Ok guys….I know
some of you have been eagerly awaiting this blog post, yes mom I mean you
J I just got back last
night from my little trip to Cairns…it was amazing!! My lovely roommate was
nice enough to drop me off at the airport before she had to go to work. Navigating
the Brisbane airport had a few bumps; these presented themselves in the way
that my tickets somehow had separated themselves…I don’t know I didn’t really
understand…but they figured it out. Eventually I was able to board the plane,
and score
J I
got a window seat. I was able to see the entire coastline as we flew over
J and I was able to get
a bird’s eye view of the Great Barrier Reef that I would be diving to see soon.
I arrived at the airport and had a nice little chat with a guy from England; he
had been backpacking around Australia for the past 8 months. He said that his
next trip may be to America and asked me my advice on places to avoid or places
not to miss
J
the only advice I seemed to be able to come up with was that visiting America
was probably going to take him more than one trip. Soon our shuttle arrived and
drove us to our individual hostels. I had booked my stay at a hostel known as
Asylum
J yes
I know, interesting name…and some very interesting people. I was able to check
into my room, which…much to my surprise…was being shared with like 6 guys. And
yes, the room definitely smelled like sweaty, smelly boy, but it was a place to
rest my head and a place to get a shower. After checking in and unpacking a
bit, I definitely needed a place to eat…I was beyond hungry!! So I wandered
around outside with my map and found an adorable little Indian place called
Tandoori Nights
J I
had a wonderful dinner of Prawn Jalfrezie with Jeera Basmati Rice and a Mango
Lassi. It was delicious!! And best of all I had leftovers for another day
J. Yes Jennifer I had
Indian food, voluntarily, and loved it. My boyfriend will probably laugh at me,
but the first friend that I made at the hostel was Scampy the “guard dog;” he
was an adorable little black and white terrier. After dinner I met the resident cat
J his name was Tiger; he
sure was cute… My first night at Asylum, I had my first Australian rainstorm.
It was much different than rainstorms back home in the fact that it didn’t cool
anything off…if anything it raised the humidity level to an especially high rate
and made it feel even hotter; still has a similar emotional effect though…definitely
made me miss home a little but it was comforting at the same time.
On the 18
th
I went caught a bus to Kuranda to see the adorable cuddly koala bears.
J I met a very nice
French lady on the bus and we were able to get some pictures together for her
with the Koala bears. They had alligators, lizards, turtles, snakes, wallabies,
wombats, kangaroos, frogs, and of course the adorable koalas
J it was incredible!!
The koala bear that I got to hold was named Hugo, they said he was their
largest koala bear (so if I look small in the pictures I promise that’s why…not
because I’m short or anything…). Kuranda was amazing and so was the market that
they had there…there were hand-painted things by the Aborigines. We even got a
bit of rain in the rainforest…seemed pretty suiting. I met a very pleasant girl
from Switzerland, we chatted for a bit, but then the bus driver hollered at her
for turning around…I don’t understand why it bothered him if she turned around
slightly, but we obeyed his wishes. Back to the hostel I went for a much needed
shower and a good night’s rest. My blisters from that day would not be fun when
I got to the reef, and neither would the 20 mosquito bites I had already
gotten.
I made it to my
boat on the 19
th J
a good hour early I might add, but better to be early than to be late… I
checked in and proceeded to wait and board my boat at 8am. The ride out to the
reef was BEAUTIFUL!! Seeing the fog roll off the mountains and watching the
waves crashing all around was incredible… I was a little sea sick at first, but
after the first dive that passed and I was ok, thank goodness because that would’ve
been a really tough cruise if I had been seasick the entire time. It felt
incredible to be diving again!!
J
and I can’t imagine anywhere better to be diving than the Great Barrier Reef.
Any picture that you have ever seen of the reef is incredibly dull and incomparable
to the real thing. The reef has so many bright colors and so much life to it, it’s
crazy…every moment you are looking this way and that trying to take in
everything that you are seeing, but you can’t…the things you can see however,
are incredible!! Fish and coral of every shape, size, and color imaginable…I
for one highly encourage anyone that is certified to definitely put the reef on
their must see list…anyone that is not certified, there are plenty of cruises
that will take out new, inexperienced divers; what better place is there to
learn to dive than the Great Barrier Reef?? We saw 4 sea turtles while we were
out there
J
very up close and personal; we also saw a shark…not very up close and personal,
which was perfectly fine by me. We saw giant clams and lots of different Nemo
J. After the cruise it
was back to the hostel, check out was at 10am but my flight wasn’t until 9:15pm…what
to do until then…
Then next morning
I checked out and wandered about the city for a bit longer
J I had a pie at a restaurant
there that had won the great Aussie pie competition last year. It was
delicious!! I completely understand why they won the competition
J. After that, I walked
through the park for a bit and then back to the hostel…they let me hang out
there until my flight since it was so much later in the day. One of the guys
that was staying there had missed a trip with some of the other guys from the
hostel. So he offered to take me on a drive up to see Crystal Cascades
J it was a wonderful
waterfall up in the rainforest
J.
I caught my bus at 6:30pm at the hostel, said goodbye to my new friends,
boarded my plane (which was nice they asked me if I wanted to sit in the
emergency exit aisle, so I got extra leg room and a window view
J). My roommate was so
sweet and drove an hour to come pick me up from the airport at 11:30pm even
though she had training at 5am
J
she is so sweet…well, I suppose that sums up my travel in Cairns
J it was a beautiful
city and definitely worth the trip…all my pictures won’t fit on the blog
though, so for the rest check Facebook
J
thanks for reading…
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