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Published: January 3rd 2006
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I know some of you haven't been able to sleep at night without an update from me!! Never fear dear readers, here is the next installment:
Flew into Cairns on Monday night and even though I arrived at 10 pm, as soon as I stepped off the plane I could feel myself break into a sweat and my hair starting to frizz. Yes, this is the Northern Queensland in the summer. As the girl in the supermarket said while laughing at me when I came in mostly just to cool off in the AC the next day....Welcome to Cairns! Hot and humid is the understatement of the year.
So once I get to the hostel and my room I about drop over dead. It's like a sauna in there. Of course no AC but only a tiny window and a little ceiling fan which isn't doing much to help the situation. And I am on a bottom bunk, which for once is actually disadvantageous! Can't feel the fan at all from the bottom....I am exhausted and spend the first night sweating profusely and attempting to sleep in the sauna. I actually debated moving the mattress to the floor to
hopefully feel the fan, but decided against it since my roommates were out and getting stepped on at 4 am wouldn't be too great either. In the morning, I managed to somehow forget how hot it had been during the night for five minutes when I paid for another night at the place.
Saw all of the city in short order but spent most of the day wandering around, when I wasn't ducking into any place with AC about every 20 minutes. Despite all the sunscreen, I did something I swore I'd never in my life do....I bought a cowboy hat! Kind of "beachy" but the style nonetheless. Now anyone who knows me knows I hate wearing hats. Over the past few years, I have reluctantly given in to wearing baseball hats once in awhile. But a hat was just absolutely necessary in this intense sun. Now sadly, I think I can only attribute this daring move on my part to one person, and you all know who he is. Yes folks, Bono's sporting a cowboy hat over the past year swayed me to the point of thinking, maybe, just MAYBE, I can pull it off too. So with
my new purchase on my head, I wandered around some more until I thought I better be social and meet some people, so I headed back to the hostel. Met the girls in my room, Amber and Stephanie from Canada, and went into town with them for dinner. It was an early night though, since we all booked a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef for the next day.
The next day, we were on the boat bright and early headed out to the reef. I had thought about just snorkeling since I have been having problems with my left ear over the past few months, but ended up scuba diving because I figured how many times in my life am I at the Great Barrier Reef? I didn't regret it...I went just myself and the guide in the morning who of course knows all the best places to go. It was absolutely incredible. I saw so many gorgeous and weird looking fish, snakes, coral, a shark, huge clams that you could put your hand in, and a huge turtle that I got to feed. So many different animals I had never seen scuba diving or snorkeling anywhere
else in the world. I also found Nemo and his family! Went again in the afternoon and the second time was even more amazing. I think the Great Barrier Reef is definitely in the top three things I've seen in my life, right up there with Patagonia and the pyramids. I was absolutely blown away. I didn't take my underwater camera for the first dive because I didn't want to be worrying about taking pictures, but I did take it for the second one. Of course I can't post any here though. I'm sure I won't even develop them until I'm back in the US who knows when.
When I got back, I checked into my new hostel because two miserable nights without AC was enough. The new place was in town right on the main strip with AC, ensuite bathroom, and a little fridge! It seemed like 5 star luxury to me!! Went out with the Danish, Belgian, and German girls in my room. I think it's always funny when I'm the only native English speaker because it happens so rarely. The German girl is practically model material so it was hilarious to watch guy after guy practically in a queue to try and chat her up.
Since there isn't much to do in Cairns-it's pretty much just the point from which you can do all kinds of trips-I wasn't quite sure what I would do the whole week. I have to admit, it crossed my mind many times that I should've gone back to Sydney for New Year's...I'm not leaving here until the 2nd! Cape Tribulation, about 2.5 hours north of Cairns is a very popular place to go. I had thought about just going up for the day but then booked an overnight trip because heck, I had time to kill so might as well have a change of scenery for the night...
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Dad
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German Model Girl
Did you tell her you were also German and you were named "Best Looking Infant" at Bitburg Air Base in 1982 ?