Of Bad Nights, Trains, and Fish - Cairns

My first night in Cairns was, well, interesting.

No, actually it was just plain awful. It was a little too hot when I went to bed for my liking and then at 4am I was completely freezing and the hostel only provided a sheet so I was wrapped in that like a caterpillar. The girl sleeping in the bunk underneath me kept wriggling throughout the night so I would jolt awake every time, and the "curtains" only covered half the window so basically let in all the light from the streetlights and neon signs outside. I don't know how many times I woke up, or how much sleep I got. Maybe 3 hours?

Anyway, in the morning I had a wander round Cairns to see what it as all about. Cairns is a strange place. Fantastic for backpackers travelling in groups, quite a lot of shopping in outside stores and inside malls, plenty of restaurants on the Esplanade, which is the road that runs along the "beach". I say "beach" because there is a tiny patch of sand that you can sunbathe on and the rest is grass and boardwalk. It is very pretty though, and usually there's an outside pool area but it was under construction when I was there.

I found Cairns quite strange. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I found it quite commercial and a bit tacky in areas, and I wouldn't go on a family holiday there, but it is the perfect place to travel with a group of friends where you just want to relax, shop, sunbathe, swim, and party.

After having a snoop round the main area I found a free internet cafe and started looking up hotels. Yes, for $15 a night what was I expecting? The problem is I'm a light sleeper, and everything keeps my awake. I found a hotel further out that wasn't completely out of my price range and booked it for the last few days of my stay. After that I felt much better and went a sunbathed on the beach/grass listening to my audiobook (if you travel alone, it is the best way to pass time and keep yourself occupied).

I booked a couple tours while I was there. One was the Karunda Railway and Cableway, which some people said was worth it, and some people said it wasn't. I have now experienced it, and can tell you all that it is worth it. A coach picks you up from your hotel (delapidated hostel) and drives you to Freshwater Station, which is a cute little station with a small museum and an old carriage by the cafe. The train itself has seats to one side where all the views are, and there was some commentary on the way up which did prove interesting, although I'd heard a lot of it already from the coach driver. The history is apparently not very long, or very elaborate.

So the train takes ages to get to the top, about an hour, and goes quite slowly, but it is nice, and when you reach the top it is easy to walk to Karunda village. There are lots of shops and market stalls, which sell some quite unique souvenirs that I hadn't seen before (I have spent 4 months looking in souvenir shops in many different cities, so this was a pleasant surprise). Aboriginal art, local art, jewellery, opals, kangaroo skins, aussie hats, ornaments, accessories, etc etc. There was also a koala place to hold a koala, but I'd already done that, and the butterfly enclosure just plain freaked me out so I decided not to go in there, but they are nice ideas, and there are also a lot of restaurants and cafes.

On the way down, I used the Cablecars, and met Deena and Colin, an elderly retired couple from a town near Brisbane who were on holiday, and we had a great chat on the trip back down, which is supposed to take about an hour apparently but really only takes half that. As we almost reached the bottom of the mountain Colin provided us with some interesting commentary on the water skiers in a lake to the side of the cable car station which consisted of "Woooaahh, he's going for it, he's going for it, aw he chickened out! The bogun. I really thought he was going for it that time. Oh that guy made the jump! I give him a 6."

 The other tour I booked was a snorkel cruise, which is a massive thing for me because I hate the ocean. Seriously, the whole idea of the ocean freaks me out, but I was so close to the Great Barrier Reef I just knew people would ask me if I saw it, so I gathered all my courage and went out to sea. It was a lovely sunny warm day which was great, and the staff on the Ocean Freedom (the boat we were on) were great and encouraging. I sat in on the talk about diving and ruled that out straight away, and then donned my uber attractive wetsuit, flippers, flotation jacket, and snorkel, and made my way into the water. Flippers are seriously hard to keep in the water when you are wearing a flotation jacket. It was fine propelling myself forward, but to get myself upright required a bit of a twist, kick, flip dance move that I'm sure the fish weren't impressed with.

I did see some amazing fish, of which I do have photos but they are in an old school camera which uses film (I know! Such ancient technology!) so I can't share them with you, but I did see a puffer fish, parrot fish, angel fish, and I found nemo.

When I got off the boat, I think the adrenaline of the day, plus packing my stuff and hauling it to my new hotel kept everything at bay, but when I sat down for dinner, spending 9 hours on a boat definitely caught up with me and it felt like I was still out at sea. I don't get seasick, but that feeling afterwards always knocks me for 6. Still, I was so happy to be in my wonderful new hotel room I couldn't let it keep me down. Seriously, I am not a hostel kind of girl. Hotels all the way. So for the next 3 days I just swam and sunbathed, and only ventured into town to have dinner. It was the most wonderfully relaxing time ever, and such a relief after the hostel.

Next blog post: Melbourne!

TTFN!

Of Walks, Reunions and the Next Adventure - Brisbane

It's been a while! But my access to internet has been severely limited since leaving the wonderful Souyave residence. Right now I am sitting in a cafe in Adelaide having a hot chocolate and waiting for the Grand Prix to start. I figured I would take this time to update you guys on what I've been up to. Which is a LOT. The rest of Brisbane, all of Cairns, and all of Melbourne. I'll do it in stages so you don't end up reading a novel instead of a blog post.

So, the day after the koala sanctuary I met up with my friend Ross who lives in Brisbane now, and told him to show me the Brisbane that tourists don't see. So we went for a walk round the city. For hours. And hours. After about 4 hours I asked if he had any particular destination in mind and he said he never actually came to Brisbane city (being a geologist and always "on site" wherever that may be) so he didn't know anything about the place either. But it was still a nice way to spend an afternoon, and I was already very grateful to him as he got me through the difficult first few weeks of Sydney when I had no one to talk to.

A new day, a new blast from the past. I met up with my friends from Hong Kong, Tanya and Clara. It was quite surreal, and they were nothing like I'd imagined them to be. Then again the last time I'd really hung out with them we were 6, so they weren't going to be exactly the same as my memories. They did actually show me some different areas of Brisbane, such as the casino, which we just walked through without gambling because we're good girls and would NEVER do that kind of irresponsible thing...... and then convinced ourselves to go for a drink in a bar. I say convinced, because at 9pm we acknowledged how old we are now, nothing like our 6 year old selves who stayed up all night partying, and wanted to go back to Tanya's to go to bed. I know, it's lame, but we did manage to take ourselves to a bar for a drink, and then went back to look at old photo albums where we all wore the same dresses from the only shop that sold western clothing and had many many parties with elaborate cakes our mums made.

I'm on the far left, then Clara, then Tanya. The good ol' days where our parents would also dress siblings in the same outfit. Bet you can guess who is Tanya's sister in the photo!... I had so much hair!

Tanya, myself and Clara nowadays

Rather than take the bus or train into the city, you should definitely take the Citycat at least once. It was a nice trip in, despite the Change Nazi from whom I bought my ticket and who was furious that I as a young person (she actually said "you young people," apparently I'm representative of my entire generation) come on board with our flashy paper notes and take all her change... erm.... isn't that what your change is for? Okay, I amend my recommendation: Rather than take the bus or train into the city, you should definitely take the Citycat at least once, but remember to carry exact change, even though it doesn't tell you how much it is until you are actually on board and can ask. So just guess.

We went into town to check out the markets, and Southbank market rates up there with Sydney's Rocks Market for me. I loved it! Such great things to buy, really interesting and different, and I loved all the jewellery there. There was so much I wanted to buy but mostly they were things that wouldn't fit in my carry on baggage, so when I eventually live in Brisbane (which could happen... sure... please let me in!) I know where to come and get all my things to decorate my house.

Brisbane was one giant reunion really, because the next day I went to visit out family friends the McQueen's. The two boys are the 2 blond boys in the photo above and are now rugby players living in Hong Kong. I am so jealous! Well, I'm no rugby player but I'd love to live in HK. Plus they have a cat in Brisbane called Charlie who likes me. Who really likes me. Cats don't like me. So I love Charlie. And I love the McQeen house and its inhabitants. It was so nice to see everybody again on this trip.

Anyway, then I went into a whole booking an American embassy appointment palava at 1am trying to call America, and Melbourne in the morning. Basically I was trying to sort out getting my student visa here in Australia instead of England as England was being a royal pain in the backside and had become ridiculous over the demands of the Olympics on the US embassy's time (which should surely have no effect whatsoever except if the employees have been fobbed off with tickets to the games). Anyway, it took over a week to sort out, but it is finally sorted and the UK have come through (which is always nice). But it was a very stressful last morning in Brisbane which ended with some tears, but then I got ahold of myself and swore at the visa system and felt a lot better. After that I said goodbye to the house and to the wonderful Linda and went to the airport. Good thing to note is that Virgin Australia, despite being a budget-ish airline, actually have TVs on the plane! That was a nice surprise.

And then I was arriving in Cairns, waiting in the dark for a bus I thought would never come, and then arriving after hours at my hostel where I was sharing a room with 7 girls at $15 a night, which was absolutely a bad idea and not worth trying to save money over. But more on that next time.

TTFN!

Of Views, Cities, Koalas, and Kangaroos (finally!) - Brisbane

I live in a mansion on a hill (temporarily). And the view is as follows:

I KNOW RIGHT???

I wish I'd taken a picture of the hostel I was in previously, you know, as a comparison. That would have been interesting. Anyway, this is not a hostel, it is in fact the house of a family friend who I am staying with while I'm in Brisbane. I am certainly trying to make use of all the Aussie connections on my travels. It's been really great seeing people again who I haven't seen in years!

I was supposed to leave the Gold Coast on Tuesday, but I had had enough of the rain. It was going to rain until I left, so I figured I would try and beat the rain to Brisbane and hope that it was sunnier there. The coach only takes 1.5 hours and I was picked up by my parents' friend who took me to her fantastic house. Immediately my soul lifted. Seriously, I had a great view and someone to talk to, and that really makes all the difference. And it wasn't raining.

The next day we went to Mount Coot-tha which had great views of the city. If you are every visiting Brisbane then it's definitely worth a look, and it's free!



After that we went to Indooroopilly (I just say Indro) shopping centre for lunch and a look around. Put me in any mall with a food court and I'm happy. And then went back to the house for dinner and watched a really huge moon rise up from behind the mountains in the distance.

The next day we went into the city itself. I'd made a map with lots of interesting buildings on it (yes, I'm actually quite a fan of building architecture, and I always aim to see the main buildings in cities). Brisbane is definitely a nice city. It's not as big as Sydney but seems a great city to live and work in. From a tourist point of view, again, if you're not interested in art galleries and museums then it's just a matter of wandering round looking at the buildings, eating and shopping. But that's the same with all cities, and I do quite like to spend my time that way.



This building had a bite taken out of it. Bet the architect was annoyed.

Beautiful rainbows in St John's Cathedral.



If you go into any of the churches or cathedrals like St John's or St. Stephens, there is always someone there who is happy to give you a leaflet and talk about the history of the building. Factoid: St John's Cathedral began construction in 1906 and was completed in 2009. An almost never ending project, it seems.

I'd like to work in the one on the right, and live in the one in the middle.

Finally, finally people, I have cuddled a koala. And fed a kangaroo. Lone Pine Sanctuary in Brisbane is an absolute must. They have exotic birds, platypus area, wombats (I wrote wombles first, I'd love a womble sanctuary!), snakes, koalas, lizards, kangaroos etc etc. I have so many pictures of koalas. And kangaroos. I will only post a couple here, promise. I finally really feel like I'm in Australia. I got my cuddle, had a staring contest with the most deadliest land snake in the world and had a conversation with a cockatoo. I can deal with this kind of nature all right.

Probably not the same koala....



Say hello to my little friend.

We used to be the same height

I am very popular with kangaroos.

I love how they sleep. Hilarious. Jee Eun could do this!

After I had my fill of koalas (next birthday present please?) we went and had a look around South bank, which is across the Brisbane River from the city. On a sunny hot day it would be excellent because they have created a man made beach with a pool as the 'sea'. It's also where the Wheel of Brisbane is, which is a London Eye on a much smaller scale. These things have to be done though, and thankfully it's a lot cheaper than the London Eye, only $15. It takes 10 minutes which is just a nice amount of time, compared to the Eye which takes FOREVER ZZzzzzzzzzz. Southbank has a row of cafes for the peckish, and praise the lord a Max Brenner! I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, I probably have, but just in case, Max Brenner is a chocolate cafe, and sells the most amazing desserts. So of course we had to have one.

Stay tuned for my continuing adventures in Brisbane!
Although there are no more koalas :-(

TTFN!

Of Spectacular Shows, Theme Parks, and Everyday I'm Shuff-el-ing - Gold Coast

The Australian Outback Spectacular was, in a word, spectacular. I got a free stockman's hat (already a plus, I love freebies) and the meal was fantastic. Nothing beats a nice piece of Australian steak and mash potatoes. The pre-show is basically you, sitting in a room full of strangers, with a bar, and several horses. This would be excellent for anyone except a lone traveller. As long as I kept moving it didn't feel strange, but the second I stopped I ended up standing next to people who looked at me strangely. Seriously, what's so wrong with being on my own? I'm not eavesdropping on your conversation! Well, maybe I am. Anyway, in the actual show I sat next to an older Aussie couple named Julie and Paul. Paul was actually hilarious, because as the night went on, the wine flowed, and he got more and more drunk. The Aussie accent with a slur is even more difficult to understand than an Aussie on the phone.

I love you Phar Lap!

 The show itself was fantastic. Lots of horse tricks, quad bike tricks, songs, stories of Australian history and the story of Phar Lap (a bloody amazing horse by all accounts with a sadly tragic end, look him up), and then they pitted the two "stations" against each other. Basically it was one side of the arena against the other, with half wearing yellow bands on their hats and half wearing red bands (I had red). I can't spell or pronounce our station name, but it began with a W and was something like Wagarra... and we won! Of course we did. I was on the team.

I was over on the distant side of this photo, with red hat bands. Boo Yellows!

When I got home I had new roommates. A couple with the guy from Newcastle (hilarious accent) and the girl from Yorkshire (also hilarious accent). She introduced herself as "Emeh" so, as I am so used to getting to know people with strange sounding names now, I said "nice to meet you Emeh" and then realised she'd said "Amy" with a Yorkshire accent.... basically I had just mocked her accent to her face. Maybe that's why she didn't say much to me after that, but the boyfriend was willing to chat some, although I can't remember his name.

Today I went to Movie World, a theme park in the Gold Coast. It's, well, muehee. Say it out loud and elongate the vowels and it turns into a sort of reluctant sigh. It wasn't bad or anything, but I've been spoiled by the Disneylands of the world and so it just seemed small with not enough rides and not enough restaurants. And some of it was closed, like the fairground games, either because of this weather (which was appalling) or because of the fact it was off season. And I paid $80 for it. $80!!!! Waaaaay overpriced for what it is. And then I had lunch for $14. And then a slushie for $5. And then a chocolate and marshmallow stick covered in chocolate for $4. Very expensive, but it had started raining again so it was get wet or eat and I chose the latter (when don't I?). There were 4 rollercoasters that were genuinely good though, so I did have fun. And one of those was the Scooby-Doo ride, which I was not expecting. And the stunt car show was AWESOME!

So amazing and really funny

Couple incidents though made me laugh and made up for everything.  The first was overhearing a family where the son asked his parents how they met [insert name here] and they said "America, hun." And then the son asked "Where did you meet?" and the mum said "Pub." That's it. Just "pub." Gotta love these Aussies. Also, twice I was waiting for rides where people had to get up and leave the seats for the ride because they were too... um... big... i.e. fat. I have been to quite a few theme parks, and not even in America did I see people actually get asked to leave because the harness wouldn't fit over them. Must be so embarrassing! And then at the "parade" (it had NOTHING on Hong Kong Disneyland) Bugs, Tweety, and several other characters danced to LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem. "Everyday I'm shuff-el-ing." Actually awesome

I have cut my trip to the Gold Coast short, people. I was supposed to leave on Tuesday but I am instead leaving tomorrow as the weather is not going to improve and I can't bear to be trapped inside my hostel again. Plus what's the point in being at the beach when you can't, you know, go to the beach. But hey, I will be back to the city, and you guys know how much I love cities. So till next time...

TTFN!