Our Last Big Splash: Rainy, RAINY Cairns

We arrived in Cairns on Saturday evening after having spent the previous week sleeping in a janky "hotel" in Kings Cross. We stayed there because: first of all; we couldnt stand the thought of waking up early to go to work and having to deal with idiot backpackers; second, we wanted our own room and third, we wanted to come full circle. We started our grand Australian tour in the "under belly" of New South Wales and decided we were going to finish off where we started. Good idea :) Our last few days were filled with fruit cups, pies (YES PLEASE) and fabulous company.

On Saturday we woke up, in varying locations and moved our stuff into Brit and Ali's apartment. We hung out with Chris all day and ate, talked and generally had an amazing time. When it was close to leave for the airport we went to Ali's and started to repack. Hannah and Gary were on their way back from the city to see us and it seemed like we would have plenty of time. Katie and I were planning to leave at 5:50 for our flight that left at 7:20. Ali was NOT having it. "You guys should go. You have to check in. Have this conversation on the way to the train station. MOVE IT" Essentially, Ali was our dad trying to get our asses in gear. THANK GOD HE DID!

We said our goodbyes to Ali, Chris, Gary and Hannah (all of which Katie wont get to see again before she leaves) and hoped on the train. When we got to the airport we went and checked in, went through security and went to have dinner. On the way we got caught at a store where Katie wanted to buy EVERYTHING, eventually we moved on and started to eat./ We were taking our sweet time when we finally finished and walked to the gate. When we got there the gate was empty...we ran to the gate doors and handed our tickets to the stewardess, they didn't work. When she scanned our boarding passes they kept coming back declined. REALLY? Where was Ali?? Apparently our seats were just moved and we had better seats that before. Phew.

When we got on the plane with both talked for a bit then passed out, as per usual. When we woke up we were in Cairns! We stepped out onto the tarmac to the most delightful smack in the face of warm air. It was a bit muggy but after Melbourne and the weather in Sydney it was welcome.

We hitched a ride to our hostel via taxi. We got to our hostel, Gillian's, and actually found that it was wicked nice. We got free dinner vouchers, our own en suite bathroom, there is a gym inside and a resort style pool. Of course, we did not pick this hostel ourselves.

We got in and basically walked around the city for a bit then crashed out. on Sunday, we did almost the same. We went and explored. The taxi driver told us that it was about a 15 minute walk to the outlet mall from our hostel. More like half an hour. We got to the mall and did a little shopping. We caught a taxi back and as I was about to close the door this sweet little old lady asked if she could share our taxi. naturally, I said "YES OF COURSE!" She got in and as Katie said "No good deed goes unpunished" What would have taken 5 minutes to walk, took 10 minutes to drive.
We went around in a huge circle as she gave directions which were SO CONFUSING. The poor driver kept doing exactly what she said and then had to correct himself when she would yell "NO NO NOT HERE! BACK THERE!" Over and over...it was actually quite painful. Thirty minutes later we got back to the hostel and were out again to book our reef adventure.

Unfortunately, the weather here has been quite4 tropical. Such that its hot hot hot for awhile then pouring rain. On Monday, we got rain. On Monday we woke up at 6:30 and caught a bus to Port Arthur which is about an hour north of Cairns. We got on a boat and were told that it was possible that it wouldn't be raining on the reef. The weather was really overcast and the water pretty choppy. For those of you who dont know, I get severe motion sickness on windy roads and on boats. What a joke this was.

ten minutes into the drive was about to hurl. My exact words "Katie, this is going to be the worst day of my life". She looked less than please and pretty concerned that she could do NOTHING about it. I sat there for awhile and finally moved to the back of the boat to get a breeze in my face. It felt MUCH better but I also was getting all the water sprayed in my face due to the choppiness. Excellent.

I finally was drenched and had the whole boat staring at me (yes, the entertainment as always) when I moved to the middle of the boat in the back and sat there on the ground so I would only get the wind and not the spray. I hadnt realized that it was also RAINING on me. What an idiot.

We finally stopped at the first site and I dove right in. I was NOT pleased with that boat. It was amazing. Underwater, you couldnt feel the choppiness or anything like that. The fish, coral, and HUGE clams were amazing. Everything you could hope for and more on a day like we had. We went to three stops total and in between the last two Katie and I fell asleep. We woke up to one of the skippers rubbing our backs saying, "Wake up ladies, we're here", "ha, thanks Dave". We went on the third dive and it was also really good. There were sharks and sea turtles. Aw!

On the way back on the hour drive I was really tired. I think it was from the motion- sickness pills I took. I had my head in my hands and was just sleepy. Everyone of the crew gave me barf- bags and the hostess kept asking if I was alright. YES YES IM FINE!! They didnt believe me and NO I didnt puke.

Over all it was a really fantastic day and I wouldn't have traded the weather for anyhing.

Katie and my last dance, last set of plane flights together, last set of unfortunate setbacks, hostels, sunburns, awkward sleeping situations, coffee shops and Thai food experiences while in Australia. Tomorrow were off!