It is now January 29th; I am sitting in my favourite nook at home with my computer in my lap, listening to the familiar strums of John Butler, the rain falling outside, and my parents puttering around the house. It is good to be home!
I chose to return home for a few reasons. One: I missed my friends and family immensely, Two: I ran out of money and it was either work in Melbourne or at home, Three: Relationship purposes. So, passport and flight itinerary in hand, I walked into the Qantas centre with my friend, Alex, and we both re-booked our flights for a tidy $280 and walked out with seats next to each other from Melbourne-Sydney-LA-Vancouver! We had a whole week and a half to wrap things up in Melbourne and it almost didn't feel like enough time.
I booked a 3-day bus tour along the Great Ocean Road and had a fantastic final trip in Australia. Met some great travelers, held a baby koala!, hiked up an unforgettable range of pinnacles, and played my first game of cricket!
When I returned to Melbourne, Alex and I got down to some serious shopping. We perused fantastic sales, bought gifts for family and friends, emptied half our backpacks, filled them up again, and ate at a new place every night. I have only praise for the last leg of my journey.
As I sit here and look back on the 3 1/2 months I spent in Australia, I realize that I have learned some things about myself, others, and the world. Here they are, in no particular order:
MY AUSTRALIAN 50:
1. Always say yes to a new adventure - bad/weird/unexpected stories are better than no stories!
2. Spontaneous vegetarianism may occur
3. The vast majority of people on this earth are truly good
4. Say NO to goon!
5. I am braver and stronger than I expected
6. I am also weaker and dumber than I expected
7. Public transit is actually often the more expensive route in Australia
8. The land of poisonous reptiles and insects makes one paranoid of trees, bushes, grass, bare feet, corners, car doors, handles... everything
9. Chicken-flavoured chips exist
10. Beneath the waves, there exists a whole world of colour, life, and incredible experiences
11. Falling from a plane need not be terrifying
12. It is possible to wear the same shirt 30 days in a row without washing it
13. Sprouting from above: Laundry sucks. It also costs approximately $10/load in public laundromats
14. A wave and a smile and you're friends
15. Overstepping your boundaries can lead to some of the greatest experiences of life
16. Expect plans to change. It's inevitable.
17. Expect to meet new people. Don't just expect it, plan for it. Bring souvenirs, take photos, exchange addresses; who knows where you'll be in need of a couch?
18. It is alright to do absolutely nothing when traveling. You don't always have to be on-the-go!
19. Credit cards are your friend
20. Parents are incredible
21. Alcohol makes many changes, accent being one of them
22. Night clubs don't change. They're still full of douchebags, fake boobs, vomit, loud bass, and some excellent dancing
23. Men traveling Australia often really do have just one intention
24. If you didn't like beer and wine before, you will after
25. Guidebooks nearly always lose to the all-powerful internet and word-of-mouth
26. Hostels can always be bartered, you just need to know how. (ie, "$22/night? I heard it was $19...)
27. Crocodile and Kangaroo meat is sold in supermarkets, in the regular meat section
28. Douglas Adams was right: a towel is your most important traveling essential
29. You never get used to snoring in shared dorms, bring earplugs
30. Trusting people is not a sure way to lose money, possessions, or time
31. Home is just as unique as foreign places.
32. Markets are still the best places to find cheap fresh produce and some great food
33. The fastest way to get from Point A to Point B is not always the most interesting
34. Night buses are cold and uncomfortable. Bring a jacket and a pillow.
35. Blow-up pillows are crap. Bring a real one.
36. The cost of sunscreen has a direct correlation to how much you need it. Read: $20/bottle in Aus vs. $8/bottle in Canada
37. Starbucks is universal, as are 7-11 and McDonalds
38. When looking for a restaurant, refer to this rule: the fewer people, the worse the food.
39. When looking for an Asian restaurant, go to the one the Asians are sitting in, not the Caucasians
40. Germans are EVERYWHERE!!
41. Stars are highly underrated in big cities. Take a boat, take her out, turn off the lights, and marvel.
42. The Great Barrier Reef truly is as wonderful as they say
43. Your life and trip are what you make them
44. Skype is wonderful
45. Internet, cellphones, and television shrink this world
46. Traveling and meeting new people expands it
47. Backpacks are no fun to constantly unpack and re-pack. Get something with zipper access to the middle and bottom sections!
48. Racial diversity does not always mean racial integration
49. First Nations people and Aboriginals are very similar
50. There are things more important than traveling; there are reasons to come home
There it is. Hasta la vista, Australia! I had a life-changing, incredible, exhilarating trip. Now it's time to unpack, find a job, move out, start school again, and settle down for a little while. But don't worry, I still have a whole world to see!
xoxo,
Katrina
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Adelaide for the Holidays
I have been in Adelaide for twelve days, relaxing, catching up with friends, making new ones, getting lost, zooming around on pushbikes, and, most of all, spending Christmas 2010 with my new Australian family. Twelve days is too much to cover individually right now, and there were a few spent in total laziness, so let me just cover a few of the more memorable moments.
I have stayed here with Leigh Goldsworthy, a guy my family and I met in Mexico. He was sailing with his dad and brother, Colin and Josh, aboard their sailboat. Leigh was 21 at the time, his brother 16. We met up with Leigh again by chance in Guatemala and traveled with him for a little while. This solidified our friendship and is what prompted him to call my family up when he was traveling through Victoria, BC this last summer. He came over for dinner and learned of my plans to travel Australia. With an open invitation to visit, I made plans to spend Christmas in Adelaide with him and his family. So, here I am, housesitting with Leigh for friends of his who are on holiday.
I arrived on the 17th and spent my first few days following Leigh and Josh to their numerous sports engagements around the hills. They were all the season finals so we inevitably went to the pub afterwards to celebrate a season well-played. I spent too much money.
Leigh's Dad lives in a beautiful house up in the hills and spends his days building small planes and flying around the country. Leigh is also learning to fly, as is the Canadian woman, Anna, staying with Colin for the time. When I called up Anna one day to see if she wanted to show me around town, she countered with a better offer. Colin wanted to take me flying! I lost no time accepting his generous offer and was very excited to hop into Anna's car early one morning to make the beautiful hour's drive through the hills to the hangers. We saw wild kangaroos, pointed out lovely little towns throughout the hills, and kept our eyes peeled for any other wild animals.
Once at the hangers, we got the planes ready, saw a deadly redback spider nest, eased ourselves into the two-seater (labelled Experimental for the passenger's discretion) and took off. Colin is relatively new to the skies but he's already an expert pilot and I felt totally at ease in the seat next to him. Well, almost totally. I've never been one for extreme motion and the swoops of the plane had my stomach begging for solid ground. Nevertheless, I had a blast dive-bombing clouds, doing barrel rolls, and even flying the plane myself! I had total control of the plane on the way home and swooped a small cloud of my own. After landing - and nearly kissing the ground - Anna and I drove to the small seaside town nearby and had lunch at a cute cafe.
With access to one of Leigh's bikes, I had total freedom to pedal around Adelaide and discover its charm on my own time. I loved a crossroad that had a word each from "A FOREST OF DREAMS" on the corners. There was no forest to be seen, but Australians call any few standing trees a forest : )
Leigh, Josh, and I cycled along the river one evening to arrive at the beach by sunset and order fish 'n chips from a wonderful local cafe. Their pace was breakneck and had me huffing to keep up, but the end of the trip was well worth the sweat. We cycled home in the dark at a slightly slower pace, to keep me from bailing and hurting the bike. Yes, just the bike was worth Leigh's concern.
Speaking of breakneck speeds! Let me tell you about my first night in Adelaide. Sorry about the lack of calendar uniformity, but I'm just writing as it comes back to me. So, read on and forget timing. My first night in Adelaide. Leigh, Josh, and I went up to the hills to play (them) and watch (me) their final soccer match. It was great, freezing, and Leigh let in every goal. Well, not quite : ) He did make a great save that involved the ball bouncing off his face. Anyways, this has nothing to do with breakneck speeds.
When the sun went down and the sky turned to a dusky blue; when the street lights came on and you could no longer see your feet outside the pools of light they shed; when cars raced up and down the hill to reach their nighttime destination we decided to bike home. There is no bike path along the highway. The cars drive on the wrong side of the road. I had no lights on my allotted bike. Regardless, we rode. Down the old freeway. The bumpy, cracked, swerving, snaking freeway. The freeway with lights every 100 metres.
Leigh on his pro road bike and me on the commuter, we jumped on our bikes and started riding. There wasn't much pedaling involved, it was all downhill, but that didn't matter to Leigh. He clipped his riding shoes in and took off like a bullet, leaving me scrambling to get going after him. (ps. Leigh wasn't really that thoughtless, it just sounds better in a story... he did a good job of pretending to be patient with me). Honestly, however, I spent the entire 45-minute journey nearly hyperventilating from fear. I love biking, but that love encompasses daytime leisure biking. Not nighttime suicide rides. When I finally wobbled off the bike and onto the couch, it was all I could do to let Leigh know that it was fun and I was definitely alright, thanks for asking.
What else did I do in Adelaide? Keep in mind that I just left three jobs in Cairns and a back-breaking fever in Sydney. I didn't do much. When left to my own devices, I computed and watched movies. I biked around town a little bit and did some shopping, but I also just enjoyed down-time in the house.
Leigh's mum, Louise, was a total sweetheart and I will always wish to return to her house. She went out of her way to make sure I did not want for anything. I knew I was always welcome to walk into her house and sit down for some good coffee and conversation. The pull-out bed was always mine for nights out (I did go to her house one late night and discovered some funny scenes, but that's a story one individual *coughJosh* may not want publicized). Most importantly, this was the house I spent Boxing Day at. But perhaps I'll write about Christmas Day first.
Christmas Day was a Goldsworthy day. Josh, Leigh, and I drove up to Colin and Anna's place with our salad and beer contributions. I had stayed up until midnight the previous night painstakingly making fresh ginger cookies with icing and decorations. It was the closest I could come to gingerbread men in a house with no cookie cutters. That plate of cookies was my contribution.
We started the night with champagne, continued the night with wine, moved onto beer, had some gins, then went back to champagne. But that's not really the focus of the evening. I just wanted to make sure everyone knows that the vibe was loose, friendly, and certainly full of laughter. We set the table with our five salads, and the masterpiece maple ham that Colin had done on the bbq to blend Canadian and Australian Christmas traditions. It was delicious. Five salads kept us healthy and Colin's relatives made a fantastic Pineapple Fluff for dessert. Needless to say, we were stuffed.
After dinner, we listened to music, saw some kookaburras and a koala in the nearby trees, and mostly just sat and chatted. It was not a normal Christmas, but it was full of fun and friends.
Boxing Day was spent at Louise's house. The table sat Louise, her mum, Rob, Colin, Anna, Leigh, Josh, and I. It was full and comfortable. We had a stuffed turkey, mashed sweet potatoes (my cookery), roast potatoes, and salad. Again, this wonderful family went out of their way to make sure I had a wonderful Christmas that lacked nothing. I was blown away.
Adelaide is the wine region of Australia and Louise did us proud with unending bottles of 10-year-old red wines. This was not for getting tipsy on. This was for examining, inhaling, slowly sipping and letting the flavours reveal themselves over your tongue. It was an art. Well, it should have been. I am sadly lacking in wine experience and therefore just honestly enjoyed the wine as well as I could. They were quite strong and dry.
Our dessert was Louise's piece de resistance. A beautiful Christmas pudding with drunken ice cream and brandy cream. With one whiff, our stuffed stomachs miraculously growled and wanted not just one serving, but two. That had me nearly asleep on the couch afterwards as my body devoted all its energy towards digesting. It was spectacular.
Four days after Christmas and twelve days after arriving, I jumped on a bus heading towards Melbourne. I said sad farewells to my new family and strongly hoped to make it back to their corner of the world someday. I felt more at-home than I had in several months and it was wonderful to spend Christmas in a foreign country with people as inviting and loving as these. I wish I could have stayed longer.
Well, now I'm in Melbourne and that is for a later blog. For now, my battery is almost dead. See ya later, friends. Maybe sooner than you think ; )
xoxo - Katrina
I have stayed here with Leigh Goldsworthy, a guy my family and I met in Mexico. He was sailing with his dad and brother, Colin and Josh, aboard their sailboat. Leigh was 21 at the time, his brother 16. We met up with Leigh again by chance in Guatemala and traveled with him for a little while. This solidified our friendship and is what prompted him to call my family up when he was traveling through Victoria, BC this last summer. He came over for dinner and learned of my plans to travel Australia. With an open invitation to visit, I made plans to spend Christmas in Adelaide with him and his family. So, here I am, housesitting with Leigh for friends of his who are on holiday.
I arrived on the 17th and spent my first few days following Leigh and Josh to their numerous sports engagements around the hills. They were all the season finals so we inevitably went to the pub afterwards to celebrate a season well-played. I spent too much money.
Leigh's Dad lives in a beautiful house up in the hills and spends his days building small planes and flying around the country. Leigh is also learning to fly, as is the Canadian woman, Anna, staying with Colin for the time. When I called up Anna one day to see if she wanted to show me around town, she countered with a better offer. Colin wanted to take me flying! I lost no time accepting his generous offer and was very excited to hop into Anna's car early one morning to make the beautiful hour's drive through the hills to the hangers. We saw wild kangaroos, pointed out lovely little towns throughout the hills, and kept our eyes peeled for any other wild animals.
Once at the hangers, we got the planes ready, saw a deadly redback spider nest, eased ourselves into the two-seater (labelled Experimental for the passenger's discretion) and took off. Colin is relatively new to the skies but he's already an expert pilot and I felt totally at ease in the seat next to him. Well, almost totally. I've never been one for extreme motion and the swoops of the plane had my stomach begging for solid ground. Nevertheless, I had a blast dive-bombing clouds, doing barrel rolls, and even flying the plane myself! I had total control of the plane on the way home and swooped a small cloud of my own. After landing - and nearly kissing the ground - Anna and I drove to the small seaside town nearby and had lunch at a cute cafe.
With access to one of Leigh's bikes, I had total freedom to pedal around Adelaide and discover its charm on my own time. I loved a crossroad that had a word each from "A FOREST OF DREAMS" on the corners. There was no forest to be seen, but Australians call any few standing trees a forest : )
Leigh, Josh, and I cycled along the river one evening to arrive at the beach by sunset and order fish 'n chips from a wonderful local cafe. Their pace was breakneck and had me huffing to keep up, but the end of the trip was well worth the sweat. We cycled home in the dark at a slightly slower pace, to keep me from bailing and hurting the bike. Yes, just the bike was worth Leigh's concern.
Speaking of breakneck speeds! Let me tell you about my first night in Adelaide. Sorry about the lack of calendar uniformity, but I'm just writing as it comes back to me. So, read on and forget timing. My first night in Adelaide. Leigh, Josh, and I went up to the hills to play (them) and watch (me) their final soccer match. It was great, freezing, and Leigh let in every goal. Well, not quite : ) He did make a great save that involved the ball bouncing off his face. Anyways, this has nothing to do with breakneck speeds.
When the sun went down and the sky turned to a dusky blue; when the street lights came on and you could no longer see your feet outside the pools of light they shed; when cars raced up and down the hill to reach their nighttime destination we decided to bike home. There is no bike path along the highway. The cars drive on the wrong side of the road. I had no lights on my allotted bike. Regardless, we rode. Down the old freeway. The bumpy, cracked, swerving, snaking freeway. The freeway with lights every 100 metres.
Leigh on his pro road bike and me on the commuter, we jumped on our bikes and started riding. There wasn't much pedaling involved, it was all downhill, but that didn't matter to Leigh. He clipped his riding shoes in and took off like a bullet, leaving me scrambling to get going after him. (ps. Leigh wasn't really that thoughtless, it just sounds better in a story... he did a good job of pretending to be patient with me). Honestly, however, I spent the entire 45-minute journey nearly hyperventilating from fear. I love biking, but that love encompasses daytime leisure biking. Not nighttime suicide rides. When I finally wobbled off the bike and onto the couch, it was all I could do to let Leigh know that it was fun and I was definitely alright, thanks for asking.
What else did I do in Adelaide? Keep in mind that I just left three jobs in Cairns and a back-breaking fever in Sydney. I didn't do much. When left to my own devices, I computed and watched movies. I biked around town a little bit and did some shopping, but I also just enjoyed down-time in the house.
Leigh's mum, Louise, was a total sweetheart and I will always wish to return to her house. She went out of her way to make sure I did not want for anything. I knew I was always welcome to walk into her house and sit down for some good coffee and conversation. The pull-out bed was always mine for nights out (I did go to her house one late night and discovered some funny scenes, but that's a story one individual *coughJosh* may not want publicized). Most importantly, this was the house I spent Boxing Day at. But perhaps I'll write about Christmas Day first.
Christmas Day was a Goldsworthy day. Josh, Leigh, and I drove up to Colin and Anna's place with our salad and beer contributions. I had stayed up until midnight the previous night painstakingly making fresh ginger cookies with icing and decorations. It was the closest I could come to gingerbread men in a house with no cookie cutters. That plate of cookies was my contribution.
We started the night with champagne, continued the night with wine, moved onto beer, had some gins, then went back to champagne. But that's not really the focus of the evening. I just wanted to make sure everyone knows that the vibe was loose, friendly, and certainly full of laughter. We set the table with our five salads, and the masterpiece maple ham that Colin had done on the bbq to blend Canadian and Australian Christmas traditions. It was delicious. Five salads kept us healthy and Colin's relatives made a fantastic Pineapple Fluff for dessert. Needless to say, we were stuffed.
After dinner, we listened to music, saw some kookaburras and a koala in the nearby trees, and mostly just sat and chatted. It was not a normal Christmas, but it was full of fun and friends.
Boxing Day was spent at Louise's house. The table sat Louise, her mum, Rob, Colin, Anna, Leigh, Josh, and I. It was full and comfortable. We had a stuffed turkey, mashed sweet potatoes (my cookery), roast potatoes, and salad. Again, this wonderful family went out of their way to make sure I had a wonderful Christmas that lacked nothing. I was blown away.
Adelaide is the wine region of Australia and Louise did us proud with unending bottles of 10-year-old red wines. This was not for getting tipsy on. This was for examining, inhaling, slowly sipping and letting the flavours reveal themselves over your tongue. It was an art. Well, it should have been. I am sadly lacking in wine experience and therefore just honestly enjoyed the wine as well as I could. They were quite strong and dry.
Our dessert was Louise's piece de resistance. A beautiful Christmas pudding with drunken ice cream and brandy cream. With one whiff, our stuffed stomachs miraculously growled and wanted not just one serving, but two. That had me nearly asleep on the couch afterwards as my body devoted all its energy towards digesting. It was spectacular.
Four days after Christmas and twelve days after arriving, I jumped on a bus heading towards Melbourne. I said sad farewells to my new family and strongly hoped to make it back to their corner of the world someday. I felt more at-home than I had in several months and it was wonderful to spend Christmas in a foreign country with people as inviting and loving as these. I wish I could have stayed longer.
Well, now I'm in Melbourne and that is for a later blog. For now, my battery is almost dead. See ya later, friends. Maybe sooner than you think ; )
xoxo - Katrina
Sunday, December 26, 2010
In Nemo's World
Goodbye Cairns. Goodbye 50 hours/week of work. Goodbye over-crowded, over-priced hostel. Goodbye drunken customers, rude comments, no tips. Goodbye.
Hellooooooooo Great Barrier Reef!
Am I sounding too desperate here?
My friend Bas and I booked our trip to the reef together, planning to be buddy divers as both of us had our PADI open water certifications but neither had been out for a while (five years, in my case). With two days and a night of sailing, diving, and lounging ahead of us, it wasn't difficult to get psyched for the trip. Even if we did have to get up at 5:30 to make it to the boat on time.
Sitting on deck in my bikini, soaking in 35degree sun as our sailboat, Rum Runner, gently cruised through ocean swells was pretty much idyllic. I plugged my ipod in and settled down in perfect happiness to read my new novel, The Sex Lives Of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost. Blue skies met with blue seas, unmarred by grey city clouds, buildings, or land of any kind. We had nothing but the horizon and the promise of the world's largest coral reef ahead of us.
Unfortunately, my dive buddy was not quite as carefree as I. He was not a sailor. He was not a motor-er. He was not even a dinghy-er. Bas was seasick. Following the crew's tip to focus on the horizon when feeling ill, Bas fixed his eyes on the horizon and locked them there. When I asked if he wanted water, he answered without blinking. When people passed in front of him, he stared through them. Mouth screwed shut, eyes wide open, Bas sat immobile for nearly two hours. Staring at the horizon is really more of a guideline than an actual anti-seasickness rule. I decided not to enlighten him.
As we neared our mooring area, the fishing rod off the back of the boat gave a loud buzz and bent double. Shrieking in excitement, the entire boatload of people rushed to the stern to see what gigantic finned creature we had hooked. The struggle between man and sea was short-lived and soon we saw a huge yellowfin tuna thrashing just beneath the surface of the crystal waves. One of the deckhands leapt onto the stern platform with a gaffer in his hand, ready to hook the beast and bring him aboard. Just as he made his swing, however, the tuna made one final mighty effort to break free and he succeeded. Deflated and utterly disappointed, we all returned to where we had been sitting. Two minutes later, the reel buzzed again. This time, we landed a small skipjack tuna (not edible) and put it in a bag for shark bait.
The deck was filled with buckets of fins, snorkels, wetsuits, and, of course, dive vests/tanks. As the deckhands strapped our line to the mooring ball, we began strapping ourselves into weight belts, goggles, fins, and vests. The crew briefly briefed us on the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef and then it was time to jump overboard and experience one of the seven natural wonders of the world for ourselves! Camera in hand, buddy at my side, I deflated my vest and sank into the 18m depths. Visibility was incredible; we could see coral reef and metallic fish flashing 30m away from us through a blue haze of tropical water.
It's not often that the water temperature feels just as warm as the outside air, but this was an exception. Jumping into the ocean was a delicious treat. In one instance it cleaned the sweat off our sun-baked bodies, in the next it enveloped us in a cocoon of warmth. Even at 18m, wearing nothing but a bikini, I felt far from cold. Taking a deep breath of tank air, I could not think of a better way to live life.
On our first dive, we saw Nemo and his father, flocks of parrotfish, damselfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, surgeonfish, blennies, gobies, triggerfish, and several others. The reef was a collage of colours. From the purple and green anemones, turquoise parrotfish, red coral, pink fans, and speckled giant clams, it was a palace of jewels that we could only marvel at as we flicked our fins through the water. All too soon, our first 50 minutes were up and we returned to the boat to dry off under the sun, eat a wonderful a la carte lunch, and move on to our next dive spot.
We had four dives on our first day. Each one was more wonderful than the last, from petting a green sea turtle as it munched on coral to spotting a sea snake slithering through the shallow waves. Our last dive was at 8:00pm, just as the stars were coming out and the water came alive with green phosphorescent flashes. I was the first to jump in and immediately discovered to my dismay that my flashlight was faulty. It turned off upon impact with the water and left me floating in a void of black water and black sky. I tried very hard not to think about hungry sharks circling under my naked legs, about territorial triggerfish and their coral-strengthened beak-like mouths, about the coral snake we had seen earlier - one of the most venomous creatures on Earth. Needless to say, I was relieved when the rest of the crew jumped one-by-one after me. Contrary to my wild imaginings, we had a very docile night dive. Not a single shark spotting, though we had our flashlights flicking back and forth in a tentative but eager search for those tell-tale fins.
Utterly exhausted from a long day of sun and salt, I heaved myself out of the water after our final dive and immediately crashed into bed. Mine was the unconscious slumber of a truly satisfied human being. The Great Barrier Reef was everything I could have asked for and I loved every minute of my day.
The next day had us up at 6:45, donning wet bathing suits in a chill downpour. Gone were the sun and clear skies of the previous days. Grey replaced all blue and a chill wind made me consider donning a wetsuit. Acknowledging that all of them were wet, I decided to just brave the water. Forgoing a tank and vest, I decided to just snorkel this morning to give my ears a bit of a rest.
The first in the water once again, I was met with a truly unpleasant surprise. Jellyfish. The rain had attracted hordes of string-of-pearl jellies to the surface and every muscle in my body stiffened as I received three shocking stings to my wrist, knee, and ankle. I dipped my mask underwater and immediately regretted it, the jellies were everywhere and I had no chance of making it to dive platform at the back of the boat without swimming through dozens. Bracing myself, I kicked my flippers and kept my face out of the water. Two stings later, I scrambled out of the water and warned the rest of the divers of my encounter. A few decided to don wetsuits, but most just jumped in and immediately sank below the surface.
Shaken from my scare, I decided not to re-enter the water. Instead, I wrapped myself in a towel and settled down on some cockpit cushions to read.
The rain cleared as everyone exited the water an hour later. We ate a small meal and moved on to our final dive location. The sun was out and promising a wonderfully warm day to make up for our dreary morning. Undaunted by my red and itchy stings, I strapped myself into my gear one last time and made ready to jump in. Our captain informed us that this was his favourite dive location but he rarely got to bring people here due to wind direction and current. The rain from the morning had set the weather in a favourable direction and we were the lucky few to benefit by diving one of the Great Barrier Reef's most vibrant and alive shelves.
Captain Sparrow was not exaggerating. Our final dive was wondrous. A plateau of coral extended for kilometres, alive with thousands of fish, multitudes of coral species, and the promise of turtles. Sticking to the sunny shallow areas, Bas and I floated with the current, eyes constantly moving from fish to fish. It was a beautiful and truly satisfying final dive. We chased fish, did flips and funny faces underwater, explored trenches and small caves, took several pictures, and made our way slowly back to the boat as our air levels started to dip.
When all our gear was safely stowed in its correct basin and our towels hung up to dry, the Rum Runner started her engines and began moving towards the hazy mountains of Cairns. Heads full of new experiences, we sat in silence and soaked in the sun as we watched the approaching green of land.
With an offer to return to the Rum Runner and work as a deckhand in exchange for free accommodation, food, and my Masters dive certification, I was not sad to step onto the docks. I exchanged numbers with the captain and promised to be in touch, excited to hopefully return in March and begin work! Will I be able to? I'm not sure. I've got a lot going on in my life right now and it will take a lot of prayer and thought to figure out where I will go next. I could return home and recover from my homesickness, I could accept a job offer to work for the National Bank of Australia in Sydney in exchange for an extended visa, I could work and live with friends in Melbourne, I could move on to Fiji and India... or I could go up to Cairns. So many wonderful possibilities! Your opinions would be greatly appreciated : )
Until next time, thanks for sticking with me and I hope that my adventures may inspire you to seek out this wonderful world we live in!
Love and hugs to my wonderful friends and family,
xoxo - Katrina
Hellooooooooo Great Barrier Reef!
Am I sounding too desperate here?
My friend Bas and I booked our trip to the reef together, planning to be buddy divers as both of us had our PADI open water certifications but neither had been out for a while (five years, in my case). With two days and a night of sailing, diving, and lounging ahead of us, it wasn't difficult to get psyched for the trip. Even if we did have to get up at 5:30 to make it to the boat on time.
Sitting on deck in my bikini, soaking in 35degree sun as our sailboat, Rum Runner, gently cruised through ocean swells was pretty much idyllic. I plugged my ipod in and settled down in perfect happiness to read my new novel, The Sex Lives Of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost. Blue skies met with blue seas, unmarred by grey city clouds, buildings, or land of any kind. We had nothing but the horizon and the promise of the world's largest coral reef ahead of us.
Unfortunately, my dive buddy was not quite as carefree as I. He was not a sailor. He was not a motor-er. He was not even a dinghy-er. Bas was seasick. Following the crew's tip to focus on the horizon when feeling ill, Bas fixed his eyes on the horizon and locked them there. When I asked if he wanted water, he answered without blinking. When people passed in front of him, he stared through them. Mouth screwed shut, eyes wide open, Bas sat immobile for nearly two hours. Staring at the horizon is really more of a guideline than an actual anti-seasickness rule. I decided not to enlighten him.
As we neared our mooring area, the fishing rod off the back of the boat gave a loud buzz and bent double. Shrieking in excitement, the entire boatload of people rushed to the stern to see what gigantic finned creature we had hooked. The struggle between man and sea was short-lived and soon we saw a huge yellowfin tuna thrashing just beneath the surface of the crystal waves. One of the deckhands leapt onto the stern platform with a gaffer in his hand, ready to hook the beast and bring him aboard. Just as he made his swing, however, the tuna made one final mighty effort to break free and he succeeded. Deflated and utterly disappointed, we all returned to where we had been sitting. Two minutes later, the reel buzzed again. This time, we landed a small skipjack tuna (not edible) and put it in a bag for shark bait.
The deck was filled with buckets of fins, snorkels, wetsuits, and, of course, dive vests/tanks. As the deckhands strapped our line to the mooring ball, we began strapping ourselves into weight belts, goggles, fins, and vests. The crew briefly briefed us on the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef and then it was time to jump overboard and experience one of the seven natural wonders of the world for ourselves! Camera in hand, buddy at my side, I deflated my vest and sank into the 18m depths. Visibility was incredible; we could see coral reef and metallic fish flashing 30m away from us through a blue haze of tropical water.
It's not often that the water temperature feels just as warm as the outside air, but this was an exception. Jumping into the ocean was a delicious treat. In one instance it cleaned the sweat off our sun-baked bodies, in the next it enveloped us in a cocoon of warmth. Even at 18m, wearing nothing but a bikini, I felt far from cold. Taking a deep breath of tank air, I could not think of a better way to live life.
On our first dive, we saw Nemo and his father, flocks of parrotfish, damselfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, surgeonfish, blennies, gobies, triggerfish, and several others. The reef was a collage of colours. From the purple and green anemones, turquoise parrotfish, red coral, pink fans, and speckled giant clams, it was a palace of jewels that we could only marvel at as we flicked our fins through the water. All too soon, our first 50 minutes were up and we returned to the boat to dry off under the sun, eat a wonderful a la carte lunch, and move on to our next dive spot.
We had four dives on our first day. Each one was more wonderful than the last, from petting a green sea turtle as it munched on coral to spotting a sea snake slithering through the shallow waves. Our last dive was at 8:00pm, just as the stars were coming out and the water came alive with green phosphorescent flashes. I was the first to jump in and immediately discovered to my dismay that my flashlight was faulty. It turned off upon impact with the water and left me floating in a void of black water and black sky. I tried very hard not to think about hungry sharks circling under my naked legs, about territorial triggerfish and their coral-strengthened beak-like mouths, about the coral snake we had seen earlier - one of the most venomous creatures on Earth. Needless to say, I was relieved when the rest of the crew jumped one-by-one after me. Contrary to my wild imaginings, we had a very docile night dive. Not a single shark spotting, though we had our flashlights flicking back and forth in a tentative but eager search for those tell-tale fins.
Utterly exhausted from a long day of sun and salt, I heaved myself out of the water after our final dive and immediately crashed into bed. Mine was the unconscious slumber of a truly satisfied human being. The Great Barrier Reef was everything I could have asked for and I loved every minute of my day.
The next day had us up at 6:45, donning wet bathing suits in a chill downpour. Gone were the sun and clear skies of the previous days. Grey replaced all blue and a chill wind made me consider donning a wetsuit. Acknowledging that all of them were wet, I decided to just brave the water. Forgoing a tank and vest, I decided to just snorkel this morning to give my ears a bit of a rest.
The first in the water once again, I was met with a truly unpleasant surprise. Jellyfish. The rain had attracted hordes of string-of-pearl jellies to the surface and every muscle in my body stiffened as I received three shocking stings to my wrist, knee, and ankle. I dipped my mask underwater and immediately regretted it, the jellies were everywhere and I had no chance of making it to dive platform at the back of the boat without swimming through dozens. Bracing myself, I kicked my flippers and kept my face out of the water. Two stings later, I scrambled out of the water and warned the rest of the divers of my encounter. A few decided to don wetsuits, but most just jumped in and immediately sank below the surface.
Shaken from my scare, I decided not to re-enter the water. Instead, I wrapped myself in a towel and settled down on some cockpit cushions to read.
The rain cleared as everyone exited the water an hour later. We ate a small meal and moved on to our final dive location. The sun was out and promising a wonderfully warm day to make up for our dreary morning. Undaunted by my red and itchy stings, I strapped myself into my gear one last time and made ready to jump in. Our captain informed us that this was his favourite dive location but he rarely got to bring people here due to wind direction and current. The rain from the morning had set the weather in a favourable direction and we were the lucky few to benefit by diving one of the Great Barrier Reef's most vibrant and alive shelves.
Captain Sparrow was not exaggerating. Our final dive was wondrous. A plateau of coral extended for kilometres, alive with thousands of fish, multitudes of coral species, and the promise of turtles. Sticking to the sunny shallow areas, Bas and I floated with the current, eyes constantly moving from fish to fish. It was a beautiful and truly satisfying final dive. We chased fish, did flips and funny faces underwater, explored trenches and small caves, took several pictures, and made our way slowly back to the boat as our air levels started to dip.
When all our gear was safely stowed in its correct basin and our towels hung up to dry, the Rum Runner started her engines and began moving towards the hazy mountains of Cairns. Heads full of new experiences, we sat in silence and soaked in the sun as we watched the approaching green of land.
With an offer to return to the Rum Runner and work as a deckhand in exchange for free accommodation, food, and my Masters dive certification, I was not sad to step onto the docks. I exchanged numbers with the captain and promised to be in touch, excited to hopefully return in March and begin work! Will I be able to? I'm not sure. I've got a lot going on in my life right now and it will take a lot of prayer and thought to figure out where I will go next. I could return home and recover from my homesickness, I could accept a job offer to work for the National Bank of Australia in Sydney in exchange for an extended visa, I could work and live with friends in Melbourne, I could move on to Fiji and India... or I could go up to Cairns. So many wonderful possibilities! Your opinions would be greatly appreciated : )
Until next time, thanks for sticking with me and I hope that my adventures may inspire you to seek out this wonderful world we live in!
Love and hugs to my wonderful friends and family,
xoxo - Katrina
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Utter Exhaustion
Well, it's now the 8th of November and time has flown in an odd way. Each day creeps by, but the week has moved swiftly. I have three jobs in Cairns; I work reception from 9:30-12:00 at my hostel in return for free accommodation, then I move to Travel Bugs to stand outside and hand out flyers from 12:30-3:30 for $16.50/hour; finally, I work as a bartender and drink runner at the Rattle & Hum for 6-9 hours each night for $18/hour. In conclusion, I often work 16-hour days and am therefore living on the bare thread of sanity as headaches, muscle exhaustion, and mental exhaustion wreck me everyday.
It has only been a week and a half of this so far and my body is starting to surrender to the abuse I'm giving it. It is no longer torture to get up in the morning after going to bed at 1:30am, nor do I feel like my back is going to break as I keep up with the frantic pace of happy hour at the bar. In fact, I really enjoy my job at the Rattle. I feel right in my element as I serve and laugh with customers and make friends with my co-workers. They often go out at night and I have joined them once so far and had an excellent night of Rugby and a random mascara war (we found a tube of mascara on the ground and decided it would be hilarous to coat each other with it - washing it off the next day was not so hilarious).
Let me ease your worries in letting you know that, despite working like mad, I am having a lot of fun in Cairns. My hostel friends are the best I've made yet and I truly enjoy every minute with them. Emily and Martyn from England, and Alex from Canada, are never boring, even if we just sit and do nothing in the commonroom. I have never laughed so hard.
I have not yet been out to the Great Barrier Reef yet, nor have I seen the jungles and waterfalls that surround tropical Cairns, but I will most definitely do that before I leave! I won a two-for-one trip to the jungle at a pub crawl the other night after dancing my face off against several other girls. Now I just need to find someone to go with! Martyn leaves tomorrow (sad face) and Emily leaves on Friday; Alex's friends have just joined her here so she is making travel plans with them. Time to make better friends with my co-workers!
I really don't have much else to write. Working keeps me busy and out of trouble; I'm often too tired to go out at night and I'm busy all day so I don't have time to go shopping or spend any money. So, all I'm doing is saving and spending precious minutes off with friends. Hopefully I'll have enough money to have an amazing Christmas in Sydney with Benji - with enough left over to see the Great Ocean Road, do some surfing, and fly home at the end of January!
I look forward to seeing everyone two months sooner than planned. It has been an incredible trip so far, but I'm already planning my final blog, putting together a list of everything I have learned in Australia thus far.
Hopefully my next blog will come sooner than this one did. Sorry for the silence, but I have been adjusting to my new lifestyle of having basically no life at all!
Until next time, love to everyone and hope you're enjoying Christmas preparations at home! You have no idea how weird it is to see Christmas ads on tv when the sun is beating out a 30 degree day. I have not put on a jacket or long pants in goodness knows how long. Even at 1:00am in the morning, it's hot and wonderful! This is why I came to Australia : D
xoxo - Katrina
It has only been a week and a half of this so far and my body is starting to surrender to the abuse I'm giving it. It is no longer torture to get up in the morning after going to bed at 1:30am, nor do I feel like my back is going to break as I keep up with the frantic pace of happy hour at the bar. In fact, I really enjoy my job at the Rattle. I feel right in my element as I serve and laugh with customers and make friends with my co-workers. They often go out at night and I have joined them once so far and had an excellent night of Rugby and a random mascara war (we found a tube of mascara on the ground and decided it would be hilarous to coat each other with it - washing it off the next day was not so hilarious).
Let me ease your worries in letting you know that, despite working like mad, I am having a lot of fun in Cairns. My hostel friends are the best I've made yet and I truly enjoy every minute with them. Emily and Martyn from England, and Alex from Canada, are never boring, even if we just sit and do nothing in the commonroom. I have never laughed so hard.
I have not yet been out to the Great Barrier Reef yet, nor have I seen the jungles and waterfalls that surround tropical Cairns, but I will most definitely do that before I leave! I won a two-for-one trip to the jungle at a pub crawl the other night after dancing my face off against several other girls. Now I just need to find someone to go with! Martyn leaves tomorrow (sad face) and Emily leaves on Friday; Alex's friends have just joined her here so she is making travel plans with them. Time to make better friends with my co-workers!
I really don't have much else to write. Working keeps me busy and out of trouble; I'm often too tired to go out at night and I'm busy all day so I don't have time to go shopping or spend any money. So, all I'm doing is saving and spending precious minutes off with friends. Hopefully I'll have enough money to have an amazing Christmas in Sydney with Benji - with enough left over to see the Great Ocean Road, do some surfing, and fly home at the end of January!
I look forward to seeing everyone two months sooner than planned. It has been an incredible trip so far, but I'm already planning my final blog, putting together a list of everything I have learned in Australia thus far.
Hopefully my next blog will come sooner than this one did. Sorry for the silence, but I have been adjusting to my new lifestyle of having basically no life at all!
Until next time, love to everyone and hope you're enjoying Christmas preparations at home! You have no idea how weird it is to see Christmas ads on tv when the sun is beating out a 30 degree day. I have not put on a jacket or long pants in goodness knows how long. Even at 1:00am in the morning, it's hot and wonderful! This is why I came to Australia : D
xoxo - Katrina
Friday, October 29, 2010
A Week Of Work
It is now the 30th of October - one more day and it's Halloween! I was mistaken about Australians, they do celebrate this most ghoulish of holidays. So, today I will find a costume : )
I've been working nearly every night since the 24th. The 25th and 26th were spent saying goodbye to Joseph and Dylan from Tennessee and saying hello to my good friends Rich and Martyn. We spent a lot of time basking in the gorgeous sun of Cairns, soaking up a tan and cooling off in the lagoon. I will take pictures soon so you can see what everything looks like. I am truly looking forward to spending the next month and a half here; it's beautiful, full of interesting travellers, never dull, and almost always sunny- this is why I came to Australia.
I visited a casino for the first time while Joseph and Dylan were here. Didn't spend any money, but it was fun to walk around and watch people playing blackjack and poker, slots (called pokies here), and other games. Perhaps I'll test my beginners luck with $10 one of these days, but for now I'm low on money and happy to just watch.
Cairns is a great place to be if you're low on cash. My hostel offers free breakfast of toast and coffee in the morning, the grocery shopping is affordable for lunchtime, and dinner is always free at the Woolshed. Now that I've began working, it's difficult to catch the free dinner so I'll have to start brown bagging. Cans of tuna are a lifesaver. I also chug orange juice like none other.
On the 27th, I woke up with cold symptoms - sneezing, stuffy nose, and stuffy head. That was my trial day at the Rattle & Hum, a very busy restaurant/bar just a few stores down from my hostel. They were offering $18/hour and 35 hours/week, far more than the $15/hour and 4 shifts/week at Bellevista. With high spirits and low health, I walked into the Rattle at 4:50pm and started my first shift bartending. I thought it would be frightening to be faced with multitudes of faces shouting drink orders, but it was surprisingly easy to take orders one at a time and pour the drinks I was already familiar with after being in Australia for a month. I even made a few cocktails that night!
After eight hours of non-stop drink-pouring, we closed the bar and went home at 1:00am. Silly as I am, I showered, prettied up, and went out to find some friends at the nightclubs. After finding them, I decided I was too tired to stick around and wound up heading straight back to the hostel. There were snorers in my room. Bad sleep #1.
On the 28th, I woke up quite late after not sleeping much that night. Feeling even more sick, I rolled out of bed, ate a quick breakfast, visited Martyn at the lagoon, then went straight back to bed to sleep from 12:00 to 5:30. Then I showered, got back into my uniform and walked to work. My shift was from 6:30-11:00 on the floor. This job consisted of taking drink orders from the tables, bringing them to the bar, then carrying the drinks back to the tables. I was not quite as comfortable doing this job. Carrying heavy trays full of precariously full drinks is not the job of a naturally clumsy person. Luckily I did not spill a single drink. I did break three glasses, which took quite a bit out of my self-confidence as all three happened in front of customers. In fact, two of them broke onto a table and into the drinks I had just served, which made it necessary to re-serve. Luckily, that table of young guys was quite nice about it and refrained from teasing me too much.
Happy not to close that night, I rolled out at 11:00 and spent some time with Martyn, the new night manager of our hostel - exchanging work for free accommodation. We talked until around midnight, then I went to my room to get ready for bed. Just as I was about to head into the room, a guy and girl walked in and closed the door. Not cool. I knocked before walking in and telling them not to keep me up because I was tired and sick. Well, when sharing a bunkbed with a busy couple, it is impossible to sleep. This was my first experience of hostel humps and I was not keen on the timing. Instead of kicking them out, which was well within my rights at 1:00 in the morning, I wrapped my sheet around me and huffed out to the commonroom, where Martyn was still writing in his journal. Exhausted and grumpy, I plopped down on the couch and tried to sleep there. For the next hour and a half, I drifted in and out of sleep as people came in from the night and decided to cap their evening by chatting on the couches surrounding mine. Finally, at 2:20, I got the courage to return to my room. Trying to make as much noise and bed-squeeking as possible, I settled down and finally tried to sleep a proper bed sleep. The night had something else in store for me though. Snorers #2. This time, there were two guys in the bunk across from mine in this four-share room, both of them snoring in chorus. I spent the next three hours vascillating between madly deciding what I could throw at them and resignedly squeezing my pillow over my ears. It was not at all fun. At 5am, I finally drifted off into a desperate, fevered sleep.
29th. Surprisingly, I woke up quite early, ready to start the day. I grabbed a coffee at Maccas, then went to the internet cafe to Skype with Benji. It had been a few days since we had spoken and we were both quite eager to catch up. After two hours of chatting, I signed off, visited Martyn at the lagoon, found a place to stay over Christmas in Sydney, had lunch, hung out with the hostel people, took a three hour nap, then once again got ready for work. My shift was another 6:30-1:00 at the bar. It went smoothly and swiftly, with no broken glasses or missed drink orders.
I really enjoy the company of my co-workers (even my manager) and am looking forward to keeping this job going! It's nice to look forward to going to work. I've earned a few tips (technically, we should put them in the tip jar that goes towards the staff party, but anything over a fiver is kept under the table), met some of the regulars, and shared my first post-work drink with the other bartenders.
That sums up my last week in Cairns! I hope my cold goes away soon - it seems to be fading, which is good. The weather is still fabulous, but I believe it's supposed to turn for a few days soon. Hopefully it's not Sunday and Monday, my first two days off! I start work as a part-time receptionist at my hostel in return for accommodation on Monday. That will certainly save me a lot of money, which will go towards having an amazing Christmas with Benji in Sydney!! Maybe we can go skydiving together : )
Hello to everyone in Victoria! Hope you have an awesome, crazy, safe Halloween! Don't forget to keep in touch with me : )
xoxo - Katrina
I've been working nearly every night since the 24th. The 25th and 26th were spent saying goodbye to Joseph and Dylan from Tennessee and saying hello to my good friends Rich and Martyn. We spent a lot of time basking in the gorgeous sun of Cairns, soaking up a tan and cooling off in the lagoon. I will take pictures soon so you can see what everything looks like. I am truly looking forward to spending the next month and a half here; it's beautiful, full of interesting travellers, never dull, and almost always sunny- this is why I came to Australia.
I visited a casino for the first time while Joseph and Dylan were here. Didn't spend any money, but it was fun to walk around and watch people playing blackjack and poker, slots (called pokies here), and other games. Perhaps I'll test my beginners luck with $10 one of these days, but for now I'm low on money and happy to just watch.
Cairns is a great place to be if you're low on cash. My hostel offers free breakfast of toast and coffee in the morning, the grocery shopping is affordable for lunchtime, and dinner is always free at the Woolshed. Now that I've began working, it's difficult to catch the free dinner so I'll have to start brown bagging. Cans of tuna are a lifesaver. I also chug orange juice like none other.
On the 27th, I woke up with cold symptoms - sneezing, stuffy nose, and stuffy head. That was my trial day at the Rattle & Hum, a very busy restaurant/bar just a few stores down from my hostel. They were offering $18/hour and 35 hours/week, far more than the $15/hour and 4 shifts/week at Bellevista. With high spirits and low health, I walked into the Rattle at 4:50pm and started my first shift bartending. I thought it would be frightening to be faced with multitudes of faces shouting drink orders, but it was surprisingly easy to take orders one at a time and pour the drinks I was already familiar with after being in Australia for a month. I even made a few cocktails that night!
After eight hours of non-stop drink-pouring, we closed the bar and went home at 1:00am. Silly as I am, I showered, prettied up, and went out to find some friends at the nightclubs. After finding them, I decided I was too tired to stick around and wound up heading straight back to the hostel. There were snorers in my room. Bad sleep #1.
On the 28th, I woke up quite late after not sleeping much that night. Feeling even more sick, I rolled out of bed, ate a quick breakfast, visited Martyn at the lagoon, then went straight back to bed to sleep from 12:00 to 5:30. Then I showered, got back into my uniform and walked to work. My shift was from 6:30-11:00 on the floor. This job consisted of taking drink orders from the tables, bringing them to the bar, then carrying the drinks back to the tables. I was not quite as comfortable doing this job. Carrying heavy trays full of precariously full drinks is not the job of a naturally clumsy person. Luckily I did not spill a single drink. I did break three glasses, which took quite a bit out of my self-confidence as all three happened in front of customers. In fact, two of them broke onto a table and into the drinks I had just served, which made it necessary to re-serve. Luckily, that table of young guys was quite nice about it and refrained from teasing me too much.
Happy not to close that night, I rolled out at 11:00 and spent some time with Martyn, the new night manager of our hostel - exchanging work for free accommodation. We talked until around midnight, then I went to my room to get ready for bed. Just as I was about to head into the room, a guy and girl walked in and closed the door. Not cool. I knocked before walking in and telling them not to keep me up because I was tired and sick. Well, when sharing a bunkbed with a busy couple, it is impossible to sleep. This was my first experience of hostel humps and I was not keen on the timing. Instead of kicking them out, which was well within my rights at 1:00 in the morning, I wrapped my sheet around me and huffed out to the commonroom, where Martyn was still writing in his journal. Exhausted and grumpy, I plopped down on the couch and tried to sleep there. For the next hour and a half, I drifted in and out of sleep as people came in from the night and decided to cap their evening by chatting on the couches surrounding mine. Finally, at 2:20, I got the courage to return to my room. Trying to make as much noise and bed-squeeking as possible, I settled down and finally tried to sleep a proper bed sleep. The night had something else in store for me though. Snorers #2. This time, there were two guys in the bunk across from mine in this four-share room, both of them snoring in chorus. I spent the next three hours vascillating between madly deciding what I could throw at them and resignedly squeezing my pillow over my ears. It was not at all fun. At 5am, I finally drifted off into a desperate, fevered sleep.
29th. Surprisingly, I woke up quite early, ready to start the day. I grabbed a coffee at Maccas, then went to the internet cafe to Skype with Benji. It had been a few days since we had spoken and we were both quite eager to catch up. After two hours of chatting, I signed off, visited Martyn at the lagoon, found a place to stay over Christmas in Sydney, had lunch, hung out with the hostel people, took a three hour nap, then once again got ready for work. My shift was another 6:30-1:00 at the bar. It went smoothly and swiftly, with no broken glasses or missed drink orders.
I really enjoy the company of my co-workers (even my manager) and am looking forward to keeping this job going! It's nice to look forward to going to work. I've earned a few tips (technically, we should put them in the tip jar that goes towards the staff party, but anything over a fiver is kept under the table), met some of the regulars, and shared my first post-work drink with the other bartenders.
That sums up my last week in Cairns! I hope my cold goes away soon - it seems to be fading, which is good. The weather is still fabulous, but I believe it's supposed to turn for a few days soon. Hopefully it's not Sunday and Monday, my first two days off! I start work as a part-time receptionist at my hostel in return for accommodation on Monday. That will certainly save me a lot of money, which will go towards having an amazing Christmas with Benji in Sydney!! Maybe we can go skydiving together : )
Hello to everyone in Victoria! Hope you have an awesome, crazy, safe Halloween! Don't forget to keep in touch with me : )
xoxo - Katrina
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Long Overdue - 20th-24th
There is a reason I haven't been blogging on a daily basis. Now that I'm not adventuring from Brisbane to Cairns, my days no longer consist of awesome adventures. Don't get me wrong, Cairns is certainly not boring, but the fun here lies in good friends and what we make of it, not exploring tropical beaches and discovering sea life.
I arrived on a Monday and it is now Monday again. One week in Cairns and I feel like I have been here much longer. I moved from my first hostel (Caravella 149) to Waterfront, which is closer to town and saves my mangled feet from walking.
Monday - Thursday pretty much consisted of job-hunting. I spent hours searching for job postings online, in the newspaper, and at store-fronts. After handing out countless resumes, it turns out none of this was necessary. All I had to do was sunbathe with friends at the lagoon and I'd get a job. Well, almost. We (Andre, Nicolai, Chris, Sabine, an Aussie guy, and I) were lounging by the lagoon in the steaming sun, talking about work, when the Aussie guy suggested I pop into Bellevista (a popular bar I had not yet applied at) because he heard they had two free positions. I grabbed my purse and walked over immediately. The man did not even glance at my resume before setting a trial shift for Sunday the 24th. Spirits high, I paid my hostel up until Sunday and had an excellent night of Woolshed dinner and poker at the hostel.
On Friday, Andre left on a dive boat for his internship; Nicolai and Chris (Denmark), and Sabine (Holland) left to work on a mango-picking farm on Saturday; Martyn "Pudding" arrives today and Rich "Haggis" is coming soon. In the meantime, I spend my time with two guys from Tennessee and three Dutch girls. We go out for free dinner at the Woolshed each night (mass produced spaghetti and rice), and often go dancing afterwards. My days are usually my own. I take the morning to use the internet, then go for a walk around town, still hunting for new job openings. If it is sunny, I'll read at the lagoon. If it's not, I often watch movies or play cards with people from the hostel.
Speaking of jobs and the internet; I was paying for my internet on Saturday and mentioned to the guy that I was looking for work. He said they had an open position as a promoter and I asked him to hire me. No resume needed, I am hired for 25 hours/week, getting paid $16.50/hour to stand outside their door and promote the internet cafe by handing out free half-hour internet slips!
On Sunday, I had my job trial at Bellevista from 4:30-6:30. Butterflies in my stomach, I walked into the bar and was set to collecting glasses, washing them, serving food, and generally keeping the bar clean. Fifteen minutes after I arrived, the bar was packed for Happy Hour. I mean packed. There were people sitting on the ground. I learned to pile glasses high and carry 30 at a time in my hands, or 100 in a basket. My fingers learned tollerence as I carried out hot plates of pizza and willed myself not to drop them as the heat radiated to my bones. I slopped alcohol from half-empty glasses all over myself, sweated in the barely-air-conditioned bar, swerved and danced out of the way of the bartenders as I restocked their cup fridges and trays, broke two glasses (only two), and had the time of my life. It was so much fun! Everyone I worked with was incredibly friendly. They did not hesitate to whisper tips in my ear when I wasn't sure what to do, were ready with compliments when I did a good job, and made sure I ate and drank when I had forgotten to do so. At 9:30, three hours after I was scheduled to finish, the boss told me to roster my hours and head home. He asked me to come in the next day to collect my trial wages and discuss availability. I got the job!!
Absolutely full of adrenaline after such a great night, I showered and met up with my Tennessee friends and a couple Australian girls to dance the night away at the local gay club, Vibe, and later at the party-central hostel, Gilligan's. At 2:30, I fell into bed, exhausted and happy after an excellent day/night.
So, that sums up my first week in Cairns. I am looking forward to staying here until mid-December, when I'll fly to Sydney to meet with Benji for Christmas!
Love and hugs to everyone back home (and everyone reading this).
xoxo - Katrina
I arrived on a Monday and it is now Monday again. One week in Cairns and I feel like I have been here much longer. I moved from my first hostel (Caravella 149) to Waterfront, which is closer to town and saves my mangled feet from walking.
Monday - Thursday pretty much consisted of job-hunting. I spent hours searching for job postings online, in the newspaper, and at store-fronts. After handing out countless resumes, it turns out none of this was necessary. All I had to do was sunbathe with friends at the lagoon and I'd get a job. Well, almost. We (Andre, Nicolai, Chris, Sabine, an Aussie guy, and I) were lounging by the lagoon in the steaming sun, talking about work, when the Aussie guy suggested I pop into Bellevista (a popular bar I had not yet applied at) because he heard they had two free positions. I grabbed my purse and walked over immediately. The man did not even glance at my resume before setting a trial shift for Sunday the 24th. Spirits high, I paid my hostel up until Sunday and had an excellent night of Woolshed dinner and poker at the hostel.
On Friday, Andre left on a dive boat for his internship; Nicolai and Chris (Denmark), and Sabine (Holland) left to work on a mango-picking farm on Saturday; Martyn "Pudding" arrives today and Rich "Haggis" is coming soon. In the meantime, I spend my time with two guys from Tennessee and three Dutch girls. We go out for free dinner at the Woolshed each night (mass produced spaghetti and rice), and often go dancing afterwards. My days are usually my own. I take the morning to use the internet, then go for a walk around town, still hunting for new job openings. If it is sunny, I'll read at the lagoon. If it's not, I often watch movies or play cards with people from the hostel.
Speaking of jobs and the internet; I was paying for my internet on Saturday and mentioned to the guy that I was looking for work. He said they had an open position as a promoter and I asked him to hire me. No resume needed, I am hired for 25 hours/week, getting paid $16.50/hour to stand outside their door and promote the internet cafe by handing out free half-hour internet slips!
On Sunday, I had my job trial at Bellevista from 4:30-6:30. Butterflies in my stomach, I walked into the bar and was set to collecting glasses, washing them, serving food, and generally keeping the bar clean. Fifteen minutes after I arrived, the bar was packed for Happy Hour. I mean packed. There were people sitting on the ground. I learned to pile glasses high and carry 30 at a time in my hands, or 100 in a basket. My fingers learned tollerence as I carried out hot plates of pizza and willed myself not to drop them as the heat radiated to my bones. I slopped alcohol from half-empty glasses all over myself, sweated in the barely-air-conditioned bar, swerved and danced out of the way of the bartenders as I restocked their cup fridges and trays, broke two glasses (only two), and had the time of my life. It was so much fun! Everyone I worked with was incredibly friendly. They did not hesitate to whisper tips in my ear when I wasn't sure what to do, were ready with compliments when I did a good job, and made sure I ate and drank when I had forgotten to do so. At 9:30, three hours after I was scheduled to finish, the boss told me to roster my hours and head home. He asked me to come in the next day to collect my trial wages and discuss availability. I got the job!!
Absolutely full of adrenaline after such a great night, I showered and met up with my Tennessee friends and a couple Australian girls to dance the night away at the local gay club, Vibe, and later at the party-central hostel, Gilligan's. At 2:30, I fell into bed, exhausted and happy after an excellent day/night.
So, that sums up my first week in Cairns. I am looking forward to staying here until mid-December, when I'll fly to Sydney to meet with Benji for Christmas!
Love and hugs to everyone back home (and everyone reading this).
xoxo - Katrina
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Feeling Hot Hot Hot
I got into Cairns at 8:00pm on the 18th and went straight to sleep at Caravella 149. It's $18/night here with free dinner at the Woolshed each night. Pretty sweet deal! I'm sharing a room with five other girls; haven't met them all yet, but the three I have met are really nice. We all went dancing last night : )
My first day in Cairns involved a lot of walking. I woke up at 6:30, showered, and went to McDonalds for a coffee and free wi-fi. Nothing else was open, so I computed for an hour or so, then went in search of jobs. I looked at the Classifieds in the Cairns Post and didn't find many promising openings but I did follow the one waitressing job listed. When I Google Mapped the directions, it looked like a short walk from where I was sitting. Unfortunately, scale fooled me and I wandered halfway across this much-larger-than-Airlie-beach city for 40 minutes before finally giving up because I wasn't even halfway there. So, with no other leads to follow, I decided to just pop my head into every popular-looking pub/restaurant and hand my resume out. A couple places said they'd be hiring in the near future so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll give me a call!
At around 2:00, I met with a friend from Brisbane (well, from Sweden, but I met him in Brisbane) and we had lunch with a couple of his friends. After that, Andre and I went sunglasses shopping and he showed me around the lagoon. There's a man-made beach here that tops Southbank's dunk tank in Brisbane. It's beautiful and I look forward to taking a dip today!
After shopping with Andre (and finally finding him a pair of sunglasses), I skyped, then went back to the hostel to get changed for dinner and a night on the town! Tuesday nights at the Woolshed offered inexpensive drinks and great music so the two girls I had met from my room (one from Korea, one from Ireland) and I got all jazzed up and met up with Andre and a few of his friends for a great night of dancing, free dinner, and fun.
It's now 9:50am on the 20th and I'm about to head back out to hand out more resumes. Wish me luck!
Signing out from wonderful, sunny Cairns, I'll talk to you soon!
xoxo - Katrina
My first day in Cairns involved a lot of walking. I woke up at 6:30, showered, and went to McDonalds for a coffee and free wi-fi. Nothing else was open, so I computed for an hour or so, then went in search of jobs. I looked at the Classifieds in the Cairns Post and didn't find many promising openings but I did follow the one waitressing job listed. When I Google Mapped the directions, it looked like a short walk from where I was sitting. Unfortunately, scale fooled me and I wandered halfway across this much-larger-than-Airlie-beach city for 40 minutes before finally giving up because I wasn't even halfway there. So, with no other leads to follow, I decided to just pop my head into every popular-looking pub/restaurant and hand my resume out. A couple places said they'd be hiring in the near future so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll give me a call!
At around 2:00, I met with a friend from Brisbane (well, from Sweden, but I met him in Brisbane) and we had lunch with a couple of his friends. After that, Andre and I went sunglasses shopping and he showed me around the lagoon. There's a man-made beach here that tops Southbank's dunk tank in Brisbane. It's beautiful and I look forward to taking a dip today!
After shopping with Andre (and finally finding him a pair of sunglasses), I skyped, then went back to the hostel to get changed for dinner and a night on the town! Tuesday nights at the Woolshed offered inexpensive drinks and great music so the two girls I had met from my room (one from Korea, one from Ireland) and I got all jazzed up and met up with Andre and a few of his friends for a great night of dancing, free dinner, and fun.
It's now 9:50am on the 20th and I'm about to head back out to hand out more resumes. Wish me luck!
Signing out from wonderful, sunny Cairns, I'll talk to you soon!
xoxo - Katrina
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