Time is just going by too fast, I can't believe I'm going to be leaving Cairns in just over 2 weeks. If I play my cards right, I might be back in the fall for a few more months, we'll see how things work out. It was another good week though. We had another cyclone come by us, so the back half of the week from about Wednesday to Saturday was pretty rainy and windy. They canceled most of the boats out to the reef on those days. Cyclone Nathan was further out to sea, so it didn't get us too bad here, but we still go the rain and got to have some mini cyclone parties in the courtyard.
Despite the slightly rainy conditions on Thursday, I got to go on a waterfalls tour. We had a special running for the tour, it was only $40, but I managed to sneak in for free since I work at the hostel. Perks! I love it. The tour itself was very good. With all the rain we had recently gotten, the waterfalls and rapids were super active. I had to spend most of the day being the token crazy American. The waterfall was rushing full force and creating a big current and slightly muddy water. It was a bit chilly, maybe in the low 20s (Celsius, remember) but it felt great. The rain falling down was amazing as well. I tried really hard to get others to come in, but the only one I was able to convince was a guy from India. I had about 20 minutes in the water before we pushed off again. We went to a small little town for lunch. I had a meat pie at a small bakery and chatted with some of the other people on the tour. After lunch we went to see the Curtain Fig Tree. It's a huge tree that's hollow inside due to the fig vines strangling the host tree. Quite cool and it was huge. After that, we attempted to see so platypuses, but it was just too flooded to find any. Then, the best part of the day for me, we went to Lake Eacham, a freshwater lake inside of a dormant volcano. The water was that fantastic green blue shade and the visibility wasn't too bad. I was tempted to swim all the way to the other end and back, but we were only staying for about 40 minutes and I didn't want to get left behind. It felt amazing to be back in the freshwater. It was ridiculously warm too, it had to be nearly 30 degrees. The rain coming down made it amazing as well. There were even some perch type fish that would nibble on your toes. Just like the minnows back home. These guys could be a bit more aggressive with their nibbles though, a couple of times they got my knees where I had some sores and it actually kind of hurt. Our time at the lake was way too short, and we were on our way back home taking an alternate scenic route. We made surprisingly good time on the way back and I felt asleep about 20 minutes from home. I was wiped out. After a quick shower, I took a nap so I could be refreshed for whatever shenanigans were going to be happening that evening. It was an excellent day off.
It actually got a bit interesting at night though. I was hanging out in our kitchen lounge area when someone came up on our balcony and tried to get in the door. Occasionally people will get lost or turned around after hours and try to come in our balcony. This was a bit different though. I watched for a bit and then a guy reached his hand through our barred window and opened another one. At that point I yelled "Can I help you?" They took off, I rushed to the door but they were already down the stairs. I was really wishing I could have tackled them or something, but I instead went with verbally assaulting them. We screwed down some of our windows the next day and had our hostel owner report it to the police. If they come back, I'll be ready for them.
The next day it was still pissing with rain, and I had the full day off. Now, I love rain and thunderstorms, but we would just have intermittent rain and no thunder. I'm usually fine with a lazy day here and there, doing nothing, watching TV and reading, but I was going stir crazy. So much to the point that in the afternoon, since it was quite busy at the hostel, I decided to help out with folding all our laundry and making labels for people to mark their food. We entertained ourselves with some great youtube items. If you want some magic in your life, check out Puddles the sad clown, postmodern jukebox and if you just want some laughs check out bad NFL lipreads. You can really get lost on Youtube.
Thankfully it cleared up on Sunday as Cyclone Nathan went back out to sea. I needed something to do, so a couple of us decided to go to the Botanical Gardens and do the Red Arrow walk. Luckily it wasn't too hot and humid out even though it was around 32. It felt good to be productive and healthy again. We even opted for salads and smoothies for lunch. Look at us go! A little nap to digest the food and I was ready for more excitement. It was movie night for us, and afterwards, a bunch of us gathered in the courtyard to socialize and drink. It was us staff girls and a few other new guests... and yes, they were German. Just assume any new person around here is German, they're everywhere. Just to note, when people leave the hostel, they often leave quite a bit of food. Sometimes, they even leave booze. After we had finished a bottle of spiced and white rum, one of our girls informed us that there were a couple bottles of different alcohol in the cupboard. There was a little bit of gin, 3/4 full bottle of cafe patron and a smidge of Bailey's style liqueur. Between five of us, we finished it all... then we found some vodka, and finished that. Needless to say, we were all quite lit up and it wasn't even 1 o'clock yet. The 18 steps up to my room were carefully navigated with some help. Luckily I didn't fall over, though I do have lots of random bruises. I did have to spend half the night on our couch half asleep to sober up before getting a couple more hours of actual sleep in my bed. And since I only get a stomachache when I drink too much, I just remedied it with some chili rice crackers and I was set. Round 2 is tonight when we go out to celebrate one of our girls leaving for a few weeks to New Zealand, it will be the last time I see here since she gets back the day after I leave for Melbourne. Oh Australia, so much drinking. We'll see what happens the rest of the week and I'll report any other misadventures to you. Have another great week!
-Celina
