Port Douglas to Adelaide!!


Advertisement
Australia's flag
Oceania » Australia
October 12th 2009
Published: October 12th 2009
Edit Blog Post

So the day before i went to Port Douglas, Natasha left to go to Brisbane. I was in a 6 bed dorm at a hostel but no-one was in, so i thought i would set about packing. Whilst in the process, an Italian lad, Guiseppe came back to the dorm, and another lad, Rael moved in. Turns out Rael is actually from my town, we know some of the same people, he went to the view when he was younger, and goes to rosies in chester...so ive probably actually met him before!!! with a bit of persuasion, i headed out into town with them! Turns out it was the most hilarious night of my life! It was a Friday night so there were a lot of locals out in the club that we went to- a lot of aboriginal locals!! There seemed to be some sort of feud going on between the aboriginal girls and the white girls as to who would dance on the podium, and who could dance more sexy! The whole thing escalated into an actual dance-off, which i can honestly say was the highlight of my trip so far! We continued on to the woolshed (backpacker pub!) for a bit of table dancing and singing before making our way home. It was then that Guiseppe revealed his occupation- he is a pilot, and would be flying in just a few hours! good luck with that one yeh haha!

So the next morning, Guiseppe went to fly a plane and Rael took me out for breakfast before i got on the bus to Port Douglas! It was really beautiful, the sea was bright blue and the beach was long and white. Although the worst dust Australia has had in years had blown up to the north so visibility wasn't as good as it could have been. The next day i went out on a boat to the Great Barrier Reef to do some snorkelling. It was so beautiful! Im not a strong swimmer and it took me while to jump in the sea, but as soon as i stuck my head under the water i loved it! Everything was so clear and there were bright fish everywhere- one lad even saw a reef shark! The day after i went to the beach for the day before returning back to Cairns. When i got back to the hostel i met Rael again and we hung out for a couple of days. He got a job as a Drover, moving cattle across the outback. He had told the guy that hired him that he could ride a horse, having never riden a horse in his life, he was taking secret riding lessons!!

After a couple of days, i was on my way to meet him at the lagoon, when i saw a notice on the hostel noticeboard advertising for staff at a travelling photography studio, so i rang up and was offered a job right away! My boss Lydia said she wanted me in Townsville ASAP, so i went to check out the bus times for the following days. Lydia then rang me and said she wanted me there the same day! She would book me on a flight to Townsville that left that evening! I said i wasnt sure as it was a bit short notice, and i had made plans already with Rael, but he persuaded me to go, as it was a good job, and its my profession at home so would be good for my CV. So i flew out to Townsville!

At the airport i set about finding somewhere to stay! I found a travel guide in the airport book shop and rang a place that sounded nice! They said that there was a shuttle bus from the airport that would take me there. Of course, there wasn't! When i arrived it was 8pm and already dark. I didn't have a clue where i was, or where i was going, so i went to ask a woman that worked there. She also didn't know, but a woman who overheard our conversation did know! she offered me a lift, and as i didn't see much alternative, i accepted! I got to the hostel, and started talking to one of the lads staying there. I asked him where the shopping centre was that i had to go to first thing in the morning.The conversation went a bit like this:
Boy: "about 15 minutes away"
Me: Wicked, which direction do i walk?
Boy:"walk?! sorry it's 15 minutes by car."
me: WHHHAAAT?! how am i gona get there?!
boy: i don't know
me: well is there a bus?
boy:i don't know
me:what am i gona do?!
boy(obviously sensing that i might cry!) i'll give you a lift!
So there we are, i made it to work on time the next day depending solely on the kindness of strangers!

Work was good, everyone was nice and the job is cool. The company basically have a studio that can be put up and taken down easily, so they employ backpackers to send all over Australia to do photo shoots for children. Plus if you hit targets you earn $900 (about 450 quid a week!) I stayed in Townsville for about 4 days before they decided to send me and another girl, Christy, to Adelaide! I was a bit annoyed that they had decided to make us fly on our day off, as the flight took over 6 hours, until i learned that we get paid travel time too! So we made it to Townsville airport the next morning for our flight that left at 12.25pm. It was then that the biggest and most confusing time mystery ever took place!!!
We had to fly to Adelaide via Sydney and catch a connecting flight, and weren't sure how long it would take to get to sydney. When we arrived, they announced the time. I looked at my watch. It was an hour earlier than the time announced! confused, i said that there must be a time difference. Christy asked a lady if there was a time difference, and she said no. Then the woman next to me said that the clocks that gone forward an hour for summer. "ooooooh ok." we said. Then thought, how the hell did we not miss our flight then?! i am still pondering this now! And if this was not enough confusion, we were meant to fly into Adelaide for 6pm. I looked at my watch- half 6?! i poked the very friendly woman next to me who had given us half an orange to share, and asked her what the hell time it was! "quarter to 6." was the answer. ??????????????????????????????????????????? errrrrrrr! turns out there is half an hour time difference between sydney and adelaide! confused does not cover what me and christy felt! i'm sure i lost half my life that day!

Anyway, we got picked up by the 2 team members who were already working in Adelaide, Kevin and Aafje, who are Dutch and very nice! The following day was Labour day, so we didn't have to work. Me and Christy thought we would see some of town and after talking to some locals, got the bus to the city! Pleasantly surprised of how big it was, we got off the bus and were debating which way to walk, when a lad asked us if the shops were open as it was Labour day. We said we didn't know as we only arrived the day before, he asked if we wanted a tour! So he took us for a tour of Adelaide! we saw the Botanic Gardens, which were beautiful, showed us where the bars and clubs were etc, and ended the day by not only taking us for a drink, but paying for them as well!! We said goodbye and went to the bus stop the driver had told us to get home. We hopped on the number bus he had given us. After 45 minutes on the bus, we started to worry that we did not recognise anywhere, plus it had only taken us 20 minutes to get into town! We asked the driver, but we didnt know which street we lived on, or any streets near it, only that it was by IKEA!!

So we sat on the bus for a while longer and hoped we would recognise somewhere soon. We didn't! the bus driver eventually told us we had to get off as he was going on his break!!! so he stopped another bus and told us to get on that one! After an in depth conversation with the driver, in which we studied the A-Z map, we didnt have a clue where we wanted to be, but he apparantly did. He drove us as near as he could, then told us to walk to the top of the street and we would be on the beach, where we lived. So we got the the top, turned right and walked. 2 hours later, cold, hungry, and now in the dark, we wondered where we were!!!!!!!!!!! We texted Kevin and aafje to get the street name that we lived on, they text back and we were on the right (very very long!) street. so we carried on walking! half an hour later, i cracked up! couldn't stop laughing, thought the whole thing was hilarious!!! Christy didn't share my view!!

me:"oh my god this is funny! do you think this is funny?!"
Christy:"err, i think this is annoying!"

So we saw some men fixing a car and went up to them in a conversation that went like this:
us:"Hi, we're a bit lost can you help us?! we're on the right road, but we don't know where we live. how much longer does the road go on?"
them:"not much longer but then it turns into another road. what number do you live at?"
us:"we don't know. But where we live there isnt a house opposite us."
them😞through laughter!) oh yeah i know the one!"
then we all laughed for a good few minutes at how stupid we were......
them:"can you find out where you live?"
us:"yeah ill ring kevin."
after ringing kevin.........
us:"it's number 87."
them:"ok, then you have to go that way"(points back the way we came!)
us:"but we just spent three hours walking down from there!"
them:"its right at the end."

So reluctantly we set off back the way we came. We eventually got back to where we had got off the bus and turned right. And our appartment was about 4 doors to the left! dooooooooooooh!

the rest of the week has been good, and today i got to town all by myself! not sure i'll make it back though...........

Advertisement



12th October 2009

deary me....
1. This is the sort of blog that will worry your Mum and my Mum to death. And me....... 2. I am confused. When Clive and I were in Sydney in August 2000 we discovered in a similar manner to you that the clocks had changed when we were on our way by train to watch a rugby league game at the Olympic stadium. How can they change in Aug and Oct?! The clocks change at different dates in NZ - it happened to us there as well - so watch out for that!!
12th October 2009

oh God how funny!! I've been to the Woolshed, did you dance on the tables? haha. Sounds liek youre having a great and hilarious time though!
13th October 2009

Port Douglas to Adelaide
Buy yourself a compass girl!!! Or perhaps a homing device. Alternatively a long piece of string. Tie one end to your wrist and the other to the door of your hostel. Glad the job is cool, post a few pics if you can.

Tot: 0.097s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0535s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb