Bad things
I've been craving for some peace and quiet. It's been three weeks since I've slept a whole night without having to wear earplugs. Wearing earplugs hurts because my ears are too small, so that doesn't make me very happy. I've come to realize that about half of the backpackers (based on those I've met during the last three months) don't have any manners at all, when it comes to respecting other people's sleep. They don't give a shit if someone in their room is trying to sleep (at night, in the morning, during the day - any time), but keep on having loud conversations, shuffle through their stuff, and flick the lights on. This absolutely pisses me off. I've noticed most people just lie in their beds miserable and wait for the noisy people go tired. Now, I'm a pretty calm person and don't like conflicts, but this is an issue I do speak up about. I just can't take it anymore, so I do get up and half-politely ask the people to be quiet or move somewhere else. So far I've only been called bitch once...
I've been sleeping badly, and it makes me irritable, annoyed and exhausted. I hate to be pissed off all the time. In Cairns I stayed in a 14-bed-dorm (didn't know that at the time of booking, otherwise wouldn't have done it) and had to tell people to shut up almost every fucking night. Ooh how I dream about having an apartment of my own again. How can I feel too old for the backpacker scene when I'm only 22?
Talking about unpleasant noise... I spent seven nights in the same room with a Dutch girl, who must have the ugliest voice on the planet. Any time she opens her mouth, I feel my jaw tighten and anger bubble inside me. I want to shout her to SHUT UP!!! and beg my other roomies not to talk to her. I've tried wearing earplugs when she's in the room, but they didn't help - her shriek could break through any defense. She sounds like a screeching pig that someone is trying to kill. Had she stayed for a while longer, I would have volunteered as the butcher.
Having a lot of time in my hands, I decided to work on my West coast itinerary. I had trouble booking the sectors of my bus pass online, so I dropped in on a Greyhound office for help. They also couldn't make the system work - some of my destinations didn't show up. After some phone calls, the helpful man at the desk found out that there was no service to Kalbarri, Denham or Monkey Mia anymore, because a third-party shuttle service had closed business, for good. He made some more phone calls, trying to help me find alternative ways to get to these places, only to find out there was absolutely no public transport to these towns anymore. This change had only occurred a week earlier, which was after I had already bought my ticket. They had apparently posted a small notice somewhere on their website, but didn't bother to notify those people who had already bought a ticket. What about those people who had already started their travels and were now stuck in Kalbarri or Denham? Neither had Greyhound changed their promotion materials: all posters, magazine ads, etc. still had those towns on their route map. As I had just witnessed, even their staff weren't really aware of the change. Hello Greyhound, you're doing a shitty job! I was obviously very much pissed off. What's the use of having a bus pass when the bus doesn't go to two out of the three major destinations anymore?! The kind man at the service desk helped me to fill out a refund application, but cautioned me that the processing time was very long and that I would have to wait 6-8 weeks to get my money back. All fellow travellers, be warned: Greyhound sucks!!!
Upset, I marched into a travel agency and booked a tour to cover the way from Perth to Exmouth. Then, to cut down the costs, I booked a bus from Exmouth to Broome (Greyhound as they are the only operator there - no wonder they can do whatever they want! I only realize now that there might have been some flight between Exmouth and Broome... Whatever, too late). This seriously wrecked my budget, as I ended up having to pay $900 instead of the original $400 (in addition to having to wait forever before I actually get that money)! The tour will certainly be about 100 times better, more convenient and more fun than the bus would've been, so at least something good comes out of this.
Good things
Apart from the troubles, I had a good time in Cairns. I had many a lovely stroll along the waterfront that I found beautiful even though it wasn't a beach but a mud flat. Except for two tours, I didn't do much. Every day I went to one of the travel agencies to use the veeeeery slow but free internet, and had some very crappy but free dinner at the Woolshed, a pub famous for its classy events such as Wet T-Shirt Wednesdays. I liked the town much more than I had expected, thanks to the lovely weather (at 26-28 degrees and sunny, it was just perfect to me) and the laidback atmosphere.
The first one of my tours was to the World Heritage listed rainforests up North. Our tour guide was a chatty man full of fun facts to share. Did you know that about half of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions are caused my the cattle and sheep? More specifically, from the methane emitted when the animals fart. (I'm childish enough to find that hilarious.) So how are the clever Australians planning to cut their national emissions? Well, some scientists have discovered that when kangaroos fart no methane is emitted, because there is some bacteria in their gut that chops up that gas. Now, the scientists are trying to figure out how to isolate this bacteria and plant it to all sheep and cattle as well. And voil`a, the ozone layer is saved! (If I hadn't heard about this methane problem before, I would've been sure that the guide was bullshitting us...)
Our first stop of the day was to a wildlife park. Apart from the usual kangaroos, koalas and emus, they had a bunch of ridiculous-looking birds (I loved them), and the main reason why I chose the only tour that visits the park: a cassowary. Cassowaries are huge, flightless birds distantly related to emus. They have very ugly, red-and-blue heads and are able to kill (and have done it as well) humans by clawing with their feet. A few decades ago these birds where thought to be extinct, but actually nowadays there are still one or two thousand of them roaming around Australia's Northeastern jungles. We were also lucky enough to spot a wild one in the forest later that day!
After visiting the park we continued to drive north, stopping on the way at a field to steal some sugarcane which we had for dessert after lunch (it was quite nice - tasted like sugar obviously). Our next stop was Alexandra Lookout with a nice view to the sea and the place where Steve Irwin got killed by a stingray (yep, one of those mates I snorkelled with at Magnetic Island). The reason why I remember this place wasn't he view though, but the local population of green ants. For the Aborigines, these ants are like walking candy. I felt up for some experimentation, so I picked up an ant, close my lips around its behind and gave a suck. And sure it did taste like lime! Then I realized I had just licked some ass to get candy.
Somebody had brought along their didgeridoo (don't ask me why), that's an Aboriginal instrument, so the guide decided to show off his skills by playin it. He was pretty good, and could play any modern songs in a recognizable way. We managed to dare him to try playing it while driving the car simultaneously. He managed it! Who said that men can't do two things at the same time?
Upon arrival in Cape Tribulation we discovered a bunch of 3-4 buildings, and that was the whole village. Truly a place to get away from it all! We took a stroll in the forest and practised boomerang throwing on the beach. I did the best, which isn't much to say as we all sucked at it. We also took some stupid photos.
My shoe didn't like all the movement. One of the metal buckles holding the straps together broke into two pieces. I was gutted, as I had just had the shoe fixed two days earlier, when another part of it had been broken. But no worries! I had a bulb light up above my head, and asked for a paper clip. A couple of twists and turns and voil`a! The straps of the shoe were firmly fixed into place. (Unfortunately, the following day another one of those metal thingies broke, and I finally had to admit that the life of these shoes had come to an end and throw them away. My late travel companion Inka would've been happy, as she hated them. She doesn't know I bought a new pair a week later and they are even less stylish...) I was renamed "Mrs MacGyver" then.
We drove up in the middle of the forest and hiked for a while to reach a river called Emmagen Creek. It was a gorgeous, peaceful place. We went for a swim in the cold water, and the guide tried to take some mermaid-style pictures of me (I hope they are never going to see the daylight). I was scared of crocodiles, and it didn't comfort me whatsoever when the guide told us it had been over a year since he had seen one there. (I was right to be alert actually - some other people from our group had spotted a saltwater crocodile on the same beach we had been on an hour earlier!) Perhaps inspired my the New Moon movie, I took up the offer to try cliffdiving. Up on the cliff I remember why I never dared to jump from the 5-meter platform to the pool when I was a kid - it's damn high! However, I took a deep breath, hesitated for a moment, and jumped. After a huge splash (I have a video of my jump, it looks like some elephant just fell over from the cliff) I resurfaced, giggling from the thrill.
Then it was time to drive back to Cairns. I had enclosed myself in a happy bubble, reminiscing on the great day I had. The guide apparently had been impressed, as he asked if I wanted to come out for a second tour the following day. I was taken by surprise and hadn't even answered before he had immersed in another conversation. Later that night he texted me to congratulate me on the "sexy swimming pictures" (if drowning is sexy to you...) and asked me out for a drink. I really couldn't be bothered.
My other big day out from Cairns was a boat trip to the outer reef. I had chosen to cruise with Ocean Spirit because they were one of the cheapest options, but I got definitely very good value for the money. I snorkelled on two different reef sites, and was super-impressed by all the stunning colours of the fish and coral I saw. It was so beautiful I didn't want to leave the water before a staff member drove around in a boat telling people it was time to leave. I also had a good time laying on the top deck sunbathing - I, the queen of almost-albinos, managed to get a tan! I had bought a underwater case for my smaller camera, so I naturally took heaps of pictures. Since most of you have already seen them on Facebook, I'll only post these two:
Since you're reading this, obviously I haven't been eaten by sharks yet. I left Cairns on 9th June and flew over to Perth in Western Australia. Next entry will be about the wild west!
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti