- N I N E B L A C K K C A T S -

#aussieadventure: Cairns

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For some reason, I was still pretty tired on the plane but it was so difficult to find a comfortable position to sleep in and the lady seated behind me kept pushing on my seat. Thankfully, it was only a two-hour flight so the ordeal was over pretty soon.

Cairns is a lot warmer, probably because it's higher up North, and I was wearing 3 layers of clothing since I had to remove things from my bag to make it meet the size requirements for carry-on luggage. So I quickly removed my jacket and sweater and grabbed a cab to the hostel where we're staying - The Jack Backpacker's Hostel.

The place was alright. It's really simple; our room was basically just the bed and a fridge. There's a ceiling fan that rotates so slow that you barely feel a thing, and the air-conditioning only works from 6pm to 12pm. Amos and I decided that we won't spend too much time in the room since it was way too warm inside.

Since the girl at the check-in counter (who we both thought was kinda cute) recommended that we visit Rusty's Markets, we did. Rusty's was filled with people selling local produce. There were stalls selling other stuff as well - iPhone cases, jewellery and other knick-knacks. Apparently the coffee there is really good, but I didn't try it. The cafe looks really cool though.





We did manage to get a whole lot of fruits for like $7. Prices were being cut because the market was going to close in an hour and the sellers were just trying to get rid of as much of their products as they can. I was pretty pleased with the purchase; the fruits were going to be my lunch and snacks for our stay here in Cairns. When it comes to food, I'm trying to limit my spending so I decided that I'm going to try to survive on bread, peanut butter, fruits and tap water. Amos probably feels sorry for me but I really don't mind it at all. I really like bread lol.



After changing out of my jeans and shoes, we explored the city a little bit. Jamie was telling us that Cairns is kinda run-down and stuff, and it can be a little scary. It's not even that bad, really. Sure, it's not like a super modern city or anything - it actually kinda reminds me of Malaysia - but it's got a lot more colour and character than Brisbane, in my opinion.

We walked towards this place called The Esplanade. It's basically towards the water, where there was a really nice boardwalk from which you can see mountains, the sea, and a whole lot of yachts and jet-skis. It was a really pretty sight.





We kept walking along the boardwalk and we came across The Lagoon. It's like a public pool that people can swim in for free. Amos told me that The Lagoon was built so that people won't swim in the sea; apparently there are crocodiles in the water lol. 



The Lagoon was also surrounded by lots of grass patches where people would just lay down and get a tan or read a book while enjoying the free music. It was really nice; Singapore could learn a thing or two from Cairns.



As we kept walking along the boardwalk (it eventually loads to the Botanical Gardens). we passed by lots of exercise stations. It looked a lot like the beaches in Miami or California - not that I've ever been to those places lol, I just see them in movies and TV shows.

We found out that here are free fitness sessions held at The Esplanade everyday. There was going to be an aqua aerobics session the next day at 6:30am, so I decided that I was going to get up early and jog along the boardwalk and check out the aqua aerobics session. I was hoping to maybe enjoy the "view" or something lol.

We got tired of walking after a while and I decided to turn back sine the Botanical Gardens was probably going to be all trees and flowers; nothing special.

While waiting for the free dinner that The Jack provides, I spoke to two guys while having a smoke. One guy was from France or Canada (or was it both?) and the other was from The Netherlands. They told me that they were travelling around Australia as well, and that they had rented a caravan so that they can drive from state to state. The caravan kinda burned out so they ditched it somewhere and now they're heading to Noosa where the Dutch dude has an aunt who can give them a job. They have to come up with $2500 to pay for the broken van. Ouch.

So after the dinner, Amos and I just hung out on the balconies and talked over some cigarettes for over 3 hours. It was really relaxing; I finally felt like I was on a holiday. At one point, I realised that I didn't bring my key out and so I asked Amos for his. He said that he thought I had brought my key out. So we both laughed at the fact that we were both stupid enough to lock ourselves out of our room. Good thing we could call someone to open the door for us (it was this nice guy who served us dinner and tried to pronounce "Chow", and I thought he was trying to speak Mandarin).



We got into the room and could only find one key. Turns out, they other key was in Amos' pocket all along. So we laughed even more, and had a few more smokes before turning in for the night. I went to bed really late, so the chances of me actually waking up for a run was gradually becoming zero. It was all good though, at least we had a good time.

Fun fact: It's my first time backpacking and staying in backpacker’s hostels. To be completely honest, though I expected backpackers to be friendly and sociable, I thought that there would be a “survival of the fittest” mindset thing going on; people will take other people’s food and clothes if they had the chance. I was proven wrong today when I realized that I had left my iPod in the common TV room the night before. 

As I made my way there, I was fully prepared to see that it had already been taken by someone else – but I was surprised to see that it was right where I left it, completely untouched. I don’t know if this kind of honesty applies to backpackers in other countries as well, but I’m glad that the ones staying in our hostel were honest enough to not take something that doesn’t belong to them.

End of fun fact, lol. So while at Cairns, we took the Kuranda Scenic Railway to Kuranda. It was my first time on an “old-school” train and the view during the trip was as good as promised. It was a good first-time experience for me.









At Kuranda, there wasn’t too much to do. We walked around and looked at some stores there and I bought a Kangaroo Scrotum that I eventually used as a coin pouch since I hate carrying coins around in my pockets. Amos didn’t quite like it though; I think the idea of carrying around a real scrotum bothers him a tiny bit.



I don't know what we were thinking, but we decided that it would be a good idea to trek through the jungle trail despite the fact that we were wearing jeans, sneakers, and T-shirts. It was fun at first, until the mosquitoes started swarming us. It's alright though, at least I managed to get a couple of good photos.





After the visit to Kuranda, we headed to the airport where we spent the night. For those of you who intend to do the same, just know that Cairns airport closes at 11am and re-opens at 3am. I knew this and was prepared to spend the night outside. We even set up a little “fort” using some chairs and tables. What I was not prepared for was my body deciding to play a little prank and give me a terrible stomachache right when the airport closed.

As I sat quietly, trying my best to focus my mind on something other than the pain in my abdomen, Amos was happily listening to the songs on his phone which was playing at full blast. He noticed that I was acting strange after a while and I told him about my uphill battle against the forces of nature. 

So here’s a tip: there is a “secret” spot which has a toilet if any of you go through the same thing as me. We tried asking the cleaners in the airport to let us use the toilet but 2 of them just shooed us away. The third guy was really nice and pointed out a little white shack about 100m from where we were, and told us that if the door is unlocked, we could go in and use the toilet. Thankfully, the door was unlocked and I was never so glad to see a toilet in my life.

Yeah, there's a useful tip for those of you who plan to go to Cairns someday. Hopefully it comes in handy!