Back to Civilisation

7th December - 12th December 2012

First night back in Cairns and I had to go out! It had been too long! So I went to have my free meal at the bar in Gilligans where I got chatting to some people and I hung out with them for the rest of the night. I hadn't been out in over 2 months and I definitely made up for it!

Gilligans outside bar

The Bristonian and the Kiwi

There was a live band on and when they played this song it absolutely made my day! Reminded me of home a lot!

I spent most of my time in Cairns just chilling by the lagoon or by the pool. I didn't really want to spend all my money that I had saved for the journey south and Sydney. Plus not knowing anyone it didn't seem worth splashing out too much. I went to the cinema to finally watch Skyfall and its an absoutely awesome film!

The pool at Gilligans

I happened to be walking around one day just after the sun when down which is when all the bats come out. There are shitloads of bats in Cairns and it was quite cool to watch them.

I went for another wander one night and stumbled accross some sort of Christmas festival. There were hundreds of people there and lots of performers on stage singing various Christmas songs. I sat and watched as I had nothing better to do. I think there was a guy from Australian X factor there as the host mentioned it a few times. The host asked this older woman, who was also performing, what she thought of talent shows like the X factor. She started slagging it off saying amature artists are shot to fame meaning that the professionals like herself get left out. She then proceeded to sing her song with the lyrics on a piece of paper in her hand. Hmm professional then! There was a fireworks show at the end which was cool. Hardly Sydney Harbour Bridge though.

The Christmas tree near the lagoon

Christmas party!

Woman singing with lyrics in hand

Fireworks!

oooo aaahhh woooo

When I was walking back to the hostel I came across this street performer. He was quite good working the crowd before he started doing his show. He climbed up the pole and did a few aerobatics like sliding down the pole using only his legs to stop himself by gripping the pole again. The best bit was when he put his hat at the bottom of the pole, climbed to the top and facing downwards, arms outstretched he loosened his grip on the poll and when plummeting towards the ground towards his hat. A couple of people screamed and the guy next to me full on shat himself but the guy stopped about half a metre of the ground.

Street performer dude

Sliding down the poll

I left Cairns a couple of days later in a campervan bound for Sydney. I quite like Cairns so I hope I get chance to come back again.