My flight to Australia was successful and uneventful (I find planes so much less complicated than buses). I still get the feeling of excitement and anticipation of going on holiday when i'm in an airport - even after being on holiday for 3 months.
I had an overnight flight and didn't sleep a wink so by the time we touched down in Cairns at 8:30am, I was shattered. I had arranged to meet Leanne at the hostel where we were staying in the afternoon, so after checking in I went to bed for a couple of hours.
When Leanne walked through the bedroom door just after 3pm, we were so excitable we didn't really know what to do. We had so much to say to each other but didn't know where to start so we just stood looking at each other for a while - and then the chatting started and didn't stop for hours. Leanne showed me the leaflets of all the things we were going to be doing over the next six weeks. She had tried to send me an email with all the details attached, but I couldn't open it so everything that she had booked for us was a suprise. We had so much to look forward to - snorkelling, white water rafting (a birthday present from Leanne), sailing, camping, kayaking.
We decided to go out for dinner and carry on catching up and then go back to the hostel for an early night. However, there were two Austrian guys in our hostel room when we got back drinking and chatting so we got chatting to them and before we knew it we were out again dancing away in a little club. Leanne said my face was an absolute picture. Being back in the western world came as more of a shock to me than I thought it would. We were inside, there were lots of people packed together on the dancefloor trying to dance on a square foot of laminated floor. The music was loud and everyone was singing along to songs I didn't recognise. People were spilling drinks as they squeezed through the crowds and I was wearing flip flops with little grip. I was used to being on beaches, dancing on sand, having as much space as i liked and listening to old pop and R'n'B. I got over the shock by the end of the evening, it still baffled me that this is what we did at least once a week when we were at uni. The Austrian guys were hilarious and made the night one long laugh. We woke with aching faces and stomachs the following day.
Sunday we spent the day wandering around Cairns town - which is suprisingly small, and sitting by the Lagoon. The sea is too dangerous to swim in here (due to jellyfish and the occasional croc) and there is no beach, so a man made lagoon and a park is where everyone relaxes and sunbathes. On our way back to the hostel we were given a voucher for a $10 roast dinner - Leanne actually squeeled when she saw they served Yorkshire Puddings (apparently the majority of people don't know what they are), so we spent our sunday evening with a traditional sunday dinner. Of course not as good as mum's but still pretty good for a pub and after 3months, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
We had an early start on monday morning to travel up the coast to Cape Tribulation. The story goes Captin Cook landed here after nearly sinking his ship just off the shore. When he finally got ashore he named it Cape Tribulation as he had been through trials and tribulations to get there. During our journey up to Cape Trib we stopped at Mossman Gorge, which was beautiful. By this point we were slowly moving into the Daintree Rainforest, so there was plenty of wildlife and picturesque views. We also stopped off at a little nature reserve where I saw my first Australian Crocodiles and Wallabies. we finally arrived in Cape Trib just after lunch time. We dropped our luggage off at our room and went to explore the area. "Downtown Cape Trib" consists of one shop, a chemist and a little shop. The population here is 90. Leanne and I loved it though. It was so peaceful and we enjoyed just wandering along the gorgeous beaches and the boardwalks that take you through little parts of rainforest.
The following day we were booked to go on a boat trip to the Barrier Reef. We were picked up from the beach and taken out to our large catamaran - Rum Runner. We had roughly an hours journey out to Mackay Reef, during which we were kitted out with snorkels and flippers and were given a short safety talk. I was a bit apprehensive at first - my first proper snorkelling trip and I wasn't sure what we were going to come face-to-face with - especially after we had just been told what to do if we see a shark. Leanne reassured me though and we jumped in together. It was absolutely stunning. It's like a whole other world down there. I couldn't get over how brightly coloured everything was - and it was all natural. Not just the fish, which were vibrant and beautiful, but the coral too. Bright blues and greens and pinks, it's just amazing to think that these things grow and live in the sea.
Unfortunately, we didn't come face-to-face with a turtle or a shark. We saw some huge fish though and a Dory Fish - but no Nemo. One of the the crew members gave us a talk on coral and different fish after lunch, so we learnt about the different things that we were seeing. We had such a good day we didn't want to get off the boat and were the last ones to be taken back to dry land about 4:30. We spent the evening in the bar chatting to people we had met on our boat trip and some bizarre locals who spoke about the trees singing to each other and sunrise "really charging you man" - it kept us entertained though!
We were picked up by our minibus at lunchtime on Wednesday for our trip back to Cairns. Our tour guide was typically Australian and kept saying things like "no worries guys" and "too easy". We stopped off at Daintree Ice cream factory to sample some local ice cream in some slightly strange flavours. Once over the river (which we crossed on a cable ferry) we stopped for a "croc hunting tour". During our 50minute boat ride we only saw 2 small crocodiles, which could have easly been mistaken for branches so we were slightly dissapointed. We had a driving tour through Port Douglas, a small town which is reknowned for being expensive and a place where celebs go on holiday. We arrived back in Cairns about 6:30, checked into a hostel, had some dinner and went to bed, both feeling shattered.
We spent the following day at the Esplanade by the lagoon. Leanne had a friend that she had met while she was working in the Gold Coast, who had moved up to Cairns so we met up with her and some of her friends on Thursday evening. While we were out we bumped into our Austrian friends, who had missed their flight home so were having to stay in Cairns for a couple more days. We spent the rest of the evening with them and their roommates from their hostel.
We booked a greyhound bus down to Mission Beach leaving on saturday morning. In comparision to some of my Asian bus journeys this was luxury! The good thing about being back in a western country is that you can almost guarentee some degree of comfort when travelling. The journey was only just over 2hours and we were met at the bus stop by a minibus, which took us to our hostel. Scotty's Beach House was a really nice, small, relaxing hostel. Everyone there was so friendly and after spending a couple of hours on the beach (which was lovley and really quiet) we sat around a big table chatting to the staff and other guests. This was how we spent the rest of our evenings here, making friends over a few glasses of cheap wine.
We were booked in to do our White Water Trip on the Tully River on Monday. We were both a bit nervous - fear of the unknown. We had no idea what to expect or how difficult or scary it was going to be. We had to rent sandles that were going to stay on our feet if and when we fell in the water and were given a helmet and life jacket. When we arrived at the starting point we met our guide, Vinnie, and climbed ungracefully into our raft. We practiced our forward and back paddle and holding on (suprisingly, there is a technical way to do this!) and off we went. The rocks and bolders sticking out of the water concerned me slightly and as we came up to our first grade 4 rapid, I let out a littke scream. I soon realised that Vinnie was extremly good at his job and began to enjoy myself. We managed to stay in our raft the majority of the time, apart from when we were tipped out on purpose! We had a really good day and ended up happy but exhausted.
We spent a couple more nights at Scotty's and regretfully left on Wednesday morning to catch our Greyhound bus. We had an 8 hour bus journey down the coast to Airlie Beach. It was quite a long journey but after some of the Asia bus trips i'd done, it was a breeze! We arrived, shattered at 8pm. We trudged to our hostel and went straight to bed.
The following day we realised that we hadn't really planned in advance very well. LEanne had to book our boat trip to the Whitsunday islands before I arrived and after looking at the dates again we noticed that we had 5days before our trip started. We could have stayed at our beloved Scotty's longer! But we were in Airlie Beach now, so nothing could be done - we'd just have to make the most of it. The difference between Australia and Asia is that in Oz, when you're not booked onto a trip of some form there isn't much to do apart from sunbathe. Not that I'm complaining, it could be cold and raining! But in Asia you could just wander round the city or town that you were in for hours taking in the differences in architecture and culture, stopping off at little stalls, chatting to locals, staring at the crazy food. The places we have visited in Australia so far have been small and there is not much to see apart from a few shops and restaurants and many many bars. Something else that is noticeable is that in between towns there is nothing. Absolutely nothing. Ocassional farmland and miles and miles of deserted bush - So it's not even as though we can pop to the next town while staying in one place for a long time because we would have to travel through miles of nothing to get there.
Saying this we have made the days pass quite pleasantly by sitting by the Lagoon (again you cant really swim in the sea here and there isn't much of a beach) and talking to the new people we have in our hostel room everyday. Leanne has begun her dive course today - she is working towards her open water certificate while we are on our boat trip and has had to start her Pool and Theory work today. We're leaving to go on our trip tomorrow evening. We're on the boat for 3 nights and are visiting the beautiful surrounding islands and doing some more reef snorkelling - I might even give scuba diving a go if the visibility is good. I'm really looking forward to it now though. Apparently the that they give you is really nice too, which excites me far more than it should....cheap food becomes such a bore after a while! I'm sure i'll have essays to write on our experiences upon our return.
