I thought about leaving, but that just seemed like way too much hard work so I thought I'd stay here for a bit. This is one of the main reasons I came to Cairns. Everyone gets to Sydney, loves the sun, loves the beach, loves the relaxed atmosphere, loves the great social life, and they can't think of anywhere better to be so they stay there for months. There's a similar vibe going on in Cairns, but at least I know that there are bigger and better places out there, so eventually I'll move on. Plus there's no beach here, just a big muddy bank. There is a massive public pool thing called the Lagoon which is a really cool place to hang out, but they closed it yesterday for two months for rennovations. We're getting into the wet Queensland winter now, so it's probably a good time for them to do it.
So what the hell have I been up to other than dossing, boozing and going out? Erm..... Well actually I've just come back from Cape Tribulation which is a few hours north of here, deep in the rainforest. A few of us hired the worlds smallest car and drove through some 'interesting' roads up the the rainforest. It made a nice change, but I'm a bit of a city boy so all that nature started freaking me out after a while. Staying in a wooden cabin in the middle of the woods was interesting too. They do night jungle walks, and apparantly there have been Americans who have got Vietnam flashbacks and freaked out and have had to leave the jungle. Personally, I was having 'camp flashbacks'. Wooden cabins, lakes, trees, the smell of bug spray, it was all too much. I kept thinking that behind the wall were 20 seriously challenging little American kids. We did a few things while we were there though. We went on a crocodile-less crocodile cruise, an exotic fruit tasting trip that wasn't quite as sad and boring as it sounds, and a canopy ride which basically involves being zipped across climbing wires, Cliffhanger-style, 100 feet above the rainforest. It's not every day you get to do that. Well, not in Essex anyway.
It vere surprises me how many things can kill you in this country. The latest thing is.... wait for it.... leaves. Some friends of mine were in the forest and they kept brushing past leaves that left sticky goo on them. It turned out to be a certain kind of plant that gets rid of its excrement (nice) on it's leaves. If you get too much of it on your skin it can poison you and kill you. It suddenly occurred to me that living on the coast near the rainforest you're not safe anywhere. If you're in the forest you have deadly snakes and spiders (and of course leaves), the rivers and creeks are looked after by crocodiles, the beach areas are supervised by very deadly box jellyfish, and the sharks have the deep water covered. You could go to the towns and cities, but everyone knows you've got more chance of something killing you there than something in nature, so basically you're buggered. It could be time to write a will...
At the moment I'm playing with the idea of doing a PADI diving course. It would be great to do as I can then go diving in the reef and all down the rest of the course. On the other hand it's hundreds of dollars and therefore very expensive. I could just go snorkeling which would be much cheaper. I'll make my mind up in the next few days.
Right, I'm off to get something to eat. They make surprisingly good kebabs here as there are a lot of Greeks in Australia. The kind of kebabs that are so good you can actually eat them sober. Have you ever seen a kebab in England in the cold light of day? It's not a pretty sight.
I'll leave you to ponder that deep philosophical thought.
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