G: Megablog 2

Hostel, 28^th, 5.30pm. I now feel covered in bites. It’s probably going to get worse before it gets better. The itching is so annoying – and often I can’t help but scratch, and a few are swollen and weepy.

It’s scary to think we leave here tomorrow. It was not the same in Singapore – a similar moved-in feel and familiarity, but that time we were flying to a new country; this time it’s two hours down the coast on a bus. I experienced something similar on the tour in the autumn, but this time it’s all in just our four hands, rather than a dictated schedule from powers-that-be.

Anyway, back to the plot. We made our way through the rainforest, sliding through running water and avoiding the holes at the edge, where a landslide had taken out a chunk of the road. The bus stopped at the entrance to a jungle walk, so most of us put on our coats (Aiden just went in his t-shirt, as did Karen, and Billy was bare foot as he had been from the start) and piled out again.

Townsville bus station, 2^nd, 3pm. Sorry if this all seems to be written erratically (I’m sure I’ve repeated myself countless times), it’s just I’m not able to write single blog posts at any one time; I only manage to write a few paragraphs at a time. This does mean I’m three days behind!

To continue. We essentially did a jungle walk, with paths and boardwalks through the rainforest. At first we were a big group, and Billy told us about some of the plants, but eventually we spread out. We were supposed to take the circle route, but some of it was closed off so we doubled back.

The next stop was lunch. We (well, Billy) spent a good while trying to find somewhere undercover that we could get to ie without flooded pathways. We eventually found some picnic benches under roofs, and Billy left us with the water dispenser full of lemon squash, and a massive cool box. We unearthed a box of pasta and pepper salad with a drumstick for each of us, as well as plastic cutlery, serviettes, some bread and butter sandwiches, and melon slices for dessert. I ate the whole of my portion, which turned out to be a very filling meal, and I rather enjoyed it. We were supposed to have a picnic on the beach, but due to the thundering rain, that was not desirable nor plausible as the path was very flooded.

The final activity was the Crocodile Cruise. We were given free tea and coffee beforehand, then we got on the boat without Billy, and pootled off down the Daintree River. Luckily, the boat was covered with open sides. A nice guy tried and failed to get the PA working, so he raised his voice and told us about the area, the wildlife, the history, stuff like that. He explained that at this time of year, the weather is hot enough and the water high enough that big crocs don’t need to come out and keep warm, so we weren’t going to see any that day. We saw two baby crocs though, right up close! And three tree snakes.

Off the boat and back on the bus, we turned around and headed back to Cairns. Some of the way, Billy kept up his whimsical script, but eventually quieted down.

Hostel, Emu Park, 10^th, early evening. We stopped at Port Douglas for half an hour or so, and I think we went to the supermarket to pick up some food. We do that every other day and try and find the cheapest possible things to eat, when we need to cook. There have been lots of scrambled eggs, and cheese sandwiches! Nothing of interest happened on the rest of the journey, except we had picked up a French girl called Ludi at the croc place to give a lift home, and we learnt she was staying at the serpent like us. We saw her occasionally, around.

The next day, Monday 28^th, I got up early and had my first Skype call home. I got all emotional about it, but that was because I was still settling in. It was nice to talk to them, and a shame that my camera wasn’t working. After that we got the shuttle into Cairns. We sorted out our Greyhound passes, and booked our next bus for 1pm the next day to Mission Beach. We then wandered over to the central mall, where I got my glasses fixed – again – because they had bent in my bag. We also bought some phones (and boy, am I glad we did), prepaid sims in unlocked handsets, and I got some board shorts.

Our next stop in town was a place called Peter Pans. Some girls we had got chatting to over boiling pots in the kitchen had recommended (and again, I’m glad they did). We needed some guidance as to our plan of action. Once we got there and got chatting to the store manager Natasha, it became clear that Aiden’s ideal method – get off the bus and see what’s what – would only work if we had a lot more time to play with. Two months in Oz sounds like a lot, but with the amount to do, and the spaces to traverse, we needed a plan.

So Tash gave us the rundown of all the activities along our route, and booked us them all on opened dated vouchers. This package deal probably saved us a lot of dough, plus it turns out that a lot of places only take advanced booking. I felt a lot better – the conversation with my parents had highlighted how insecure I was without the surety of a plan.

We ended up in Woolworths (I know, right?) to buy some food, then got the shuttle back to the hostel. We sorted out some stuff on the computer, used the washing machine and dryer, and then went for our first swim of the trip. The pool wasn’t great, but it was nice to cool off, and Aiden had a lot of fun trying out his underwater camera. Dinner was free again, a simple boil-pasta-with-mixed-veg-in-a-pot type dish that wasn’t too bad. And then we watched the Big Bang Theory before bed.

The next day, all my confidence in the planning was knocked. We packed up and checked out, got the shuttle in, then went to Peter Pans to pick up our documents. When we got there, we were informed that the bus was cancelled, because the highway south was closed due to flooding. This was not good. The only thing booked and dated was a boat trip, and delays on the bus could mean we wouldn’t get there, miss out on the boat, and waste the money. Peter Pans rebooked our tickets from the 1pm the 7.45am the next day, and all we could do was hope for a lot less rain.

We dropped our bags at a hostel two minutes from the bus station, and went to fill time until check in. We went to a Global Gossip store – the company that ran most of the internet services in hostels – and I was able to use our internet card to make a call to my bank and get my card unblocked. We then went for a depressed walk along the pier, and talked about our situation a bit. The rain was pretty light, but I kept praying anyway.

We got back for check in, and claimed beds in our first dorm room of the trip. We went on the computers, and I did some paperwork to calm me down. Dinner was a decent portion of pasta with dirt cheap cheese. The evening was quite enjoyable – a guy from the UK had DVDs with him, so he used the communal TV to watch Fawlty Towers, Gimme Gimme Gimme, and Bill Bailey, and it looked like about half the hostels clientele were watching it with him; I certainly was. We went for a quip swim in the small pool – wearing the board shorts for the first time was weird – then we just went to bed to sleep the extra night in Cairns.

A nice early start followed, for our nice early bus. Half a hour after reaching the bus stop (having checked for road and running updates at the Greyhound office) we left Cairns at 8am. We had a lovely ‘Coach Captain’ called Kevin, who explained the setup of the journey, then put on a film called ‘What a Girl Wants’ with Colin Firth. Yes, we had in-bus-journey entertainment. Kevin got all excited a shouted out ‘CASSOWARY’ and everyone leaned over the left side to catch a glimpse at the startling large bird at the side of the road. It was real treat, them being rare.

We stopped at a place called Cardwell, and we got lunch – I had a burger, which was lovely, and Aiden had a crap sausage with some chips. We got back on the bus with a new Coach Captain called Graham, and he put on another film called ‘The Contract’ with Morgan Freeman. I enjoyed both films. We got off at Townsville station – we missed out Mission Beach to make up for the delay and because there was not much of it left after cyclone Yasi last month - and bought ferry tickets with our Peter Pan voucher, the station also being the ferry terminal. There was very nice lady at the Greyhound desk who booked our next bus to Airlie Beach.

I had decided at this point to keep a note of what we’re up to in my diary, and it’s really useful to write this from those notes.

The sky was cloudy as we went over to Magnetic Island, but in some ways I prefer that; it’s not painful on the eyes like bright sunlight, and it makes a place seem less foreign. On the ferry, I could finally relax after the bus crisis. There were not foreseeable problems getting to the boat we had booked on time. I was also preoccupied with keeping my will strong against scratching my innumerable bites. I had two on my face, for pity’s sake. I’m unhappy to say that I was not particularly successful at keeping my nails at bay.

The ferry took twenty minutes, and then we got a bus that took us to our hotel, a Base hotel, for which we have a Base Jumping Pass. We booked this in England, and it means I have 10 nights paid for at a discount at any Base hostel we check into, if we put it on the pass. This was our first Base, so we swapped our vouchers for proper cards. We had looked forward to this particular Base, because it was on the beach. But because of the cyclone, whilst you could sit in the bar a look out over the sand and ocean, the area leading down to it was fenced off due to damage.

We talked occasionally to our bunk fellows in the tiny form room; two girls from Norway and two girls from Sweden, who were all travelling together. We took a long walk down to the nearest shop, bought food, then walked back and cooked it; pasta again, with the cheap cheese, but this time with some cheap and cheerful minced bacon. After washing up, we got a drink at the bar, and whilst Aiden went back to the room to get some playing cards, I was engaged into conversation with a girl on the table next to ours. She introduced herself as Megan, and her husband as Andrew, both being 22, and from Western Australia. When Aiden got back, the four of us played a game of cards, and chatted. They were really lovely people. We moved over the pool tables, and had a game. It was obviously that Andrew and I were the members of each team that would actually decide the outcome. I talked to Megan between shots, and found out they were farmers, who lived out on a ranch within a 50,000km farm. Very Hollywood. After the game, we got some more drinks, and watched with interest as the nightly bar entertainment went on – a battle for the title of Passion Princess. We giggled as the inebriated contestants embarrassed themselves at the whim of the guy with the microphone, and finally said goodnight to the Aussie couple, promising to see them at the bar the next night. We went to our room, and they to their campervan.

Woken, showered and dressed the next day, we went to the onsite ‘Dive Guys’ and hired snorkel gear and stinger suits. Yes, wet suits to prevent the agony of the jellyfish in the waters, in high season. The guy pointed on a map where to head, and little place on the coast of the island called Florence Bay. We had a half hour bus journey to a stop in the middle of nowhere, and the driver pointed us down a dirt track. This walk was not enjoyable.  Hellish is a better term. The sun was blazing from the first blue sky we had seen since Singapore; the track was bumpy and hard under our sandals; and we went for 30 minutes both up and down hill. I silently cursed the campervan that sailed past us on a particularly steep slope.

But coming through the short, twiggy trees of the dunes at the end of the track, we walked into one of those pictures you see in the windows of travel agents. A beautiful, paradise beach. We quickly put on our suits, and strode into the warm blue water on the sandy beach. Aiden had a better time in the water than me. My snorkel wouldn’t work, and as this was my only motivation to be in the sea, I quickly made my way out. I was also acutely terrified of meeting a jellyfish.

I put on my flipflops, and headed to the rocks. This is the only activity I generally enjoy on a beach – they are often topped and tailed by cliffs footed by groups of snaggly rocks, perfect for scrabbling over. I had a nice time. When I got back, I basked on a log, occasionally looking out of the water to check I could see signs of Aiden, who had gone over the other side of the bay to find more things to see whilst snorkeling.

I was sharing the log with a man and woman, and a conversation was struck up. Karen and Frederick were Belgian, and the owners of the van parked behind the dunes. Aiden came back and told me all about the stingrays that startled him from below. The Belgians made moves to leave, and as we said goodbyes, I said how envious I was that they didn’t have to hot, uphill struggle we were in for. After a quick glance at Karen, Frederick offered us a lift to the bus stop. I hurried over the tell Aiden, we collected our stuff, and oh glorious day, we got that lift. Waving at the van from the bus stop, the bus rolled up immediately! U-turn on the luck, it seemed.

Back at Base, we got our washing done, and made sandwiches for lunch. And then…we relaxed. This trip is a combination of travelling, doing activities, doing chores, and taking the remaining time to simply relax, and enjoy being responsibility and appointment free. Aiden played his computer, and I got out a calendar from our Peter Pan wallet. I sketched out a provisional plan, and taking into account that we want a week in Sydney, a week in Melbourne, plus my birthday in Sydney, a stop off in Canberra to break up the journey, and all the activities including some overnight, that sketched and provisional plan has turned into essentially the itinerary, the get it all in and get to the flight in Melbourne. My calm from scheduling was restored in full.

We also played Monopoly on the computer, not really my cup of tea but something to kill time with.

Dinner was pasta, cheese and bacon – goodness is it hot cooking over a stove when everyone else has something on a ring, in the kitchen without so much as a ceiling fan – and then I changed into a nice new shirt I got in advance for my birthday. We did our laundry, then went to the bar and played cards. Megan and Andrew came back that evening, and it was nice to see them. This night, we actually participated in the ‘Bar Wars’, which consisted of a human wheelbarrow race (Aiden and I), wheely chair racing where the driver was blindfolded and had to take direction from the person the chair (Megan and Andrew), and an odd game where the contestants (Aiden and Andrew) had to create a line on the floor of clothes, off their own backs and those of anyone else they could convince.

It was a lot of fun, though being a wheelbarrow kind of hurt. The game was topped off with everyone getting on the tables and dancing. Aiden won the prize for most enthusiastic dancer, which was a free night at the Base in Sydney. We danced the night away, the four of us, screaming out the words of songs we knew like YMCA.

Hostel, Agnes Water/1770, 14^th, 9.30am. After packing the next morning, we checked out and hopped on the bus to the ferry terminal, sad to say goodbye to this paradise island, but excited about moving on to our next adventure. When the ferry arrived at Townsville terminal, we had a little wait for the greyhound, so we took the opportunity to book our next bus. This was an excitement in itself, because we were now anticipating experiencing the night bus. The rest of the time in the terminal was spent watching what is becoming a recurring programme of choice for these two backpackers when bored - morning television.

The 11.30 to Brisbane rolled out of Townsville, helmed by a coach captain whose name I did not pick up. Just before departure I had walked in to find a butterfly frantically attempting the feat that is the goal of all insect-kind, flying through solid glass. I took the poor thing outside, much to the amusement of the resting captain, so whatever is name was, he was a cheerful fellow. The bus was newer than our first one from Cairns, which meant the quality of the film was increased by the shiny modern flatscreen. This time we watched ‘Because I Said So’, a tale of mother and daughter which balanced out our last journey’s story of father and daughter rather nicely.

From Airlie Beach bus station, we walked the short distance to Magnums hostel. This was where we had been directed by the company of the boat we were booked onto to store our luggage during the trip. We were told that we could not bring any bags onto the boat that had zips, due to the tendency of bedbugs to like laying their eggs in said zips. We had to buy the ‘I heart Magnums’ cloth bags a la bag-for-life, and choose the few items we would need for three days and nights on a boat. I was sad to find my bead necklace, which I had bought at the Hindu temple Bhaktivedanta Manor (given to the Hare Krishnas by one of the Beatles) had broken in transit. The rucksacks went into the big sheds at the back of the hostel, and valuables were locked in the reception cupboard. Next stop was McDonalds, as we had been told that there would be no dinner served that night on the boat.

With hours until boarding, we didn’t have anything else to do, so we wandered slowly down the centennial boardwalk of Airlie Beach to the marina. As we sat waiting in the specified area, we were joined by two other early birds, Ondine and her boyfriend Lenny, a wonderful French couple. Before long, the four of us were greeted by Elisa, a travel agent from Travelbugs, come to experience the boat on a research trip. Though very short, she had big hair and a bigger personality. Waiting around, we all got to know each other.

Finally, after a crowd of about 30 had sprung up around us, someone with authority spoke up and told us the drill. We were all given stinger suits for the duration of the trip, then herded down the…whatever the pier-like things in marinas are called, to the Anaconda III.

A shoeless boat, the A3 was a 30ft yacht with about 10 cabins. We were in a room where the bottom bunk was a double and the top was a single. Because of our late booking, we had had to book the double, but once we left the harbor, our roommate had not turned up, so up I went to the shelf. We were given a briefing whilst still moored, congregated in the muster area at the stern (that’s what the back end is called right?), by the public relations/dive instructor of the crew, Harry. He was a real surfer dude showman, and he raised quite a few laughs during his spiel about the regulations of the boat.

He then directed us to various parts of the boat, depending on our level of diving experience. The other dive instructor, Michelle, took us novices into the lounge area below deck. We filled in paperwork, and my heart sank when I saw that the top box to tick of medical conditions was asthma. I filled it all in anyway, but Michelle informed me that I would need to pass a dive medical to be cleared fit for diving, which makes sense. I was able to curb my disappointment at missing out on a free intro dive by putting it like this – either miss out, or potentially have an attack underwater and die. Little bit of perspective did the trick.

By the end of all the briefings, we had set off, and the sun had set. We lay on the deck with most of the other passengers and watched stars above us in the deep blue night sky. The Milky Way blazed over to one side. We talked for a while with a girl named Gabriella, who we find out was on the trip for free in return for being a galley hand (kitchen assistant). We also met the Danes Frederick, Morten and Morten (no joke), who it seemed were the only passengers near our age, being 19 and 20. I was the youngest on board. We had chosen the Anaconda because it was definitely not one of the party boats. Most of the people were mid-twenties to mid-thirties, and the goal of the trip was seeing the Whitsundays and the GBR, snorkeling and diving. Very civilised.

We fell asleep to the sound of those still up chatting on deck, over our skylight.

Breakfast was 7am, in the lounge. There was fruit, bread, toasters, jam and marmalade, and cereal. We then had our snorkel brief, which I was grateful for, having never snorkeled before. We rummaged through the boxes of fins and snorkels until we each had a set that fit. Our first snorkel was in a bay off one of the northern Whitsundays islands, and it was incredible. So many fish simply everywhere! Stripy, multi-coloured, small, medium, and a few glimpses of bigger ones nearer the sea bed. Aiden and I couldn’t take pictures with our underwater cameras fast enough.

Aiden had his intro dive, so I lay on the beach and took photos of him in his gear, then went back to the boat in one of the two dinghies, driven by Echa (the other was driven by first mate Max). We had a nice, filling lunch, alerted by the two dings of the bell, and then the boat was off to the reef. The sky was blue, the sun was hot, both men and women sunbathed on deck, and I read my stage management book. We soon got the reef, and though it had clouded over, I was on the first bunch of snorkelers, whereas Aiden went in the second. We were dropped in the middle of the ocean, at the edge of the reef.

A lot of my thoughts from this point on were making references of everything I saw to the film ‘Finding Nemo’. I know, can you believe it, I was floating over one of nature’s most glorious wonders, and my mind kept flicking back to the adventures of a fictional Pixar character. But the thing was, it was JUST LIKE NEMO! The bit when he gets caught, at the edge of the reef, where it just stops, like a wall, straight into deep ocean? We went over that. The current was so strong, that all we had to do was keep ourselves from going over the reef, which was so shallow that we would have kicked the coral and damaged it.

It started raining, but we barely noticed. Our heads did not leave the water for long periods of time, only on the occasions when we wanted to take our bearings from the boat. Again, there were fish everywhere, and it didn’t matter that the water was slightly murky, we still saw a massive amount of wildlife. What freaked me out was the massive numbers of jellyfish as well. Thank goodness for stinger suits – there were so many, it was all you could do to keep your face and hands away from them, the only uncovered parts of your body.

There were a lot more big fish than our first snorkel, which was exciting, and afterwards most people told me they saw sharks. I reckon I did better than that; I saw three adult turtles! They were magnificent. The group got really spread out, and as I has come alone and not with a buddy, I tried to keep nearby other pairs. Eventually, I noticed another lone ranger, and kept close to him for the rest of the time. During a brief chat, I found out he was called Max and he was from London. I’d say he was about 26. Echa came over to point us in the right direction to a lagoon, and Max saw a turtle and poor Echa had a hard time keeping his attention.

Halfway to the lagoon, Max got stung. A jellyfish got him on the lip. Next time Echa was within hailing distance, I signaled for a pickup, and we got back to the boat. Max needed to go on a dive anyway. Until dinner, I read my book out of the rain with Elisa next to me reading hers, and then we ate delicious roast chicken with lovely thick gravy, though of course nowhere near as good as my dad’s roast dinner.

At sunset, we watched the horizon, then Max fed chicken to some big fish near the boat. I couldn’t help but giggle when they jumped out of the water, generally over each other, to get the morsels. Aiden and I talked with Max and his girlfriend Charlie, then with Ondine, Lenny and Elisa. That evening, Harry organised a night dive, which was odd to watch; they all had glow sticks, and we watched the dinghy go off into the distance, floating in the darkness as if in space, then the glow in the water that dimmed to almost nothing as they descended. Ondine was on it, and she came back to tell of how great it was.

We were only then served pudding, apple pie with cream, which was really good. I took myself away from the busy stern and sat in the bow, silently watching the stars. Soon people started to turn in, and I watched a film until I finally went to bed too.

For breakfast on Sunday 6^th I had muesli. Soon after the breakfast bell had donged, the boat headed back for the Whitsundays. Very quickly, the conditions deteriorated; the wind got up, the waves rolled high, and the rain came down. Almost everyone who was not crew could not bear being below deck, where the whole room tilted. The boat rocked back and forth and side to side in a manner that for landlubbers felt very violent.

Aiden got sea sick. Oh my goodness, he got SO sea sick. He sat at the stern, and was the first to throw up. He was white as a sheet, and threw up many more times, until he was just retching. He was wet through and through from the spray and rain, cold from the wind, and his tooth, which he had been taking antibiotics for, had started to hurt again, because he had finished sat at the stern, and was the first to throw up. He was white as a sheet, and threw up many more times, until he was just retching. He was wet through and through from the spray and rain, cold from the wind, and his tooth, which he had been taking antibiotics for, had started to hurt again, because he had finished the drugs. To top this off, the poor boy had fallen asleep on the deck the day before, and burnt his back to a crisp. So it was not for nothing that he had a ‘kill me now’ look in his eyes as I sat by him through the worst of the weather. Echa tried to keep his spirits up, congratulating him whenever he threw up, remarking on distance and velocity, but that poor boy suffered immeasurably for about 4 hours.

We finally made it to a relatively calm bay in the south of the islands, and lunch was ham salad rolls, though of course Aiden didn’t have any. I had found, when coming back from Aiden’s side, that my stage management book had been drenched. Echa was kind enough to put it in the engine room, the warmest spot on board, to help its recovery. So I browsed their shelves and found ‘Small Gods’ by Terry Pratchett. I had read it before, but not for a long while, so I settled down to read it.

That afternoon we went snorkeling again. Due to the weather, the visibility was considerably poorer, but it was still really fun to see the fish we could. I spent more time actually diving down and swimming fully immersed, to get below the murk near the surface. I saw the biggest fish as I neared the boat to get out – flat fish, I was told they were.

Once out and dry, I read some more, and then someone put on ‘The Dark Knight’, so I watched that. Dinner was freshwater basson, which was quite nice, and I spent the rest of the evening talking to Ondine and Elisa, as well as reading. Someone put music on, coming out of the boat’s own speakers, and entertainment was had when Echa caught a squid and got covered in ink. Someone put on ‘Happy Gilmore’, which I was watched halfheartedly, and finished the book, much to Elisa’s consternation, before going to bed.

For the last time, we woke up on the boat. All Aiden wanted to do was stand on something that wasn’t moving, and that Monday, he got his wish. We went to Whitehaven beach, one of the most photographed white sand beaches in the world (apparently). We were dropped off on a beach with an entrance to a path to the beach. Everyone else spent some time after the brief getting ready but Aiden just jumped in the boat, and Max was kind enough to simply go then, taking just Aiden.

The path led both to the beach, and a lookout off to one side. We went to the lookout, and, well, looked out, over the beach and the surrounding islands. Down on the beach, the sand was like icing sugar, and I took Harry’s advice and cleaned my necklace with it. We walked along the beach, then I took off over the rocks at the edge and had a really fun time scrabbling over them until I came to a tiny beach, and sat and read another book I had picked up from the shelves on the boat, ‘The House’ by Danielle Steel.

Our final journey was home again, back to the marina at Airlie Beach. Lunch was quiche, and it rained, and I had a nap, as well as getting about half way through the book. Skipper Bazza backed the Anaconda into the same spot we had left, and we were invited to join the crew at a pub that night. As we disembarked, the crew were lined up and got hugs off the girls and handshakes off the men. As we walked back along the boardwalk, the weather was much worse than three days before. Light drizzle and grey clouds hung over us as we made our way to Magnums. The next stop was the nearby pharmacy, as Aiden was in urgent need of after sun. His entire back was bright red, and the shoulders were a light plum.

I made an appointment for the next day at The Doctors (literally called that), and then we checked into the Nomads hostel.

To be continued...