Lookout over Cairns
Day 19
We woke up at 4:30 to catch the plane to Cairns. I think I barely got 3 hours of sleep because of our rowdy roommates but that's the beauty of hostel living! We arrived in Cairns at 9am but it was too early to check in at the recommended party hostel, Gilligans, so we walked around the Esplanade and to the lagoon. The lagoon is a massive pool beside the ocean. Most of the beaches are closed this time of year because of jelly fish so the lagoon is always busy. Since we were so exhausted we had a nap in the park beside the lagoon. Best nap ever! The rest of the day was spent doing things that needed to be done like laundry, grocery shopping, booking our reef trip and the most important, signing up for a pub crawl the next night. We ended up doing nothing for the night except hanging out in our room with our always entertaining new British friends.
The lagoon at night
Robyn, Charlotte and I were up at 7 to be at the marina for 8. After checking in with Reef Quest we made our way to the reef, which took about 1.5 hours. We spent that time on the top deck relaxing and searching for dolphins. Charlotte went diving and Robyn and I went snorkeling at our first reef location. I was in the Great Barrier Reef! It was so awesome and one of the coolest things I've ever done. I found Nemo the clownfish, Crush the sea turtle, Bruce the reef shark (terrifying even though they are harmless) and so many other amazing fish and coral. So bright and vivid! We went snorkeling in 2 locations for 2 hours each time but time flew by! It was such a good day on the water and we were so lucky to have a perfect blue sky day.
After getting back we got ready for a crazy night out. Somehow we were late again for another pub-crawl so we had to call the promoter to find them. It was alright though because he bought us drinks to make up for it. We made it to Vibe, where Charlotte "participated" in the bar games and then we went to the Woolshed (or Wolfpack as Harrison called it). At Woolshed it was Ladies Night which meant free champagne offered by shirtless men and a striptease from Hot Chocolate. We met up with our roommates here and had a wild time! Needless to say we didn't make it to the rest of the pub-crawl but had one of the best nights out! Good family outting!
Robyn and I in our trendy stinger suits
Cairns family photo!
Day 21
In the morning we had lots of laughs about the night before, champagne showers and trying on Ash's clothes. Before Robyn and my hangovers set in we left Charlotte in the fetal position to go for a swim at the lagoon and nap in the park. In the room, we continued to be entertained by the Brit boys. Later that night Robyn and I went to see the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was a very graphic but good movie!
Day 22
On my to do list I had rent scooters in Cairns so that's what we did on Robyn's last day in Cairns. We met two girls from Melbourne that seemed as nervous as we were to ride the scooters so we invited them to come along with us. We figured there would be safety in numbers. The scooter guy told us to go to Crystal Cascades and after some practicing and Robyn running into a wall, we were off! Off and going at 55km/ hour woooo! The ride there was beautiful going through the rainforest. At Cascade Creek we swam around, went down the rock slide, admired the scenery and watched people dive from the cliff called No Fear. This was also the first time seeing a big Austalian spider... with his family of 3! Ewwww! Some local guys that the Melbourne girls knew showed us around and helped us back to Cairns. On the way home one of their friends fell off the scooter. She had severe asphalt burn and was taken to the hospital. I think we all drove a little more cautiously after that!
For Robyn's last night we splurged on a nice Italian restaurant on the Esplanade. We enjoyed yummy mussels, wine and pasta! And of course we couldn't call it a night until we had a jug of beer, at PJ O'Briens!
"Put your hands up if you feel stupid!"
Waterfall at Crystal Cascades
The swimming whole at Crystal Cascades
Robyn and I on her last night in Cairns
Day 23-25
Boo hoo Robyn leaves! I'll miss her and I hope she still lives in London when I come back!
The next couple of days we felt less than motivated to look for jobs especially after almost 4 months of holiday. We did print out resumes and go out in the extreme heat to hand some out. We also went to the daily Happy Travels job presentation but it wasn't that helpful unless you were willing to go the Outback. The job market was not looking promising because in Cairns it was the off season so no one was hiring! Charlotte and I got down feeling unwanted and poor :( I hate looking for jobs!
Day 26
Today was a new day and we were feeling more motivated! We woke up early to apply at the Reef boats and spent the rest of the day 'pounding the pavement'. We went to all the hotels and walking all around Cairns looking for someone to hire us. So what if it was the dead season?!
After dinner we went to Happy Travels for their Wednesday night of free Goon (wine) and pizza. We had heard about this party at the job presentation the day before. Charlotte and I went with our new Dutch roommate, Simone. Surprisingly quite a few people showed up to play drinking games in the back room of the travel agency. It turned out to be pretty fun and Simone even won a reef trip. The party moved on to the Woolshed, where we befriended 3 Canadian guys from Vernon, BC. They were good friends to make, as they then provided us with drinks and too many shots for the rest of the night! Just another crazy night at the Woolshed!!!! Woolshed-2, Katie-0
Happy Travels party people
Simone and I with the Canadian guys
Day 27The usual...hangover, lagoon and nap.
I had a work trial at a restaurant called Winks on the Esplanade. The job was a hostess position trying to get people to come into the restaurant. I felt myself getting more stupid repeating myself for 2 hours! It was a good thing the trial wasn't that long because I was exhausted! It was early to bed for me!
Day 28
Basically we are just playing the waiting game and hoping to hear about a job soon. As we wait though we wade in the lagoon since it's 37 degrees outside. Life could be worse ;)
Charlotte, Simone and I went out to the Woolshed to party with the Canandians boys again. We just can't resist the free drinks haha! Another fun night out! I'm beginning to like this Cairns place !
Day 29
Blah blah blah the usual stuff. Internet, skype, applying for jobs etc.
Day 30
We check out of Gilligans...so bittersweet! But onto better things like Charlotte's family friend, Graeme and his wife have offered to take us in and take us on some adventures. Our first adventure was to the nearby Atherton tablelands. It was another day with a lot of stops.
Lake Barrine is a crater lake and we saw green long-finned eels and turtles.
When we stopped at Lake Eachram we went for a swim in the deep water. We also threw bread into the water and that attracted turtles, sea dragons and hungry fish.
Lake Eachram
Platypus Bend is private property that was once a Japenese tourist spot to look for platypus. Graeme and Esther know the caretaker and that is why we were able to visit. We had a nice lunch in the covered picnic area while it rained. The rain did stop and we were able to go for another swim. There was no sight of any platypus but that was probably because they are most commonly found at dawn or dusk.
The next two stops were at my new favourite trees, the Curtain and Cathedral Fig Tree. They are unbelieveably massive trees reaching more than 500 years old. They are older than the country of Australia!
That night we went with Graeme and Esther to watch them rock n roll dance where one of their favourite bands were playing. They were really good but they couldn't convince us to get in the dancefloor...for once!
Curtain Fig Tree
Redlynch is a suburb of Cairns and that is where our temporary home at Graeme and Esther's was. When we had arrived the night before I couldn't see what was around but when I woke up it was so pretty. We were surrounded by hills of lush green rainforest. It was also ridiculously hot out but I just kept telling myself 'you could be at home where it's winter time!" . Charlotte and I went swimming in the nearby creek (no crocs!) to cool off but either than that it was quite the chill out day.
Day 32 & 33
It rained off and on. Nothing too exciting except some delicious homecooked dinners cooked by Esther.
Day 34
Happy Australia Day!!!
Graeme had it planned with his friend to take us all out sailing for our Australia Day! It was my first time in a sail boat and I was very excited. We went to the marina at about 10am and packed up the boat but we couldn't find anyone in the office to tell we were taking it so basically we stole it. About an hour later someone came out to the boat and told us we needed to come back to sort things out. It was like we brought bananas on the boat...which I found out that day, is unlucky! Anyways, once we got the details figured out we were off sailing again. We were pulling ropes and there was lots about jibbing, winching and ducking out of the way for the boom. We also,entered a race or cruised the companions since for insurance purposes can't call it a race. We had no idea what we were doing at that point haha. We did a couple loops around the bay and made it back right before it started storming. It's was fun to learn something new like that and it made it a memorable Australia Day!
Our sail boat for the day
Day 35
We had a day of decision making...well researching our choices. Would it be Melbourne, Gold Coast or stick it out it Cairns? Everybodies advice was running through our heads and we didn't know what to do.
Later in the day we went into town to the Salt House because it was Esther's leaving party for her job. It was a really nice place on the pier with amazing $15 cocktails, which we made her loser ex-boss buy us.
Day 36
Our Saturday plans changed a bit because Graeme's friends new business was in desperate need of a bus driver. Although something potentially good came out of it because his friend said he might have work for us doing promotion and administration. On our way to the airport to meet up with the business owner a tire rolled down a hill onto the road and smashed into us. A teenage boy was changing the tire on his trailer and it got away from him resulting in a big dent in Esther's car. I was thankful it hadn't been Charlotte or I driving. To continue with our eventful morning we also found a friendly rainbow lorikeet in the backyard. It sat on Esther's shoulder and hand so we concluded it must be someone's pet but we wanted to keep it for ourselves. It was really cool to see one of these birds so up close even if I was freaked out.
Rainbow lorikeet
For late lunch we all drove up to Lake Morris for a BBQ. It is a beautiful lake were Cairns gets all their water from. After the BBQ we took a short and very hot walk around part of the lake to take in the views and see parts of the water process.
Lake Morris
That night Charlotte and I went out for Japanese. We ordered the Oz BBQ taster, which included lamb, crocodile and kangaroo. The red meat of Kangaroo was surprisingly the best one and crocodile was just like tougher chicken. I'm so proud that we tried it! After dinner we went for a drink and dance at the Gilligans bar. We just couldn't stay away! It was an early night though because that is when our ride was leaving.
Kangaroo, crocodile and lamb! YUM!
Day 37
From eating crocodile to watching them eat...On our way to Port Douglas, the 5th most scenic drive in Australia, we visited Hartley's Crocodile Adventures. Hartley's was the 1st place in Australia to conduct feeding demonstrations and are now known for how daring they are. We made it just in time for feeding time for both the 'salties' and 'freshies'. The salt water crocs are massive (Big Ted is 5.2 meters!) and the fresh water ones have the memorable loud snap with their mouth. I hope I never encounter that in the wild ekkk! We then took a boat trip through the lagoon. Our tour guide, Duncan is a little nuts but how could you not be if your career choice is feeding crocodiles. But anyways, he puts chicken heads on the end of a stick and lures the crocodile to jump out of the water to get them. Terrifying! Next, Duncan takes us on the farm tour when he says this is where you get your "boots, belts, burgers and bags!". It was another scary vision, of several pits of crocodiles. Did you know the chromosomes don't determine the sex of a crocodile but rather it's the temperature it is when it's laid? The farm tries to make as many males as possible because they grow bigger and faster which equals more money ($1000-2000). Lastly was the death roll demo by Haggart the crocodile. Snap..roll..drown...your dead!
Jumping for chicken heads
Crocodile farm
At 3:30 we continued on to Port Douglas and had a late lunch on the pier. On the way back we stopped at the once swanky (in the 80s) Sheraton to check out their Vegas-like pool and then a few lookouts like Flagstaff Hill.
Flagstaff Hill
That night we watched almost 6 hours of the mens Australian Open Final! Ridicuously long but ridiculously good tennis. Congrats Djokovic!
More Cairns to come!xx
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