My Arrival in the Tropics

Friday afternoon I left the unseasonably warm Sydney and headed off for the tropics of Cairns. I arrived Friday evening and soon learned that although it might be raining the temperature was a lot different. I got off the plane and went outside only to find that a giant wall of humidity slapped me in the face. The air was so think you almost had to push it aside when you walked. The forecast was for rain while I was up there but I very soon realized that the rain wouldn’t matter because it was so hot that would be like having a shower. The weather did get more bearable over the time that I was there; it was just a big change coming from Sydney to there.

After checking into my hostel and getting things sorted in my room I asked my new roomie what was crackin on a Friday night in Cairns. To which she replied that it was movie night at the hostel, and if I wanted to a movie was being played at 7:30 in the court yard. Most other hostels have exciting things scheduled for Friday and Saturday nights, but not this one. She also told me that there were night markets down by the water that was open until 11. So I decided to skip movie night and head out and make my own fun. I went to the night markets and only bought a key chain to put my suitcase keys on and just looked at everything else. I then started walking down by the water and happened upon a random fire show. It was pretty cool. Plus it was cool that just out of the blue this group was putting on a fire show down by the lagoon. The lagoon! The lagoon is a whole other story. I walked down and watched the fire show for a bit and then headed off again. I came to a huge massive free public swimming pool. It was all lit up in the night and it looked absolutely gorgeous! It was at that moment that I decided I loved Cairns. To celebrate my new love I figured I would celebrate the same way a proper east coaster celebrates anything……..with a beer! So a found a place right on the water that had decent music and was bound to have beer. Now, before I came here I never went into a bar by myself just to have a beer. However when you travel alone you have no choice.

The Pier the place was called. I ordered a beer and it was only $5.00. That was super cheap compared to any other drinking establishments I had been into prior to this one. So I sat and sipped my beer and watched the young locals out for a night on the town. I also noticed that there were not that many young locals in the particular bar. After a little while a young man came up to me and asked why I was sitting alone. I told him that I travel alone, who the hell else was I supposed to be sitting with. Then he asked if I wanted him to introduce me to some people he was hanging out with. In this case I really have nothing to lose. I came in alone, and if the people he introduces me to are duds then I can always book it without having to worry about anyone else, so I said sure. This fellow introduced me to a number of girls and a few guys that were all sitting together. They were very welcoming and they all seemed eager to talk to a real live Canadian. One woman in the group was older, and I later learned that she was the mother-in-law of one of the other girls in the group, she was quite chatty. We talked for a while and then she said that if I was ever back in Cairns to call her and I could stay at her house. She gave me her card and everything! That was pretty random, but nice I guess. I took her card; you never know when something like that might come in handy. So after a little while I noticed that, although the people that I was with were making the best of the night, they were just about the only ones in the bar. So I said farewell, thanks for the company and struck off in search of more action. I ended up at a place called the Woolshed. The Woolshed is the kind of place that dancing on the table is encouraged. You get the picture. Anyways I went in and whooped it up with a number of very drunk people. I myself didn’t drink too much but still had a hoot with the people in there. There was one group of people in there that were on a stag party. I recognized them from my flight to Cairns. The groom to be was dressed in an Irish maids outfit and a great big green hat. He got on the plane this way, lol. The guys had a good flight and enjoyed many beverages on their way to Cairns, so you can only imagine that by the time I met up with them at the Woolshed the groom to be could hardly speak and I am not so sure that he even knew his own name. I stayed there until about 2:30am and then headed back to my hostel for the night.

Normally I would write an entry for each day I was away but the second day of my trip was pretty low key so I am just going to tack it on the end of this one.

I woke up semi-early on Saturday morning and my plan was to go and explore Cairns in the light of day. I did this a little bit but it rained all of Saturday. Although it was warm it still made everything wet and uncomfortable. I went to the local shopping centre to get a few groceries and have a look at the shops. I found two really neat shops. One was called ‘The Drunken Goat’ and the other was ‘Zonky Plonky.’ They just had neat little things in them that you might not find every day. I have started a collection of fridge magnets so at one of these stores I bought a magnet that says “I say that if the kids are still alive at 5, then my job is done.” I also bought a really neat bar of ridiculously awesome smelling soap. After wandering around in the rain a bunch I headed back to my room for some quiet time. I knew I was going to have a big day on Sunday because that was my trip to the reef day!