A Victory Lap

18th Dec – 2^nd Jan 2016

I'm back in my favourite place in all Australia, although Tasmania did give it a run for its money. Its hard to really describe the attraction I have with Cairns. I think its generally to do with the relaxed attitude that the people have here. It’s a big enough town to have things going on but not at all busy. No one’s really in a hurry to get anywhere. Especially when you’re walking down the promenade which runs the length of the town. People here take their time to take in the views which is mostly great just as long as they aren’t on the running track getting in you’re way. There’s a nice balance of locals versus tourists here too. You can go to a party bar with wet t-shirt completion if you so wish or you can go to a nice and quite country pub in the middle of town.

Blast from the past

This is the fourth time I’ve been in Cairns so I spent the first day revisiting the places that I have such fond memories of. Gilligan's is the first place I stayed way back in my first ever month in Australia, September 2012. That’s so long ago now but I still remember the fun that Mark, Shelly, Beckie, Dennis and I had here. Along with the hotel opposite where we had a drunken night in the pool and a pillow fight in the room that Mark and Shelly had got.

I had stayed here again after completing a couple of months work at The Lions Den Hotel. That hotel was somewhere I really wanted to return to. It would have been great to see the locals there again and to see what changes the new owners had done and the damage the cyclone had done too. Unfortunately I couldn’t justify the cost of getting there and back now that I had sold my car for less than I wanted to.

Gone but not forgotten

The third time I stayed was Cairns Work and Play Backpackers. This was when I spent most of the time in Cairns. I worked on the bar and drove the bus at this hostel from June to August 2013. I came with Hiroaki and Felix who I knew from the farm job in Bundaberg. I made some other great friends whilst I was here too and it was one of my favourite times whilst away from home. Sadly this place now lies abandoned and half demolished.

Tropical

I also saw a few familiar faces too. I popped into M Yogo, the restaurant that I had worked at the last time I was in Cairns. Tommy remembered me but the owner needed a little reminder. She was surprisingly friendly considering I left about 4 months earlier than I initially said I would. Although she did say I’d gained weight. I’m going to put it down to the fact that I've got longer hair and beard now. Tommy was happy to see me and keen to know what I’d been up to. He seemed a bit busy and I left. I think I should have hung around in there to talk to him a bit more but never mind. I was taking a trip down memory lane at the time and wanted to move on.

I saw the manager of the Nomads in the shopping centre. He was the one that have given me the bar job at the hostel. I haven’t spoken to him since I got fired. That was when I was supposed to do at reception until midnight but left at 9pm to go out. There were no more check ins to do but someone grassed me up. I thought it best I didn’t say hello to him.

I also saw a woman who was the part time chef at the Lions Den. She was going into the cinema just as I was coming out. I really wish I spoke to her. I was trying desperately to remember her name but I couldn’t and then she was gone. I would have shouted if I’d remembered.

Christmas Time

The lagoon!

So yes I have a lot of memories here and it made sense to return to my favourite place one last time before I left the country. I read the blogs I made for these previous times in Cairns before I came back and it made me very nostalgic.

After my wander around town taking a trip down memory lane I went back to the hostel I had checked into late the night before. I’d never stayed at this hostel before. I’d never even heard of it but it prided itself on not being a party hostel and that’s exactly what I wanted. (I've grown up a bit since last time I was here). I had spoken to the manager in the morning when I checked in properly and he told me to pop back later after I had asked him about working for accommodation. The bed was pretty cheap but I was quite keen to save a bit of extra cash if I could.

The answer was yes. The only thing he had available was the late shift that no one wanted to do. It was 11pm – 4am every other night. The other nights were taken on by Kevin who had also just arrived. It meant that I wouldn’t be able to go out on those days which was probably a bonus really. The main thing I had to do was make sure people don’t make any noise. I was supposed to do late check ins too but I didn’t have to do a single one. I mostly just sat and watched stuff on my laptop. The manager was fine with that. I just had to be there.

Bit wet

I settled myself in for a very relaxing couple of weeks lying in the sun…..sun? Ah, yes. The wet season has arrived. I had seen Cairns in early December and it was still mostly sunny but the end of December is clearly the turning point. It rained a lot whilst I was there! Plus it was always hot and sticky. Not ideal weather at all. There were periods of niceness so it wasn’t all bad but It wasn’t anywhere near as much as I had hoped and certainly not for the first week I was there.

I mostly just hung around the hostel. I got talking to the other staff members there which was quite a large portion of the hostel. There’s no paid staff here. They had a Wii so I spent a lot of time playing either Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros.

Christmas Eve

There were a large amount of Germans in this hostel. I would say nearly 50%. It was quite ridiculous. I make this point because in Germany they do all the Christmasy stuff on Christmas Eve. They have their Christmas dinner and open all the presents the day before Christmas. On the actual day they do what all other normal people do on Boxing Day. Its quite strange!

Christmas Drinks

Anyway, we collectively organised a BBQ. There was a list of stuff each person would bring plus the meat you wanted to eat. You were supposed to make something but I didn’t realise this and just bought a party pack of pasties and sausage rolls. I think the whole hostel got involved although not everyone brought anything.

Present!

There was a German couple (I feel so bad that I don't remember their names) who had bought all the staff a chocolate bar. It wouldn’t have cost them much but it was such a nice gesture. I wish I'd thought of it. It was the only present I got this year. I think that was the same for all of the other people that got one too.

I actually had to work that night. I didn’t want to be the fun police and tell everyone to shut up on Christmas Day but I didn’t need to. Most people stayed up just long enough to say Merry Christmas to everyone and then went to bed.

Christmas Dinner

I wasn't expected too much for Christmas away from home this year. Its why I had considered staying in Karratha where I knew people better. My expectations were mostly correct. It was to be like any other day but the meal the night before had been really good so I can’t complain. Me and some others went and played beach volleyball in the afternoon which was a lot of fun. Very sweaty but a lot of fun. My Christmas dinner was a BBQ Beef & Onion pizza from Pizza Hut. Could be worse I suppose.

The Woolshed

As Christmas Day ended and Boxing Day began my favourite club in the whole of Australia opened its doors. I had very much been looking forward to returning to The Woolshed where table top dancing is almost encouraged!

I was sadly disappointed, however. The thing that set this place apart from Gilligan's was the music. Woolshed would play party bangers, songs that you know and could sing/scream along too. Unfortunately it seems they have, like every other bloody place in the world now, opted for this annoying remixing of every song. JUST PLAY THE ORIGINALS. What's most upsetting is that this style is clearly popular otherwise it wouldn’t have caught on. This can only mean that its my age that’s the main factor! Ugh

Pretty tree

Scary cloud

Bit of volleyball

Boxing Day was mostly a day of being hungover. The next day, however the sun came out so I went down to the lagoon for a while before coming back to play beach volleyball again. Everyone was drinking again that night and after my disappointing return to The Woolshed I thought I would give it another go.

Told you

Sweating!

I was actually supposed to be working that night but I managed to persuade the newly arrived English couple, Martha and Jay to work it for me. I told what they needed to do and paid them the money they would have saved had they gone through the manager. They were quite happy to save money and were willing to do it.

Party time

The night started out well. They played music I know but then the DJ started and the remixes started. I hate DJs now. Its not like you’re actually mixing it yourself, you're still just pressing play on a song! You're just trying to justify you're job!

The jungle

I did not get a lot of sleep that night at all. Not from my anger. Just because I got up very early to join the others on a trip to the Daintree. Two American girls had hoped to hire a car but they were all fully booked. The only thing available was an 8 seater so they invited others to join them, one of which was me. The plan was to go up to Daintree in the morning then come back early afternoon to pick up the others that had to work that morning and then head to the waterfalls.

Walk in the forest

It took a little longer to get to Daintree then had been anticipated but we got there eventually. The first stop was a view point. Then we went on a bit of a walk through the jungle. The Daintree forest isn't really somewhere you can come for half a day. I knew this but I just wanted to get out of the hostel.

Jungle

It was near mid afternoon by the time we got back to Cairns to pick up the others. Then all 9 of us headed for the waterfalls. Yes, all 9, in an 8 seater. It was a bit of a squeeze but I was driving this time so I had plenty of room. The car was insured for someone over 25 of which there only a few in our group including myself. I missed driving and it also meant I had control of the music!

Cathedral Fig

Group photo

The drive was easy until we go to a 20km stretch of very windy road. I had been this way before but forgotten how annoying this road was. It was fun for a while but then it became exhausted. We went all the way up into the clouds before if straighted out onto the Atherton Tablelands. I saw a sign for the Cathedral Fig which I had completely forgotten about. I told the others it was a well worth detour and they agreed to take it.

Millaa Millaa Falls

It was 4/5 o'clock by the time we made it to Millaa Milaa falls. The water was flowing much more than it was last time I came 3 years ago. I went for a swim which I didn’t do last time. A couple of us climbed round the back of the falls to go underneath it. The water was extremely powerful.

Zillie Falls

Ellinjaa Falls

We completed the waterfall circuit round to Zillie falls and Ellinjaa falls. By this time it was quite late and we drove back to Cairns in the dark. It was a fun day. We crammed a lot in and none of it done properly but as there were so many of us it was pretty cheap. I had to work that night and I was super tired!

New Years Eve

New Years Eve was a massive fail to put it bluntly. So much indecision led to a less than average night. I have very low expectations for any NYE anyway. Its always an overrated day in the calender so when I heard of a free concert and fireworks down by the lagoon I was quite keen. I had planned to take a few beers down with me and watch the bands, fireworks and then maybe try to find a pub that’s free to get into. I decided to stick with the group, however, who were vaguely planning the same thing. ‘Vaguely’ was the issue.

Downtown

Live music

After over an hour of ‘should we go?’ we finally got down to the lagoon area at 11.30pm. I went over to get a look at the band just long enough to conclude that I should have spent the evening there before heading back over to the group.

Happy New Year?

There was a murmur around the crowd just after midnight that we had missed it and it was in fact 2016. We all said a belated ‘happy new year’ to each other and lit the sparklers and then, five minutes late, the fireworks went off.

OOOH, AHHH

I wasn’t exactly expecting Sydney Harbour but it fireworks were a bit average. There wasn’t much in the way of a grand finale. I heard from a local that they were usually better than that.

Now here’s where the night was salvageable. If we had gone to find a bar and had some drinks it would have been overall a good night but unfortunately we sat around for an hour doing nothing. A whole hour of ‘what should we do now?’ People just looking at each other or chatting and not making a decision. I know I’m not a patient person but I could have screamed. “There's a bar right there! Its free! Lets go!”

I waited as patiently as I could until whilst people wandered off to the toilet or to talk to someone else they knew in town. When, finally, people started to decide what to do the general consensus was to go home. FINE! I had had enough of tonight already. I was sober, I was tired, I went and got a pie and went home.

I actually got into a lengthy conversation with a Japanese girl that had just moved into the room. I still say that Japanese people are the best people in the whole world! It cheered me up a little.

Goodbye Cairns

I feel like I’ve ranted a bit but I did genuinely enjoy my time back in Cairns. Again, I met some great people who I’ll hopefully keep in contact with. The weather wasn’t quite as good as I had hoped but it was nice to chill for a while. Especially when I was just about to fly to Bali to start 6 months of a mad Asian Adventure. It would be the start of a new and very different chapter.