I arrived in Cairns on May 27th. Really nice its where the rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef. Was really
hot, sun was shining, always above 34c.
I had planned to do a skydive bungee jump, white water rafting and go diving on the reef, but I got quite ill and couldnt
do anything, more about that in a mo.
I was staying in the Calypso Inn. Seemed all right but was 40 minutes from the centre. God know how I found it stumbling
home in the early hours. The staff at the hostel were so unhelpful, it had about as much atmosphere as a funeral, and you
had to walk through the bar to go to the showers. I left after 2 days and went to a much nicer place by the Esplanade.
I went to the marine Museum in Cairns. Only I could get lost even though it was quite clearly sign posted. But I thought
the signs must have been wrong and ended up half a mile away, much to the ticket sellers amusement. I did see some seahorses,
id post up the pic but I've sent them back now. Also saw some white tip reef sharks, and some leopard sharks, never heard
of them before.
On the Friday it was really hot. I decided to go to the beach. Only there isnt a beach in Cairns so I had to take a 40-minute
bus ride. I didnt know that part of the beach was a nudist beach, the part I had accidentally stumbled across. There was no
one on it, just some guy and a blonde; I didnt go nude, lol. After 40 minutes sunbathing, I decided to leave it was pissing
me off was really windy and the sand was like brown sugar was quite sore when it hit you.
Got back to the hostel and my chest had got burnt quite badly, just my chest, dont know how that happened, lack of ozone
layer in Queensland. Was really sore couldnt even go out Friday night. Saturday was in real agony, couldnt even do the simplest
task, walking down the street was a nightmare; dont know how many paracetamol I downed. By the Sunday it was at its worst,
had to go to the pharmacy twice to get cream, stung like hell. They said I should have gone to hospital. No, Im not wasting
my holiday by spending it in a hospital bed, half dead or whatever. Well Im all better now, thanks for the get well cards
and flowers I received from so many of you. Always wear sunscreen people.
While I was recovering from sunstroke, I spent my time in a
number of Cairns pubs watching the world cup. When the first Brazil match was on, there was only one Brazilian guy in the
entire pub shouting how knows what in Portuguese. Also Japanese fans are mad, especially the girls, they scream in this high
pitch voice at the slightest thing, you should see them when they score. I had to resort to wearing earplugs when Japan was
playing. Also when the Ireland match was on, I was in an Irish pub, bizarrely for once, there were Irish people in it. When
they scored in the last minutes, the place erupted.
