Travels around the world – Cairns

Cairns was our first experience of the full backpacker culture and it was a little daunting at first.  We had no idea where we were going to stay and anticipated a bit of a search when we left the arrivals lounge.  We pictured us getting copies of the phone book or looking for cards on tables or a trip to tourist information.  The reality was so very different.  We had only been through immigration a few minutes and had collected our bags and people were coming to us and asking us where we were staying and telling us about their hostel, we have a pool we have this we have that etc…We eventually made our choice but to be honest I have no idea of the name of the place we eventually decided on. “Tracks” rings a bell but I am not 100% certain if that is right.

Before we were taken to the hostel we were given a bit of a tour around Cairns itself and I realized then that it was not the place I was expecting.  My idea of this city before was of vast sandy beaches and palm trees and a real beach community but there is actually no beach in Cairns, just mud flats.  The town is much smaller than I expected so we were shown the esplanade, where the tourist shops and a few bars are and where you can get trips out to the Great Barrier Reef, the town and most importantly…..”The end of the world”.  This is a nightclub and it is where you get your free meal every day so by default this is where you find all of the backpackers.

The food itself was not bad, BBQ style food with a salad bar most of the time but it was worth turning up for.

Our first night saw us turn up and join the food queue, and this always leads to a few beers after a few hours we were getting used to the Australian beer but were also getting pretty tired after our travels, it was getting a bit late but we were sure the place would be kicking us out soon but it kept on going and going. At about 1.00 I decided to ask what time the place closed.  Coming from the UK I was used to pubs being shut at 11.00 and clubs finishing at 2 so when the guy behind the bar said they normally finished at 4 I was more than a little stunned.  We assessed the situation and decided to call in a night.  The End of the world had created a good impression so far though and it became our “Local” while we were in Cairns.

Making friends while travelling is easy, everybody is in the same boat and you find yourself chatting away to total strangers and people from different countries. A lot of the time you can get some great tips on travelling, we had planned on travelling down the east coast but met quite a few people who had done the reverse journey and traveled from Sydney up the Queensland coast.  Before we left the UK we bought a map of Australia and one day sat with the map open and people were marking off places of interest and telling us what to see and where to go, where to stay and all minds of things.  Some we used, some we ignored but everyone does things differently.  The hostels are normally full of English or Canadians but you find a few people from The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany as well as the occasional Australian or New Zealander.  We soon found ourselves as part of a group, Tash from Canada was the loudest person I have ever met, her catchphrase “Hey Honey, how’s it going” could be heard from miles away.  Others in the group were Sam and Malcolm from London and Karen from Melbourne.

Just after we had arrived in Cairns there was an open air music festival on the field just by our Hostel, it was only unsigned bands but it was still a pretty good event.  As musicians ourselves we had to go and have a look, Australia was still into the whole rock scene at the time so it was right up my street as I was fed up with the boy band dominated UK market and was excited to see bands actually playing guitars.

I have to admit that it did take a while for the realization that I was actually in Australia to hit me.  This happened one day when we were waiting for the 5.00 ritual….or The Simpsons as it is widely known.  The news had finished and then the weather forecast came on, for some reason this was the trigger that made me realize my location as there was this man telling us how sunny it was going to be and behind him was a huge map of Australia with glowing orbs all over it. It sounds stupid now but this image really hit me hard and made me realize just how far away from home I really was.

Of course the main reason to go to Cairns is the Great Barrier Reef so we booked a trip and away we went.  I was a little nervous as my swimming has never been very good but it was one of the things I had to try. The boat stopped at 2 parts of the Reef and people were invited to dive at either or both.  During the trip we were told about the different types of coral, the risk of erosion and the importance of not damaging the coral as well as the different types of fish that lived there, including Black or White tipped reef sharks.  The S word startled me a little but once I had seen them I was happier to be in the water with them as they were not the 20 foot monsters I expected but a more sedate 6 foot creature that had no chance of eating me in one bite.

All too soon it was my turn to take to the water, I got all of the Scuba equipment on and lowered myself into the water where the instructor guided me to a rope that I used to lower myself down until I was at a decent enough depth to start swimming.  I only managed a few metres then I had to stop.

  The instructor took me back to the surface for a little pep talk and I tried again but it was no good.  I was ready to start the full dive and my mind would not grasp the concept of being underwater but still being able to breathe.  The very fact that the fish were coming up to me and looking at me should have made the experience wonderful but to me it seemed like they were coming up to me and saying “ What are you doing here” and to be honest I was thinking exactly the same so decided to call it a day and get back on the boat.  Maybe Snorkeling was more my thing so I grabbed a mask and Snorkel and off I went.
I loved it, the coral was just a few feet below me and I could see all of the brightly coloured fish and it was incredible, I totally forgot I was in the middle of the ocean until I reached the end of this particular coral bed and was faced with the drop away. One minute I was looking at the coral, the next I was looking at metres and metres of sea beneath me. I stayed closer to the boat after that I can tell you.

Before we started our trip south there were a few things that were worth exploring in north Queensland.......