G'day mates...
As we touch down in the land down under. We made our way to the airport from Ubud after getting a pizza, which we couldn't finish, but managed to find a new pro tip for travelling: bring food through airport security, tis grand. We were a bit out of sorts though, as our flight didn't leave from Bali until 1:10a.m., arriving at ~8a.m. in our next stop, Cairns - a city in Far North Queensland.
We were travelling here just at the end of Australian winter/entering into spring, which worked out perfect as Cairns is pretty hot at this time, being about 27 degrees every day. After getting our bags and hopping on an airport shuttle, we touched down in Dreamtime travellers Rest, where we'd be spending our first week acclimatising to life in Australia.
It didn't take too long for us to feel fairly settled here, as for the first time in over half a year we were somewhere where English was the first language, and culture/cuisine bared some resemblance to being back home. the hostel was a really nice place to chill out too. Our first stop that morning was a supermarket, Coles, where we understood what everything was, what section it was in, and how much it cost. Seriously, after such a long time, this was an absolute breath of fresh air and we felt such a strong subconscious sense of relief.
We did have quiet a ....precarious moment that knocked the wind out of our sails a little as we sat down to our breakfast that morning. Still feeling a bit delirious from the lack of sleep, we heard a high pitched scream from somewhere in the near distance that made us both take a moment, but along with the others in the hostel, thought it was probably some kids nearby. Later on that evening on the news we heard it was a girl in the hostel across the road from us, that had been assaulted & stabbed by a member of staff working there, who was charged with attempted murder. She was taken to hospital and was thankfully alright (as much as you can be in that situation). We felt a bit shook from it, but it was a freak occurrence and we haven't really had anything else like it on this trip.
Deciding to take it easy after a tiring first day, we were up the next morning and went for a little bit of exploration, seeing what Cairns was like. Turns out it's a fairly small city, you can walk around the majority of the main points within about twenty minutes. the main attraction is the Esplanade, a walkway along he coastline where a ridiculous amount of birds/wildlife roam the mud flats. Pelicans and other birds are within a stones throw (we didn't throw any stones).
Narrator: it was not a good idea. They spend the entire evening trying to make a fool out of everyone in the crowd, which we participated in as little as possible. After the bingo hell had ended, they announced next up on the list of the nights entertainment was the main event: a wet t-shirt competition. We've both never been to one, and decided sure why not. There are countless reasons why not to. Poor Dani spent the whole time covering her eyes. Stu might have too, we're not sure.
Thankfully that was over and done with, but Cairns had plenty more to offer. Dani found a nice little place to get her hair done properly for the first time all year, which even had a dog to sit on her lap the entire time:
Happy out. We'd spent enough time around Cairns proper at this stage, and decided we needed to get out a bit more. Given we're on a bit of a budget, we had to decide between two of the major trips offered from Cairns: visiting Daintree rainforest + Cape tribulation, or snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef. We'd have loved to have done both, but given that we've done some very impressive snorkelling already on this trip, we decided to head to the oldest continually surviving rainforest in the world. We first stopped at Ellis Beach and grabbed a coffee to fuel our morning:
Next stop, the Daintree itself, where our guide Adrian pointed out many of the endemic and fossil species found only here in the world.
Following that, we were on to a river cruise where we could get fairly up close and personal with some of the crocodiles that inhabit the rainforest:
And after a lunch break, we were in to see some of the wallabies and kangaroos that are pretty friendly to humans - as long as you're feeding them some carrots.
Last stop on the tour was Cape Tribulation itself, a beautiful beach and great way to end the day. Adrian showed us how to survive if ever stranded here, as we took it in turns to crack open a coconut:
Great success. One final view of the coast from above Cape Trib:
And we called it a night. that was pretty much it for Cairns. We'd one more day to play around with, so we decided to head back down to the Esplanade - where the have a man-made beach/lagoon, so you don't have to risk your life having a swim with the crocs. A day spent relaxing lagoon-side was a great way finish off our first week here.
One more stop off a Hemingway's for happy hour wouldn't hurt:
And with that we wrapped up Cairns. A great way to start off our time in Australia, we felt well prepared for the rest of our time here in Oz. We got into the swing of cooking at the hostel (given we rarely cooked for the past eight months), which given eating at restaurants seems to be a pretty good way of burning through money in Australia, would come in handy, and decided on our next few stops. Our mode of transport for the next while would be the Greyhound bus, bringing us down the east coast - we only have an 18-day pass, so we've plenty to fit in over the next two and a half weeks!
Big love,
Dani & Stu.
We were travelling here just at the end of Australian winter/entering into spring, which worked out perfect as Cairns is pretty hot at this time, being about 27 degrees every day. After getting our bags and hopping on an airport shuttle, we touched down in Dreamtime travellers Rest, where we'd be spending our first week acclimatising to life in Australia.
It didn't take too long for us to feel fairly settled here, as for the first time in over half a year we were somewhere where English was the first language, and culture/cuisine bared some resemblance to being back home. the hostel was a really nice place to chill out too. Our first stop that morning was a supermarket, Coles, where we understood what everything was, what section it was in, and how much it cost. Seriously, after such a long time, this was an absolute breath of fresh air and we felt such a strong subconscious sense of relief.
We did have quiet a ....precarious moment that knocked the wind out of our sails a little as we sat down to our breakfast that morning. Still feeling a bit delirious from the lack of sleep, we heard a high pitched scream from somewhere in the near distance that made us both take a moment, but along with the others in the hostel, thought it was probably some kids nearby. Later on that evening on the news we heard it was a girl in the hostel across the road from us, that had been assaulted & stabbed by a member of staff working there, who was charged with attempted murder. She was taken to hospital and was thankfully alright (as much as you can be in that situation). We felt a bit shook from it, but it was a freak occurrence and we haven't really had anything else like it on this trip.
Deciding to take it easy after a tiring first day, we were up the next morning and went for a little bit of exploration, seeing what Cairns was like. Turns out it's a fairly small city, you can walk around the majority of the main points within about twenty minutes. the main attraction is the Esplanade, a walkway along he coastline where a ridiculous amount of birds/wildlife roam the mud flats. Pelicans and other birds are within a stones throw (we didn't throw any stones).
Here you'll find signs along the coast as well warning not to swim due to the high risk of crocodile attacks in the area. Charming.
After getting our bearings of the area, we found Hemingway's brewery, a craft beer place right on the coast. Happy hour gave us a schooner of their beer and glass of wine for <€7. We thought Australia was supposed to be expensive? Stu was obviously very happy with this, he'd been waiting to get to Australia for a while in the hope of there being places like this:
After a few games of Kaboom and more drinks in the happy hour, we decided to check out the party spot of the city, Gilligan's. It's a hostel/bar/restaurant/shopping centre. They do boozy bingo on the night we rocked up too, which we decided might be a good idea to participate in.
Narrator: it was not a good idea. They spend the entire evening trying to make a fool out of everyone in the crowd, which we participated in as little as possible. After the bingo hell had ended, they announced next up on the list of the nights entertainment was the main event: a wet t-shirt competition. We've both never been to one, and decided sure why not. There are countless reasons why not to. Poor Dani spent the whole time covering her eyes. Stu might have too, we're not sure.
Thankfully that was over and done with, but Cairns had plenty more to offer. Dani found a nice little place to get her hair done properly for the first time all year, which even had a dog to sit on her lap the entire time:
Happy out. We'd spent enough time around Cairns proper at this stage, and decided we needed to get out a bit more. Given we're on a bit of a budget, we had to decide between two of the major trips offered from Cairns: visiting Daintree rainforest + Cape tribulation, or snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef. We'd have loved to have done both, but given that we've done some very impressive snorkelling already on this trip, we decided to head to the oldest continually surviving rainforest in the world. We first stopped at Ellis Beach and grabbed a coffee to fuel our morning:
Next stop, the Daintree itself, where our guide Adrian pointed out many of the endemic and fossil species found only here in the world.
Following that, we were on to a river cruise where we could get fairly up close and personal with some of the crocodiles that inhabit the rainforest:
And after a lunch break, we were in to see some of the wallabies and kangaroos that are pretty friendly to humans - as long as you're feeding them some carrots.
Last stop on the tour was Cape Tribulation itself, a beautiful beach and great way to end the day. Adrian showed us how to survive if ever stranded here, as we took it in turns to crack open a coconut:
Great success. One final view of the coast from above Cape Trib:
And we called it a night. that was pretty much it for Cairns. We'd one more day to play around with, so we decided to head back down to the Esplanade - where the have a man-made beach/lagoon, so you don't have to risk your life having a swim with the crocs. A day spent relaxing lagoon-side was a great way finish off our first week here.
This isn't how we remember Grafton Street
One more stop off a Hemingway's for happy hour wouldn't hurt:
Big love,
Dani & Stu.
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