Cairns

Well, up until now all I have talked about is what I’ve done in Cairns, but haven’t really said anything about Cairns in general. Let’s fix that now!

Cairns is another city that is completely different from the others I have seen. I may have been a bit too harsh on cities in the start of my Australian journey. Cairns is in the tropical zone of Australia, so everywhere you look there are palm trees and other tropical plants. There are also many, many different kinds of birds. It still had the ugly buildings, but Cairns is a beautiful city.

As you might expect, the majority of the city is geared towards tourists (kind of like how Sydney was) so everywhere you look someone is trying to sell you something or trying to get you to go somewhere. But… if you can look past that… you can really start to enjoy the city. I am told that Cairns is considered very safe, which was good as I often found myself walking home in the dark after long hours of updating my blog at the inexpensive internet cafe. It also was very clean – much cleaner than Sydney.

The hostel I’m staying in is called ‘Bohemia Central’, and I have very mixed feelings about this place. The staff always seem to be really friendly (probably the friendliest staff I have met at a hostel yet) but the place itself is kind of annoying. It’s a big partying hostel, so people are loud all night long, every single night. My room happens to be very close to the bar so I can very clearly hear all the drunk people during all hours of the night. If they aren’t at the bar getting their drink on, they are thumping around the hallway outside my room and shouting to each another. So yeah, it’s quite annoying. Especially since almost every morning I’ve been staying here I’ve had to wake up at the crack of dawn for a new adventure. During my the last two days of staying here my interior light in the room hasn’t been working. Because my room is in a spot that doesn’t get much natural sunlight I have to do everything in the dark – day and night. I have asked them to fix it numerous times but they just keep giving me a sob story about how ‘oh they were supposed to come’ and ‘oh those lights are a pain to fix’.  They keep promising to fix it… but here I am, and it is still broken. Not as if it matters much anymore, as I am leaving tomorrow, but still – it seems kind of ridiculous.

And now I’ll tell you the most amazing part of Cairns. Every morning and every night at sunrise and sunset, thousands and thousands of bats fill the sky. I am not exaggerating about the number. There are literally thousands of them. They fill up the sky, and for a few minutes all you can see or hear are bats. I was outside one evening for the evening flight, and they would swoop down pretty close to you you as they flew by. I can’t put the experience into words. It was also hilarious watching some people run by screaming.

So tomorrow I am off to Airlie Beach for one night, then I’ll be off to Hervey Bay for a trip to Frasier Island. Frasier Island is noted for being an amazing, pristine island completely made out of sand which is home to one of the clearest lakes in Australia. And after that it is off to the Steve Irwin Zoo!

AND I AM NOW ALL CAUGHT UP WITH MY POSTS! I can finally stop feeling rushed to finish them now. I feel like I have cheated you guys a bit with my last few because I just wanted to get them all done before I left for another city.

For now I am off to bed. I’ve got to wake up at 5:30 to be at to the bus station by 6:30. Goodnight all! Or good morning to you Americans.