Down the East Coast of Australia

AUSTRALIA | Tuesday, 13 November 2007 | Views [270] | Comments [4]

I had the best last day in Cairns.. I spent it on my own.. wrote some poetry... where did that come from? Drew and listened to some great music. I haven't been using the ipod, but it really does make a difference. It adds sentiment or when I hear the song again I'm reminded if what I was doing at the time... you know?

We hopped on the Greyhound and headed to a place called Mission Beach. We stayed at a lovely hostel called Scotty's. It had a great pool and was walking distance to the beach... which I said fuck it and swam in.. and I'm still alive dammit! We roomed with two girls from the Netherlands one, Lotje, who was only 19 and was trying to convince me to travel with them... the other, Mika, had a really big mosquito bite. She must have been allergic because that thing swelled into a blister. J and I forced her to go to the chemist the next morning. I was feeling so freaking lazy from just spending time on the beach and at the lagoon.. I wanted to do a hike or a walk or something. The manager was telling me about a lovely rainforest hike that was 8klm. I decided to get up early and do that before our bus took off, we had plenty of time because we were catching a 1pm bus. That night for dinner J tried the kangaroo steak. I told her she was eating skippy... it was a cartoon out here about a lil roo. I don't think she'll try it again. I bought my dad some kangaroo and crocodile jerky for his bday.. I hope he enjoys it. We had an early night. At 8 i woke up and took the shuttle to town.. the guy dropped me off at the walk that was 5klm out of town... okay. So I start off and it's nice and very shortly after it  get's sooo hot. Mosquitos and flies are dive bombing me and I keep hearing things around me. I saw a ton of lizards, butterflies and dragon flies and one tree snake. It wasn't brightly colored so I'm guessing it was harmless. I reach a creek and freak out.. what if there are crocs? passed the bridge quickly... now it's been about 4 klm and I'm sorta nervous.. my mind is f*ing with me... and shortly after I'm at the main road at a place called Lacey creek. It was 5klm to a pool shop and he tells me it's 5 more into town. shit. I start to walk on a narrow road with cars flying by. I saw quite a few dead kangaroos and a wallaby. so sad. Finally about 2 klm in a kid stops and offers me a ride... god knows I was too chicken shit to stick my thumb out. I accepted. He was a driver for one of the hostels and said he'd expect me to stop if he was walking in the heat. Phew. He dropped me off and as soon as I could I jumped in the pool. ahhh... nice! I saw a boy that looked familiar, but couldn't place him. Then i realized I had seen him in Fiji... and I asked if he'd been there in Sept and he said yes and he recognized me too.. a quick thought passed through my mind.. of a movie moment of two travellers meeting again and again by chance. He mentioned NZ airport too and I remembered I saw him there too.. happenstance? Then I meet his gf who's joining him on the trip late here in Australia. fuckshot (thanks for your word mic). haha

We get ready to board Greyhound. It's Melbourne Cup day and I'm not gambling... what's going on with the world? Maybe I'm getting better. We have a three hour drive to Townsville. We check into a place called globetrotters.. it's kind of not the best hostel at all.. it was actually bad. I was surprised.. it's been ages since we've had a bad accomodation. The mattresses were plasticy.. like a hospital exam bed. Creepy... We did get a free meal from a pub called Molly Malones and that was good. The next day we caught a ferry to Magnetic Island. We stayed at the YHA in chalets.. they were really nice. We met a group of SEVEN Irish gals travelling together. It was a bit intense. We all went to the beach and made dinner and at 4:30 fed the birds. Rainbow Laurakeets. So cute, but so ridiulously loud... and they were everywhere. In our hair... shoes.. everywhere. I got lucky... no poop... J.. not so lucky. We went for another swim in the ocean to feel cleaner. Horseshoe Bay had a Jelly net up so the buggers couldn't pass though... that was nice not looking around every thirty seconds waiting to be stung. The next morning we decided to rent scooter. Yey! They gave us a quick drill and off we were. We decided to head to the store for water before we started our short journey. As J was parking she got spooked and rammed into a car. She was okay, besides her ego. The car had a minor scratch and the guy came up and just couldn't stop laughing. He was like 'It's like riding a push bike (bicycle) how did you manage to fall?' He wasn't angry at all... mumbled something about no drama and drove off. We headed back to the rental place and j's scooter wouldn't start. The brakes came loose. The guy saw she was ready to call it quits and talked to her nicely and calmed her down and told her to test it down the road and get comfy. She decided to give it another go. Yey! So off we were... for real this time. We headed up a narrow road. It took some getting used to, but it was really fun. We made a stop at a nature walk. I wasn't feeling it after my 13klm walk a couple of days before so J went on her own and I puttered around taking pics and drawing. I've been listening to a lot of Elliot Smith...good stuff. It took her about an hour and we were off again. There was a ridge with quite a few curves up ahead so she asked me to lead. I was off... and as soon as I passed the ridged... I didn't see her. oh oh . A bicyclist came by and said 'your friend fell of her scooter,' shaking his head and went on. I yelled back 'Is she okay?' and he shook his head yes and kept going. So I waited.. and waited and finally around the corner comes Jaymie with one leg all bloodied and her dress torn. Oh my. We headed to a nearby station to use the washroom to clean up. Apparently she went over a loose gravel shoulder. A few scrapes, but she's alright. I was surprised, pleasantly, when she wanted to keep going. We saw all the bays and got to hang out with rock wallabies. It was a great afternoon after all. At night we played drinking games w/the irish... dangerous. And there was a coconut bowling competition where J got second and won a tshirt. The next morning we had a wildlife brunch. Really good breaky food and they bring around a snake, lizard and baby crocodile to your table to check out. After that we got to spend time with the cockatoos and koalas. And for the tour.. more crocs, koalas, snakes, lizards and bats! so cool! When the tour ended we rushed to catch our bus to head back the mainland. In doing so I lost my first thing.. a black sweater and a black dress... damn! I was doing so well.

Back in townsville we ended up eating so much for dinner that we couldn't move.. we watched tv at the bar and then headed off to sleep. At about 3 am I was awoken by our roomie.. a youngin who stumbled in, stripped, and passed out. I couldn't stop laughing to myself. In the morning he appologized repeatedly. We got back on the bus and headed to Airlie beach. None of the hostel vans that pulled up had free dorms and J and I got into the habit of not booking ahead of time. Until on van pulled up and said they did.. we jumped in. There was an american chick from Wisconsin that joined us. She reminds me a lot of Kaitlin. Same mannerisms and talk and likes purple and funny. It was a nice familiarity. When we checked in we could see why they had availability... it was not great at all... kind of dirty. They had signs about work for accom.. so I inquired and they gave me laundry duty for three hours in exchange to a place to stay and dinner. The dinners were quite nice...The laundry duty wasn't bad at all. Just sheets and towel and with my ipod I was ace.  Jdidn't like it so much so she paid for her third night. She decided to do a sail that costs about 500$ for 6 days.. she missed out on the sailing in NZ and I did it twice there.. I decided to skip it... as I have hardly any money left and really wasn't feeling it this time around. This means we are separating. She took off this morning and I'm catching a bus to go further south tonight. We may be able to meet up the beginning of last month if all goes well... but if not I wont see her until the 14th of Dec in Thailand. I think it'll be good for her to have the experience of travelling alone.... for us both. I moved my flight to the 4th of Dec so I can have some extra time in Thailand and get out of Bangkok.. I hear the surroundings are much nicer. So it's about 3:30 pm and I have 4 hours to kill... and it's raining. I love the rain. I think I will go for a walk!

Phew I'm finally all caught up! xoxo

Tags: Sightseeing

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