East coast begins!

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We are now on the East Coast and we are loving it! Cairns is an awesome city and totally geared up for backpackers, because of that reason I could never live here but for us on our travels it is wicked! Our flight was delayed by 2 hours so we didn’t actually get into Cairns until about 10am and unfortunately we were not allowed to check into our Hostel until 2pm so we just grabbed some breakfast and had a wonder around the city. To be honest we were so tired and dazed we weren’t really taking anything in at this point! We got to our room in ‘Gilligan’s’ and had a bit of a chill out until our other room mates arrived. Gilligan’s is BRILLIANT it is a 5* hostel and it totally lives up to its rating - there are king sized bunks, all new interior, lovely large showers in each room with a dressing area as well, there is a gym and 24hr sky TV (I know so many neighbours storylines!!)on each floor too, and it also has massive kitchens. They have a massive pool and huge bar and nightclub downstairs too. They also do this food deal where if you buy a drink you get your dinner free! It is not gourmet or anything but ravioli and chilli con carne and stuff - just what you need to fill an empty stomach and line it for a night of drinking. That is the other great thing about Gilligan’s - the drink deals! They do all sorts of things like pay $10 and get all drinks free for one hour, pay $10 get 5 drinks of your choice, they have a bucking bronco night, Ladies champagne night where topless guys serve you free champagne for an hour - all sorts! So when we arrived there were clothes on one bed but the rest of the room was empty and the first person to turn up was a guy named Yassine, a French Algerian who is just TOO funny and really really nice. He was shortly followed by a guy named Paul who is originally from England but now lives and works in Japan, he had been to Cairns before so he gave us some tips on where to go and who to book our tours with. Next to arrive were two American girls Jackie and Tisha who were studying in New Zealand but had flown over to Cairns for a week off before their exams began. Last to come back to the room was a guy from Galway called Ciaran who had done a skydive the day before and was still boosting from it. So we all had a chat a few drinks on the balcony (yes we even had our own balcony!) and then headed to the nightclub for the evening where a DJ named Timmy Trumpet hit the decks playing well known dance tracks but accompanying them with his trumpet playing - it sounds really weird but it was really cool and we had an awesome night. The next day Andy, Yassine, Jackie, Tisha and I all got the bus north of Cairns to Trinity Beach and it really was lovely. After swimming in the sea (it is so great that we can now do that! There is still a risk from jellyfish but they are not in season at the moment) and sunbathing to clear off our hangovers we took a walk along the beach and up the mountainside to the most amazing view, we got to watch the sun set on one side and the full moon brighten up on the other. After that we headed back to Gilligan’s for dinner and a few drinks in the bar before bed. Cairns in right on the coastline of Australia but unfortunately the city beach isn’t all that nice; the tide is WAY out for most of the day and the sand is quite sludgy. To counteract this problem the council have built a lagoon along the shoreline on the esplanade and it is wicked! It is lovely and clean and there are either sandy or grassy areas to sit on, there are about 12 BBQs and picnic benches, and security patrols it at night and during the day. The water is really cold but it is cleaned once a week so it is nice and fresh and clean and just what you need to cool down in the heat. So we spent all day there today just sunbathing and swimming and tomorrow we pick up our second camper van!

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