For those paying attention, this will officially be the third part of the trilogy of blogs, and for those well equipped with knowledge of Greek or Latin etymology, it is understood that this means the final blog of the trilogy. However, for those out there who appreciate the ambitiousness of summing up an entire 2000km of coastline in one blog, it won’t come as a surprise that there will in fact be a George Lucasian extension to the trilogy, whilst maintaining a healthy aversion from any Phantom Menace-esque disasters along the way. When I first started typing up the brief review of our time in Cairns, I began to notice 1000 or so words in that I would only be able to attract the most rugged and determined of readers who are willing to read dissertation sized proportions of text about my life... and as this subcategory of readers is yet to tumble into existence, I will instead break it up into many smaller pieces to ease the pressure on your minds and my typing fingers!
So, after my sporadic recounts of my Brisbane adventures, I’ll ease back into the more linear format that I used in Asia, starting on the 13th October. I flew up to Cairns from Brisbane amidst a small domestic incident of striking Qantas pilots, baggage handlers and customs officers, even though to this day with my combined total of 10+ hours in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I still say we’d have been just fine without them. But with relatively low levels of drama, I landed up in Cairns at 11 or so in the evening and headed to Gilligan’s for my first night as a backpacker in quite some time. Gilligan’s formed a rather mixed experience in the end. On the one hand, I met Lucy and Holly, two of the classiest girls we’ve met since the very beginning. However, on the other hand, Gilligan’s is the single worst hostel I’ve seen since I’ve started, up to and including the mattress on the floor of a shack in Laos. Gilligan’s isn’t unhygienic, poorly maintained or lacking in facilities; it’s simply a building that’d be more at home in Majorca or Ibiza than in the Cairns backpacker ring. The hostel was 9 or 10 stories high, with 1000+ rooms, 24 hour steroided testosterone gorilla security, a club and one of the most efficient money-sapping bars in Australia (which is saying something...). In an admission which will strip years from my youth, I’m a fan of the chilled friendly hostels, and Gilligan’s was a carbon copy of my hostelling dystopia. After one night, with no suggestion or influence from myself, we moved hostels to Koalas and were given a room with a lounge, fridge and chilled out bar area outside... With NO suggestion or influence from myself...
Over the next few days, Lucy and Holly became a permanent extension of our own group as we hung around Cairns, a tiny city with a very cool vibe to it! Most of our days ended up with us gravitating towards the artificial lagoon in the middle of the city, created as a compensation for Cairns mudflat swamp surroundings as opposed to typical white sand paradise which the rest of the country intuitively enjoys. The lagoon is a huge grass area with communal BBQs, live music, market stalls and the central swimming pool itself. As it is rare for the days in Cairns to stay much below 30°, the lagoon is the busiest part of Cairns, whilst maintaining the infamously laid back attitude of Australia throughout. Aside from the lagoon, the only other routine aspect of our Cairns existence, I am pleased to say was Irish pubs and Aussie bars. The Irish pub was utilised for $5 steaks, Manchester Utd/Liverpool and Rugby World Cup finals, as well as the sheer novelty in being able to order real pint sized beers again (albeit filled with the distinctively tasteless Australian swill of beer that my taste buds have been forced to endure for 5 months now). The only mentionable highlight, aside from two or three pretty great nights out, was our brief interaction with a man named Paul. Paul ensured that for an entire night of drinking, none of our group of 6 spent more than $5 on drinks. He was also due in court the next day for a manslaughter case in which he was the consulting physician, but dwelling on this really brought down the mood, and only tequila was capable of bringing the mood (and steak) back up. It was this night, that for the first time in my life, I knew what it was like to be a pretty woman... They really do have it far too easy!
Cairns also formed a base for our foray into the Great Barrier Reef, through the medium of yacht! We set off from Cairns at 8, and after an hour of sun-laden cruising we arrived at our first reef for a bit of snorkelling and my first suit-less dive. The water itself was incredibly clear, as is usually reported on the reef and the snorkelling and dive were both awesome. As the reef is only a few feet deep, the dive did seem a little unnecessary as you could easily touch the bottom with a dive during snorkelling, but it felt good to be under the water again! After a couple of hours of half arsed exploration and photography, we headed back to the boat for a surf and turf buffet and then a few hours of sunbathing on the deck. It was an almost perfect start to the travelling, the reef was truly breathtaking, and if rumours of its imminent demise (within 20 years) are true, I’m very glad to have got the chance. The only downside of the trip is I know can’t consider a future for myself where a yacht is not involved...
Over the next few days, Lucy and Holly became a permanent extension of our own group as we hung around Cairns, a tiny city with a very cool vibe to it! Most of our days ended up with us gravitating towards the artificial lagoon in the middle of the city, created as a compensation for Cairns mudflat swamp surroundings as opposed to typical white sand paradise which the rest of the country intuitively enjoys. The lagoon is a huge grass area with communal BBQs, live music, market stalls and the central swimming pool itself. As it is rare for the days in Cairns to stay much below 30°, the lagoon is the busiest part of Cairns, whilst maintaining the infamously laid back attitude of Australia throughout. Aside from the lagoon, the only other routine aspect of our Cairns existence, I am pleased to say was Irish pubs and Aussie bars. The Irish pub was utilised for $5 steaks, Manchester Utd/Liverpool and Rugby World Cup finals, as well as the sheer novelty in being able to order real pint sized beers again (albeit filled with the distinctively tasteless Australian swill of beer that my taste buds have been forced to endure for 5 months now). The only mentionable highlight, aside from two or three pretty great nights out, was our brief interaction with a man named Paul. Paul ensured that for an entire night of drinking, none of our group of 6 spent more than $5 on drinks. He was also due in court the next day for a manslaughter case in which he was the consulting physician, but dwelling on this really brought down the mood, and only tequila was capable of bringing the mood (and steak) back up. It was this night, that for the first time in my life, I knew what it was like to be a pretty woman... They really do have it far too easy!
Cairns also formed a base for our foray into the Great Barrier Reef, through the medium of yacht! We set off from Cairns at 8, and after an hour of sun-laden cruising we arrived at our first reef for a bit of snorkelling and my first suit-less dive. The water itself was incredibly clear, as is usually reported on the reef and the snorkelling and dive were both awesome. As the reef is only a few feet deep, the dive did seem a little unnecessary as you could easily touch the bottom with a dive during snorkelling, but it felt good to be under the water again! After a couple of hours of half arsed exploration and photography, we headed back to the boat for a surf and turf buffet and then a few hours of sunbathing on the deck. It was an almost perfect start to the travelling, the reef was truly breathtaking, and if rumours of its imminent demise (within 20 years) are true, I’m very glad to have got the chance. The only downside of the trip is I know can’t consider a future for myself where a yacht is not involved...
No travelling friendship is complete without a touchingly heart retching farewell, and our last night in Cairns with Lucy and Holly was no exception and was, probably, one of the best nights we’ve had with a group of backpackers. The magic is non-transferable; I sadly cannot bestow the true quality of the night upon a reader via text alone! But, needless to say, I’ll give you the highlights and you can pick the order and emotional salience in your own way. The start was our last day by the lagoon, with a couple of acoustic acts on the green. In the middle was a extended Italian meal, trading of friendship bracelets, the final walk along the mudflats, some night-time rugby frolic-ing (which is the correct verb), and the end of the day was our final game of cards on the pavement outside our bus with a deluge of rain as we were pulling away with a Casablanca quality of dramatics. It truly was the perfect end to our first Aussie stop, and was a fitting farewell to a couple of girls which we got on fantastically with, it was just a shame we wouldn’t see them again at any point down the coast.... Or would we?! Stay tuned next week folks, next up is the Whitsundays and Airlie beach, complete with dramatic twist and surprise ending. Bet you can’t possibly deduce what that entails...
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