Cairns

On the way to Cairns we slept at a couple of free rest stops. Upon our arrival in Cairns we learned of the poor water condition out in the ocean. The weather in Cairns wasn’t the best either but it was much much warmer than it had been in the Whitsundays. Unfortunately it was raining. Cairns itself is a small town, so it didn’t take us very long to explore it. That night we slept in an industrial area in between two trailers. We decided to put off the diving in Cairns and to head up to Port Douglas and wait for the diving conditions to improve. We drove up to Port Douglas and the scenery to get there was beautiful. We were driving right along the water’s edge and the road was curvy, just like Andrew likes it. The scenery is beautiful and there aren’t a lot of people in this area so it feels very remote. Port Douglas is a very small town so there isn’t much to do. We parked the van and walked up and down main street. Since we are on a tight budget we couldn’t really eat in any of the restaurants so we bought some food and made it in our van. We weren’t sure where we were going to sleep that night but we saw a few camper vans parked in a parking lot at the end of main street. We talked to some of the people in the vans if the cops would give us a hard time for camping there and they all said they didn’t know. So we decided to camp there too. If the police would be handing out tickets at least we wouldn’t be alone in receiving one. That night we plugged in the laptop and watched a movie.

The next morning, after eating breakfast and using the free public washrooms, we left to drive further up the coast to Cape Tribulation. This drive proved to be even more beautiful as this area is known as “where the rainforest meets the sea”. The mountains and forests literally come down right to the waters edge. The drive was beautiful with views of the ocean and stunning deserted beaches. We arrived at Cape Tribulation after a few hours of driving, and quickly learned this was barely a town. It’s more like a convenience store and an information booth all in one. And they’re both run by the same lady. She literally sits in between two counters and depending on which door you come through, she swivels in her chair to help you. It was funny for me because when we arrived I didn’t realize it was the same lady who operates both the store and the info booth, so when we walked in to the info booth and spent a few minutes talking to her about what to do in the area, we then asked her if there was a better and bigger store in the area. She said there was one more store up the road but it was the same size as this one. So we left info booth and went around to the entrance to the store. It was only after we walked in that I realized that it was the same lady who owns/runs them.

We found out there was nowhere we could camp for free in the area but we found a park where you could camp for $5 per person, but you had to call ahead to make a reservation. Unfortunately we didn’t have cell phone reception but we were able to use the pay phone at the info booth and make a reservation for that night. Then we went for a walk along the creek. We were looking for crocs! This was definitely croc country but they aren’t as easy to come across as you would think. Of course it’s dangerous to go into water, especially murky water, because there could be a croc there (and as we found out at the Australia Zoo due to the way their scales are located on their backs, crocs don’t make any ripples while swimming underwater). As we were walking around the waters edge looking for a croc, there were a couple of French guys looking for crocs too, but they had actually seen one the day before. After walking and looking in the water (without getting too close to the water as that’s when you’re the most vulnerable) the French guys thought they spotted a croc in the water. Or more accurately, croc eyes peeking out just above the water. Unfortunately there was no way to get close enough to confirm if this was in fact a croc or if it was just a log. Andrew took a picture and then zoomed in and we were fairly certain it was a croc but not 100%. We continued out walking out to the beach where it was low tide but we didn’t come across any more crocs. We headed back to the car and made our way to our camping spot where we had dinner, watched a movie on the laptop and went to sleep.

The next day, after we had some breakfast we decided to drive even further north to see how far we could get. We knew we wouldn’t get too far as after a certain point the road turns into a dirt track and you need a 4x4 to keep going. I felt like Kramer from the Sinefeld episode where he goes to test drive a car with the car salesmen and keep driving to see how far they can get until the gas runs out. It’s very anticlimactic. We drove until we got to Emagen. On the map it’s a listed as a town but in reality it’s only a creek that runs across the track and separates the drivable road from the non-drivable road. You arrive there and all you see is the creek and a sign that says you need a 4x4 from this point on. We really only had one option which is to turn right back to where we came from. As I said, very anticlimactic. Before we left however, we had to search for crocs. Andrew had become obsessed with seeing a croc in the wild. There was a large sign advising us to be careful as we were in croc country, which to Andrew translated into “Go into the bush here! You will find what you’re looking for”. We were walking along the “track” until we reached the rocky beach and I was very happy that we didn’t see any crocs. We walked back to the car and headed back to Cape Tribulation. Since we were in a rainforest and 3000km north of Sydney, it was much more humid here. Andrew’s determination knows no bounds so we went for another walk along the creek to see if we could spot a croc. We came across a couple an Aussie girl who was fishing in the creek and she showed us the croc sunning itself on the other side of the creek. Apparently it had been there for a few hours and she had been worried the croc might at anytime cross the creek and attack her. I thought it wasn’t that close that she wouldn’t be able to run away but in reality crocs are extremely fast in water and it was right near the water’s edge so it was somewhat realistic. The good news was that we were able to get a few good photos of the croc and satisfy Andrew’s need to see a croc in the wild.

We started our drive back to Cairns but made a few stops along the way to do a few walking trails. It was extremely humid and as soon as we stepped out of the car we were all sticky. This called for an ice cream stop. There was a small café along the way that made their own ice cream in various flavors. I had chocolate hazelnut while Andrew tried their Guiness flavoured ice cream. I thought beer flavored ice cream would be disgusting but it turned out to be quite good. It wasn’t sweet but it had a nice refreshing taste.

The weather out on the water wasn’t improving very much so we decided to go to the Atherton Tablelands. We had planned to visit that area on the way out of Cairns but we had some time before the weather would improve so we decided to do it right away. The Atherton Tablelands is an area West of Cairns up in the mountains. It’s a very popular spot in the summer as when Cairns get very hot and humid, it’s a great escape as it’s a lot cooler in the mountains. It’s also the case in the winter. While Cairns was warm and pleasant, as we drove higher into the mountains it became cloudier, cooler and rainy. The stunning views made up for the poor weather though. The views were of gentle rolling hills and a lot of greenery. We found a camp area that was a memorial park for WW2 soldiers and you could camp there for free if you made a donation for the upkeep of the park. There were toilets with cold water there so we could brush our teeth but not much else. Also the camp area was nothing fancy as it was just a grassy field, but it was more than sufficient for what we needed. We were able to find a day park, in the camping book we had bought, that had free hot showers. We made use of those showers a few times over the next few days. This is what I really love about Australia! It’s very easy to travel as it’s well prepared for road travelers. It’s quite easy to find free showers and toilets if you know where to look.

We took a few hikes around the area and we also drove around to see some waterfalls by following the waterfall trail. One night while we were getting ready to go to sleep we went to use the toilet. When I came back all the lights in the car were off and I was climbing back into the car, I hit my eye right on the edge of the top bunk in our car. The beds in the car are made from wood and plywood with mattresses on top. We had taken the mattress off the top bunk as we didn’t use it and this way we didn’t have the mattress slipping around while we were driving. It hurt like hell because I was not expecting anything to come right at my face in the dark so I hit it with all my force. I also hit my myself right in my eye so at first I was scared I had done something to my eye. I called out to Andrew, who was coming back at this point, that I hit myself. He wasn’t too concerned as I tend to hit myself quite frequently but I started crying and told him “No, I really hit myself”. He came right over but I wouldn’t take my hand off my eye because I was too scared. After he finally pried it off we were able to determine my eye ball was still intact but there was some damage right by my eye and there could potentially be some swelling. We didn’t have anything cold because we didn’t have a fridge in the car so the only thing we could think of was to drive to McDonald’s 20km away to get some ice. Unfortunately since it was already midnight and we were in a very small town, McDonald’s was already closed. So the next best thing was to go to a bar and ask for some ice. I don’t know how Andrew got out of that bar without having to explain himself further after he told the bartender he needed some ice because his wife had hurt herself. A little suspicious. I spent the next hour with freezing ice on my face but at least we were able to tone down the swelling. The next morning my eye was a little swollen but it wasn’t that noticeable. Luckily my eye didn’t turn blue so I didn’t have to walk around in sunglasses but I did have a scratch right in the corner of my eye.

After a few days spent in the Atherton Tablelands we went back to Cairns. Finally the weather had improved out on the water so we booked our dive trip. Andrew hadn’t cut his hair since we had left Canada so we decided it was time for a cut. We found a hair school that was willing to cut Andrew’s hair $10. We asked them to cut his hair into a “fauxhawk” which we thought would be an easy enough request. 2 hours and 4 hairdressers later we were done. It was a very intense experience. Andrew felt so bad for the girls he left them a $10 tip. That night we went to the Casino and I won $5! It doesn’t sound like much (and it’s even less in Australia) but it paid for a cup of coffee the next day.

The next day we went diving on the Great Barrier Reef. We completed 3 dives each. Even though it was hot in the city, once we got out onto the water the wind was quite chilly. The winds were around 12 knots, which is not very much, but it was interesting to see the amount of people who were getting sea sick. During one of our dives we were able to swim with a turtle. It was a highlight because this turtle was not shy at all and he would swim right up to us. Another highlight of the dive trip was the helicopter rescue we watched from a dive boat next to us. While we were putting our gear on we heard the chopper approaching. At first you’re not sure what you’re hearing because you’re in the middle of the ocean, but then we saw the chopper appear. It was crazy to watch 2 guys descend down a line onto the boat. Apparently it’s a very dangerous procedure. We thought it might have been a diver that was getting rescued but later we found out it was a staff member suffering from appendicitis who needed to be rescued. We had such a great time diving we decided to do it again the next day. We really liked the company we had gone diving with, mainly because we didn’t feel like we were treated like children whose hands needed to be held. We didn’t want to go diving in the same spot again so we decided to drive back to Port Douglas and dive the Agincourt reef, which is also part of the Great Barrier Reef. We drove up the night before and slept in the parking lot again. We met a couple of British guys at the marina who were fishing for shark. It was entertaining watching them because they didn’t even have fishing poles. All they had was a thick fishing line and they were hoping to pull out a small shark with it. I gave up on watching them and went to sleep but Andrew stayed with them for a while longer. The next day we went diving and again had a great time, although nothing as exciting as the chopper rescue occurred.

We decided it was time to head back to Sydney and ultimately leave Australia. It was a hard decision as we had only seen ¼ of the country, but we had spent all the money we had made over a period of 2 months in less than a month. In addition, my uncle’s 50th birthday was coming up on June 4th and he was having a large party and we definitely wanted to be there. We had about a week to drive back to Sydney, and on the way we wanted to stop in Gold Coast again as our friend Kasia from Canada was visiting a friend there. Before we got to Gold Coast we drove through Mackay. We definitely couldn’t stay overnight as we had to get to the Gold Coast by a certain day. However we did stop in Mackay to buy some wine (we found the best prices of alcohol in Mackay) and we decided to give my aunt’s husband, Chris, a call to see if he was perhaps in Mackay on business. We gave him a call and it turned out he had just landed in Mackay. The three of us went out for a nice Thai dinner but too soon we had to get going. We wanted to reach the Gold Coast the next day. We didn’t reach Gold Coast until a couple days later but we were thrilled to see Kasia. It had been around 6 or 7 years since we had seen each other so we had a lot of catching up to do. Life had gotten in the way of staying in touch so it was great that we were thousands of kilometers away from home and we could meet.