Ok so its been another eventful week in tropical North Queensland, slighty better than the first few weeks but another steep learning curve filled with unfriendly miserable bastard aussies & more cuts & bruises. Not sure why so miserable but it really really p@sses me off- I am done with rude people. No price for manners and maybe why I love the Japanese so much. Fantastic people, generally beautifully mannered & always attentive. The downside being is that a weak constitution has them throwing up almost as soon as the boat has left the harbour, terribly poor when it comes to gaining thier sea-legs. Someone pass the brown paper bag to Louise again.
It seems that the entire backpacker population have descended on Cairns over the last month, with the average age of all being 25. I am a little over the whole backpacking - 2 for 1 meals which taste like cardboard. I still have yet to be paid so living off sushi & breakfast cereal until cashflow eases up. Gave the wet t-shirt competition a miss as most of the girls here are under 21 so I stand no chance! haha very funny though - maybe grab- a -granny nights might be de rigeur.
Today thank god I am escaping from Alcatraz and moving into a sharehouse for the next 3-6 weeks with 2 german girls ( (from Hamburg) . I have been experiencing cabin fever going back to the hostel in the middle of the city so it will be good to enter suburbia again. I have a stream of blackadder jokes up my sleeve but somehow don`t think I will be telling them just yet. It will be nice to live in a normal house again with a pool & BBQ area so looking forward to some R & R on my days off. The days off I`ve had so far have been chasing up loose ends and sleeping- seem to be doing an awful lot of it, sea-air is great for anyone with insomnia.
There are lots of things I plan to do - visit Port Douglas again, Cape Trib & Mossman Gorge etc..there are more tours than you can shake a stick at...I would like to start sailing as this is probably one of the best places in the world to do it. I love admiring the various yahcts, boats, ships in Cairns harbour every morning - like artforms.
I have been a bit slack on taking photographs lately, probably as I have a camera in my hand for 4 days in a row but promise to step up the scenery shots. My digital compact camera & Ikelite underwater housing I bought at Christmas time is a regret I have now- after using an digital SLR underwater there`s no going back to compact again.
I had forgotten how expensive diving & its accessories are... One of the requirements of a photographer is the carrying of spare air (or pony bottle), this is usually strapped to your BC for easy access. However the pony slipped out during one of my dives and even doing a quick search & recovery I couldn`t & didn`t have time to retrieve it... Another 400 bucks later and my wallet lighter I departed the dive shop with another. Happy days eh!
take care all & lots of love
louise