FNQ - The Tropical North
15-19 April, 2007
I arrived back in Cairns on a rainy night. We had waited around all Saturday to get a ride, thinking we'd leave early afternoon, but no, we got in to town around 21.30. The place I planned on staying was closed til morning and I had no where to go. No worries as I found another place quick enough (my guess is that there is always a spare bed somewhere in Cairns). Aubrey and I immediately went to the bottle-o and after quickly polishing off the sixer we headed off for the bars with the rest of his travel mates, after I borrowed a pair of pants. This was the first time in a long time that I gone out for a big drinking session, over a month infact! Don't remember much about the bar... only that I talked to some cute Finnish girls cause I was wearing the Suomi shirt... or was it my good looks? Hours later I found myself falling into bed. Before my head hit the pillow I knew I would not be looking forward to morn... zzzz and I was out. Checkout was at 10; usually hostels will charge a fee or another night if you aren't out by then. I was able to get out of bed at 9.45 and get myself organized. Problem was, during the night after coming into the room and before falling asleep, I had misplaced my wallet and hostel key, as you do. I was in that hungover-panic mode. Not a good operating mode to be in whilst attempting to check out. I didn't know what to do. By sheer luck I found them stuffed deep down in my big backpack. What drove me to put them there?! Alcohol! I decided that would be the end of my big nights out in Australia.
With the check out sorted, I waited at the bus stop for the shuttle to take me to my preferred hostel. As I waited the other hostels' shuttles would come and go. Wouldn't ya know it but that cute Finnish girl went by in the back of one. She saw me hungover, unshowered and straight outta bed and into dirty clothes and gave the "oh my god was that really the guy I was talking to last night? I was sooooo drunk" look. I'm sure I looked like a complete wreck. I shot back with the "I remember you too" nod-smile-and-wave and returned to my lounging at the bus stop. When I am at the bar talking to girls I always think it's OK and not such a bad thing. Upon reflection of the previous night the next day I find the whole charade to be.... just that. Well anyways, I got to Tropic Days and found that it was chock o'block. Fortunately since I was sleeping outside it didn't really matter. As long as I could fit myself in the back yard area I could stay there. Success! The goal for that day was to sort out my journey back to Sydney - I was going home in 6 days.
There it hit me, it was as though I was back in London with little time to spare and too much to do. I knew I wanted to do a Cape Tribulation and Daintree tour, and also I wanted to go out to the Great Barrier Reef. The only problem was picking a tour operator. For every activity possible in Cairns, there are as many operators to choose from for each tour. The hostel doubled as a travel agency so I had them sort it all out. I told them what I wanted to do and when and they told me where to go. Within a few hours I had the rest of my time in Queensland planned and a flight back to Sydney - somehow Qantas was the cheapest.
The next morning I was off to Port Douglas, Mossman, Cape Trib and the Daintree. The drive up north from Cairs was simply stunning, no doubt one of the best in Australia. I'm sure it rivals the Great Ocean Road, but I wouldn't know cause I didn't go (harumph) but this drive was a great alternative. All day long was filled with wildlife, rainforests, mountains, rivers, hiking, mangroves and beaches. I saw a tree snake, crocodiles, a cassowary and more wallabies (or wallabus). I also got to see the location of where Steve Irwin died. It has been a while, but you can still tell that Australia is taking his death pretty hard. I was well shattered on arrival back to my hostel. I did a bit of journalling as I had lots to catch up from all the WWOOFing and called it an early night. I had to get up early the next day as well. After the Daintree it was time for the Great Barrier Reef! We set sail (literally) and motored out bright and early. It's a two hour ride out to Michaelmas Cay. I hadn't been snorkelling in ages so I opted for just about everything I could get my hands on. Due to extreme laziness I wore this big yellow floater belt. None of that water treading for me. I wasn't sure of what to expect, but the reef itself is rather, how do I say... dull? The corals I saw were more brown/gray/white/orange. Every now and then a red or purple or other brightly colored coral would come into view. I have a feeling that a lot of this is due to the huge amount of tourists going out to the reef in conjunction with rising ocean temperatures. I've read from a couple of sources that the reef could be completely dead in as quick as a decade. So if you want to see the reef, hurry up!
So here I am, snorkelling on the reef on a gorgeous day. Swimming around with hundreds of species of brightly colored fish, turtles, sting rays and all the other marine life. I get back on the boat and think OK, ready to go back now. That sensation of marvelous awe was no longer sticking to me. I realised I had started to burn out on travelling. Ever since then the whole "what do I do next" question has been on my mind. For my last day in Cairns I had to choose between relax in the sun or go bungy jumping. Since I wasn't feeling the exhileration anymore (and because it cost 100 bucks) I passed on the jump. I want to do it in NZ anyways. A quick flight down to Sydney and it was goodbyes to all my mates. After loading up on ginger beer and tim tams it was time to leave.
I really want to go back to Australia. I can easily spend another two months there and want to road trip around the continent. I even have the route planned out and know what I want to do. It's a great country to travel. Finally! The end of the Australia blogging. And there is so much more that isn't scribed here.
I arrived back in Cairns on a rainy night. We had waited around all Saturday to get a ride, thinking we'd leave early afternoon, but no, we got in to town around 21.30. The place I planned on staying was closed til morning and I had no where to go. No worries as I found another place quick enough (my guess is that there is always a spare bed somewhere in Cairns). Aubrey and I immediately went to the bottle-o and after quickly polishing off the sixer we headed off for the bars with the rest of his travel mates, after I borrowed a pair of pants. This was the first time in a long time that I gone out for a big drinking session, over a month infact! Don't remember much about the bar... only that I talked to some cute Finnish girls cause I was wearing the Suomi shirt... or was it my good looks? Hours later I found myself falling into bed. Before my head hit the pillow I knew I would not be looking forward to morn... zzzz and I was out. Checkout was at 10; usually hostels will charge a fee or another night if you aren't out by then. I was able to get out of bed at 9.45 and get myself organized. Problem was, during the night after coming into the room and before falling asleep, I had misplaced my wallet and hostel key, as you do. I was in that hungover-panic mode. Not a good operating mode to be in whilst attempting to check out. I didn't know what to do. By sheer luck I found them stuffed deep down in my big backpack. What drove me to put them there?! Alcohol! I decided that would be the end of my big nights out in Australia.
With the check out sorted, I waited at the bus stop for the shuttle to take me to my preferred hostel. As I waited the other hostels' shuttles would come and go. Wouldn't ya know it but that cute Finnish girl went by in the back of one. She saw me hungover, unshowered and straight outta bed and into dirty clothes and gave the "oh my god was that really the guy I was talking to last night? I was sooooo drunk" look. I'm sure I looked like a complete wreck. I shot back with the "I remember you too" nod-smile-and-wave and returned to my lounging at the bus stop. When I am at the bar talking to girls I always think it's OK and not such a bad thing. Upon reflection of the previous night the next day I find the whole charade to be.... just that. Well anyways, I got to Tropic Days and found that it was chock o'block. Fortunately since I was sleeping outside it didn't really matter. As long as I could fit myself in the back yard area I could stay there. Success! The goal for that day was to sort out my journey back to Sydney - I was going home in 6 days.
There it hit me, it was as though I was back in London with little time to spare and too much to do. I knew I wanted to do a Cape Tribulation and Daintree tour, and also I wanted to go out to the Great Barrier Reef. The only problem was picking a tour operator. For every activity possible in Cairns, there are as many operators to choose from for each tour. The hostel doubled as a travel agency so I had them sort it all out. I told them what I wanted to do and when and they told me where to go. Within a few hours I had the rest of my time in Queensland planned and a flight back to Sydney - somehow Qantas was the cheapest.
The next morning I was off to Port Douglas, Mossman, Cape Trib and the Daintree. The drive up north from Cairs was simply stunning, no doubt one of the best in Australia. I'm sure it rivals the Great Ocean Road, but I wouldn't know cause I didn't go (harumph) but this drive was a great alternative. All day long was filled with wildlife, rainforests, mountains, rivers, hiking, mangroves and beaches. I saw a tree snake, crocodiles, a cassowary and more wallabies (or wallabus). I also got to see the location of where Steve Irwin died. It has been a while, but you can still tell that Australia is taking his death pretty hard. I was well shattered on arrival back to my hostel. I did a bit of journalling as I had lots to catch up from all the WWOOFing and called it an early night. I had to get up early the next day as well. After the Daintree it was time for the Great Barrier Reef! We set sail (literally) and motored out bright and early. It's a two hour ride out to Michaelmas Cay. I hadn't been snorkelling in ages so I opted for just about everything I could get my hands on. Due to extreme laziness I wore this big yellow floater belt. None of that water treading for me. I wasn't sure of what to expect, but the reef itself is rather, how do I say... dull? The corals I saw were more brown/gray/white/orange. Every now and then a red or purple or other brightly colored coral would come into view. I have a feeling that a lot of this is due to the huge amount of tourists going out to the reef in conjunction with rising ocean temperatures. I've read from a couple of sources that the reef could be completely dead in as quick as a decade. So if you want to see the reef, hurry up!
So here I am, snorkelling on the reef on a gorgeous day. Swimming around with hundreds of species of brightly colored fish, turtles, sting rays and all the other marine life. I get back on the boat and think OK, ready to go back now. That sensation of marvelous awe was no longer sticking to me. I realised I had started to burn out on travelling. Ever since then the whole "what do I do next" question has been on my mind. For my last day in Cairns I had to choose between relax in the sun or go bungy jumping. Since I wasn't feeling the exhileration anymore (and because it cost 100 bucks) I passed on the jump. I want to do it in NZ anyways. A quick flight down to Sydney and it was goodbyes to all my mates. After loading up on ginger beer and tim tams it was time to leave.
I really want to go back to Australia. I can easily spend another two months there and want to road trip around the continent. I even have the route planned out and know what I want to do. It's a great country to travel. Finally! The end of the Australia blogging. And there is so much more that isn't scribed here.
Labels: barrier reef, daintree, meta
posted by Eric @ 11.5.07
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home