I do and it’s not a reason to stop traveling but it really does get very lonely and making real good friends is not that easy. I had luck with finding Jane in Poland, Denisa in Greece, Jan-Kees in Holland and Richard, Drew, Mark, etc. in Brisbane. I guess money ( as in work), people (as in family and friends) and possessions ( as in cars, houses, etc.) are the 3 top reasons why people stop themselves from traveling. And then, once again I’m at the “yes it’s for one” when people asks “how many”. I’m feeling a bit depressed now and slightly excited. Such contradiction is hard to deal with and is bumming me out.

This airport is really very small. The smallest commercial airport I’ve seen yet. Right now, I’m waiting for my shuttle to the Cairns City Backpackers, it’s 7:45pm and it’s dark out. I’m a bit hungry as I only ate the sandwich Patricia made for me and a chip I bought at the airport. I just realized looking at this guy smoking not far from me that there isn’t many smokers here in Australia. Shuttle is here time to go.

In the shuttle, a girl from the Gold Coast started talking to me and this German girl got into the conversation. The Australian was staying at a hotel but the German girl and this young English “couple” (boyfriend/girlfriend) were staying at the same hostel. When we got there, the guy at the reception was nice and we had a free diner (comes every night). The diner is at a restaurant somewhere in the city and it closed at 9:30. We decided to all go together but by the time we got there (9:33) the kitchen was closed so we went to McD’s. We were all hungry and we were all hopping to get that free meal. Ah well! We walked around a bit and were happy that a lot of stored were still open at this time then, we went back to the hostel. That about it for today. Lets see what’s in store for tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 2nd ‘07

Barely sleeped, the AC wasn’t very strong but better then noting! T’was very hot and I have huve pain on my left shoulder just like the one I had a couple of weeks ago on my right shoulder. I hope it’ll go away soon as it kept me from sleeping as well.

Today, I’m going to the beach. No beach! OK! All the have here is a lagoon which is manmade and reminds me of the “Beach” in South Bank. This city is a huge tourist trap. There are hundreds of Dive stores, souvenir shops, restaurants and seems like all of those are info tourists as well (makes me wonder how impartial they are with their recommendations). Last night, we walked in front of Asian masseuse that offered a 45min full body massage for 15$.

I’m at the lagoon being burned up by the sun slightly disappointed about the look of this place. I think the tours and dives are the only things here. I might just go to port Douglas where Helmut told me to go. Yesterday, I saw an employment center and I might go there to see what they have to offer. I feel like a hot dog. Wonder where I could get one?!

Didn’t find my hot dog. Went to get that free diner and it was horrible. As I was eating, the German girl saw me and sat next to me. We spend the rest of the evening together walking around town. Went to get a replacement bracelet for my watch. We were looking for that nice little market we saw yesterday and asked some old guys walking around and they walked us there one was Australian and the other one his Italian friend. The Italian was so glad to tell me he lived in Toronto. They were really nice. We then went to the casino to get a look and there was not much there to see. She’s young and blond very blond and makes me laugh a lot.

Thursday, May 3rd ‘07

I’m going diving today. Oh ya! Great Barrier Reef here I come. I’m so happy and excited. Got to the Reef terminal and it’s like an airport where you check in at the counter, they give you your boarding pass and tell you what gate your boat is leaving from. There’s even a reef tax I had to pay.

This boat is going so fast, I’m getting a little sea sick. It’s 10$ more to go with an instructor but I think I can deal with a buddy. Great! (sarcastic) Just got back from my first dive and my buddy (a young Korean girl) didn’t have enough weight and I had to “baby-sit” her. She definitely should’ve gone with the instructor. I spent a lot of time pulling her down and it took a lot of air so we had to get back early and did only a 28 min dive. I did get to see many fishes including Nemo (yah, it’s a clownfish but I think it’s name has unofficially changed). The colors were great and the coral magnificent. I did though accidentally scrape my arm on the coral. I might tell you, it really hurts. Sure hope my buddy from my next dive’ll be better.

I’m also thinking about what I should do tomorrow, where I shall go. Tomorrow’s my last day and I’m doing an expedition of some kind. It’s from 10-4 but then I gotta move forward and go somewhere find a job. Very important. We’ll see when I get back to the hostel.

Did my second dive and was much better not having someone to baby-sit. I got to see a sting ray and no, I did not get stung. I’m still alive to talk about it. The fishes here are huge and the coral reef is magnificent. It’s incredible! All the beautiful colors and corals. It really looks like in the movie Finding Nemo. T’was great! I’m getting a bit seasick from the boats movements.

As we’re getting to port, I’m a bit nervous thinking that I’m leaving tomorrow and have no plans what so ever and no job for that matter. At the hostel, they were not very helpful. I’ll have to call Richard and ask him to go see that guy at Palace Backpackers that was really nice and helpful last time. Richard went but they are closed. He will go again tomorrow morning. That is soooo nice of him! Some times I wonder how I would be holding up here without him around for help and moral support. He really is great!

I’m starting to panic a bit and I’m nervous thought the lack of sleep and being slightly food deprived does not help. I’m starting to brake down a bit. Called my mom for support. I really need a job for a couple of weeks just to save money, feel useful and to know I’m not gonna go home sooner than expected. I think this time I’ll really feel like a big failure if I go home before the end of my visa. I have to do this and stay here all this time, there’s no good reason why I shouldn’t be able to do this. Many have done it and are doing it right now. I just have to get more food in my stomach and better than the free meal I get here. It’s a small portion and doesn’t taste very good so I don’t really eat all of it.

Friday, May 4th ‘07

Should be my last day today. I’ve checked out and I’m going on a tour. We are 4 girls and the male tour guide. So there’s one Finnish, one Irish, one English and me the Canadian with the male Australian tour guide. Quite a bunch! We started with going to a lookout where there was a small waterfall of drinkable water. Our tour guide is young and of course, he went to take a drink to prove it to us but of course it was just because he was thirsty (being slightly sarcastic).

Then, we went to some other waterfalls and this time, he tried to get us to “eat” a liquid coming out of a green ant’s arse. He of course did it more than once. As the start of the walk to the waterfalls, there’s a sing warning us about this stinging tree that in contact can cause severe pain. Apparently, the pain comes back for several months and some people committed suicide because of the pain. Great! I’ll have 2 of those with a plate of green ant’s arse and a drink of this waterfalls water, thank you! We saw an iguana and went swimming in the waterfalls that was drinkable as well. He also got us to slide down them.

Australian man! There is something about Australian man that reminds me of orangutans. Oh ya! They seem to want to impress women with what they can do or how brave they are. Every time one of the does that, I just see a huge monkey yelling and hitting his chest with his hands. They have huge pride! Very proud of themselves. Please not that this does not correspond to Richard. Richard being a great “guy” is more of a tall skinny girl that just happened to be born with guy parts. lol!! Our tour guide is a very typical Australian man, the kind you’d expect to see. Wears the Akubra hat, walks bear feet born and raised here in Cairns knows a lot about nature and the animals and has the personality traits I just described. He also wasn’t bad looking at all.

We went to Lake Placid (note not the one from the movie which is in the US). I ate my first famous Aussie Burger which is a burger with a bout everything in it : egg, pineapple, beef, bacon, lettuce, tomato, beet root (‘cause they don’t just call them beets), onions, cheese and BBQ sauce. The trick is to make all of this fit in your mouth. It was pretty good thought but I might say I’m not a big fan of having the egg in there. While at the restaurant, the owner told our tour guide of this endangered breed of possum that has seeked shelter in his roof. It was a nice black and white possum.

We went for a swim in the lake and our tour guide brought some fries for the ducks he said. We went in the water and he thru the fries on us to get all the fishes and eels next to us. Many of them touched me but only one made me jump when he touched my hand. He liked to try and give us a scare, especially grabbing our feet underwater (Aussie male!).

Last stop was a beach. This beach is surrounded with a shark net for the tiger sharks (they attack humans) and another square net to protect us from the stingers (a type of square box jellyfish) that can kill from their sting and it’s recommended to stay a distance from the net as their “tentacles” can reach 4 meters and they can get caught in the net. Always nice to feel protected by the sharks and stingers but not much from the crocks that lives around here as well.

On our drive back to the hostel, we made a small stop as there was some… yes finally you guys’ll stop bugging me about this, kangaroos well actually they were wallabies which are a smaller version of kangaroos. Happy now!?! Please don’t ask me about them again, I saw some. Done! I’m ending today on this note.

Monday, May 7th ‘07

Didn’t do much this weekend else than wait for Monday to come so I can call that guy from the hostel back in Brisbane to get a job. Great! (sarcastic) Today’s a holiday and he doesn’t work so I’m stuck here for an other day. This is just my luck. I guess I’ll have to wait for tomorrow. Went on the net for a bit. And did pretty much noting all day. I did get a massage this weekend at the night market it’s 15$ for a 40 min body massage. It felt really good.

Oh my god! Just took some money out and there’s over 1000$ missing from my account. I’m freaking out. I can’t breath! I feel really ill in the pit of my stomach. What the hell! Can’t breath, can’t breath! Need air! Freaking out! Can’t get a hold of my mother in Cuba right now! Need help, freaking out! I just called the bank and someone cloned my card. They will reimburse me but I still don’t feel good and I’m still freaking out. Tried to reach my mom but they put me on hold for 3 min and I lost all my credit (18$). Soooo expensive. What am I gonna do!? Money missing, can’t use my bank card anymore, have just a little money on me and in my Aussie bank account. Not feeling good at all. Feeling really sick. Help! Still freaking out! Can’t breath!

Tuesday, May 8th ‘07

Just got woken up by the guy from the hostel and he found me a job 5 hours from here in a hotel bar in Croydon. Leaving tomorrow morning 6H30 as the busses only goes there on certain days. Wow, that place must be really popular. I’m glad I at lease have a job. I need to take a walk as yesterday’s news is still on my mind. Think I’ll got to the botanic gardens.

Got on a bus to the gardens but the driver forgot to stop so went past it and had to go back. Bus stops aren’t easy to find here. Finally in the gardens. It’s really nice, I’m walking in a rainforest. There’s a boardwalk as it’s more like a swamp. So cool! There’s some board telling us to be careful as there Crocs around here. I’d like to see one. Just gotta make sure I spot it before it spots me. There’s this really cool huge spider in it’s web and I stopped to take a pic. It really feels good to walk around here. There not a lot of people and I’m literally in the middle of nature. I love it.

Back at the hostel and met these guys with whom we decided to go for a Dominos pizza as I found a coupon 6,95$ for a large pizza. Nice! Ok, the large pizza is like the size of a small pizza, wonder what the small looks like. Good thing we took 2 and garlic bread. We really enjoyed eating pizza instead of the crappy stuff at the Woolshed and it only cost us 5,83$ each. That’s a good deal! We then watch Cars on my laptop, I didn’t really watch it as I was too busy talking with this gorgeous Swiss guy that spoke French. Really cute and fun to talk with. That’s about it for today, tomorrow leaving for Croydon. We’ll see what’s in store for me next.

Wednesday, May 9th ‘07

What a morning! This trip surprises me and makes me nervous too often. Was taking the 6:24 bus to Croydon that only passes every 2nd day. Got up at 5am, got ready and left. The guy at the hostel told me the bus left from the train terminal which is 2 streets from the hostel, to make sure not to miss it, I left at 5:50am. When I got there, I asked around, checked my ticket and realized that it actually left from the bus terminal which is at the reef fleet terminal. Now, it’s 6:05 and it’s about a 20-25 min walk, without dragging a huge suit case. Left the train terminal, started walking towards the reef fleet terminal trying to catch a cab, 2 streets and 10 mins later, I did. Got me there on time but it was completely empty. Waited and a Greyhound bus stopped at the “gate” where I’m supposed to take the bus, it’s now 6:30am. Waited ‘till everyone got out of the bus and all luggages where taken out then asked the driver if this was my bus. He said no and that the bus would have Trans North written on it. Then, he looked at the front of the bus and there was my bus leaving. Me whom hates running, I ran as fast as I could (have I mentioned it’s raining like hell today). I taught I missed it but it slowed down to let a taxi pass it. I got to it and he started going again so I hit the window. The driver stopped, let me in and went back around to get my luggage. Luckily, the bus driver from Greyhound looked after my stuff, luggage, backpack, bad with water and a bit of food for the road. That was so nice of him. Now, I’m soaking wet and just glad I caught the bus. There was some backpackers whom seemed surprised at how fast I ran as I took off in an instant. Must’ve been quite something for those who watched me. Well, now I’m in the bus and there for about 9 ½ hours.

I’m in the bus and tired to sleep for the first part of it. We went across the mountains thru the rainforest and are now in the savannah. So cool! Not so cool is the dead kangaroos we just pass. I guess that’s life! We are 3 in the bus a fisherman, an aboriginal woman and me, a Canadian “tourist”. We make quite the trio. I’m pretty excited being in the savannah. It’s gonna be quite the adventure. I’m now at the hotel and I was shown to my room by the boss who had to take care of something. Yup! I’m in a small town in the middle of nowhere. This is great! Just wonder how long I’m gonna like this place. Just need to make some friends. At lease, I have my laptop but my mobile doesn’t work here. Hope there some internet here. I think there’s not much to do without a car around here. There’s a music festival at the end of June! I’m in a temp room for a week. Wonder if I’ll get an upgrade or a downgrade from this one. I have a mini fridge, AC and he said he’ll get a TV in here. Pulled the cover and there’s little bugs in my bed, wonder if they’re bed bugs or other kinds that doesn’t matter.

Took a bit of a nap and joined my boss at the bar. He introduced me to some people and I took a beer. Yup, I took a beer felt like I should take his offer not to disappoint him. Then, I played some pool with this guy that works on this “tourist” train that stops here. I surprised myself as I wasn’t that bad. Went to the bathroom and there are frogs “guarding” the entrance at night. OK, sure! Why not! Middle of nowhere, in nature! Well, I’ll go to bed, tomorrow’s my first day of work.