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Sunday 10th March
I'm not sure how much sleep I actually got on the plane, but I watched the end of the film (although I realised I wasn't 100% sure what was going on at times as I missed the previous film). The sleep I had didn't feel comfortable and I kept stirring. But before too long to my annoyance we were starting to land. The landing was painful, my cold so far hadn't been effected by the air pressure, but as we landed my head and nose were extremely painful, it almost felt like I was about to have a nose bleed. We eventually landed with a bump. It seemed as I wasn't near an isle and it was dark outside it felt like we landed quickly. I got off the plane onto the tarmac, it was cooler (although it was 5am) and it had obviously been raining as the ground was wet. Having walking into the terminals I found a cafe and had a cup of tea (earl grey, although I couldn't taste it. I sat down to over an hour watching people go past and trying to plan what I wanted to do for next 7 weeks, as Kate wanted to do a few things on certain dates. Once I had had enough of sitting there I decided to go and centre around the airport. There were 62 gates, although it wasn't like the shopping centre of Heathrow. There were some shops, plenty of places to eat and sit down. I managed to find some free wifi curtsey of Quants. I spoke to a few people before continuing my walk around. With an hour until my flight I decided to head to my gate, I didn't have a long wait until we could board. This was a smaller flight, with no screens or even a radio/music. Which annoyed me slightly as I had near enough killed my phone battery in the airport. I sat in my seat and was joined by a couple. We took off and off we went. I had already fallen a sleep whilst others were boarding and taxiing. I woke for the take-off and struggled to get back to sleep. They brought some drinks around and I had a cup of tea before drifting off again. It was comfortable sleeping, but I got as much as I could. We were then informed by the pilot we were due to descend. Again, this was painful with the cold, but it wasn't as bad as the first flight. Looking out the windows you could see sea one side and then mountains on the other. Once we were landed I collected my bags and phones the hostel to arrange my transfer (which was free). I had a bit of a wait in the bus bay but it was nice being outside. So far Cairns seemed a lot more naturally green than Perth, and there grey clouds floating in the air. The bus soon came a friendly driver helped me load my bags in. It was just me in the bus. We weaves in and out to streets to the hostel. He helped me again with the bags as I we arrived at the hostel and the reception. A very nice lady checked me in, took my passport as deposit and showed me my room. I was in a 4 bed dorm with a fridge in. It was around 2.30pm by the time I got there, although I was still slightly confused on times as it was different to Sydney. The room was white and seemed clean. There was an aircon for the room. I put my bags down, but my bottom sheet on my bed and tried to have a nap (as I was aware I have little sleep and wasn't 100% yet). The nap wasn't the most successful and I began to feel down and teary. I knew I was tired and hungry but this didn't soften the blow. After a little nap, reading my travel book I decided to venture into the 'city'. On the way out I looked at the leaflets the hostel had for trips and bus pass, I was shocked at how expensive everything was and this worried me. I asked about getting to places by myself and I was told there was no public transport. As I headed into town, I know become worried and even more down the I was going to blow my budget big time. The town did nothing to improve my mood, as the feeling I had from the guide book, there was nothing to actually do here, not even a beach. I walked around and continued to feel down. I then had some toast (cheapest thing on the menu) at a little cafe so I could use their wifi. The food seemed to do me good. I sent a few emails, but due to the time difference no one was around to talk to. Once my toast had gone and I had emailed everyone that needed an email, I went off to Woolworth's to buy some food. I spent a while walking around, trying to decide what I should buy, I ended up with pesto, pasta, tuna and peas for dinners. Some fruit and dried apricots, milk and yoghurt, cracker and biscuits, crumpets and peanut butter. It can to $33 dollars but I was hopeful it would last me a while. I carried the food back to the hostel and sat down along the esplanade, watched the sea slowly come in (due to no beach it hit the side wall) and did a little people watch. Once I got back to the hostel, I unpacked my food into my food bag and put my food in the fridge. I met the other 3 people in my room, a girl from England, a Danish girl (they had done some travelling together from a previous tour) and a German. They all seemed very nice and I started to talk to them and soon conversation started flowing. They were going to the restaurant where we could get a free meal if we brought a drink (I was unsure on much drinks were, hence why I brought food, but they said it was only $3). I went out and started making my pasta, tuna and pesto with peas. The kitchens (there was 2 of them) seemed cleaned and well equipped. I sat outside and ate my dinner. There were a group of young Germans drinking and a few pairs, so I sat by myself and looked to try and plan my Australia time. Once I had finished eating and people watching I took a bowl and a mug of boiling water to my room to have my yoghurt and cup of tea. My plan was to have a nice early night to try and make up for the previous night slightly. Once I finished my pudding and tea the overs slowly came back. We chatted as we got ready for bed. It was fun chatting and we chatted about a lot of trivial silly things. The food and the company made me feel a bit better. We chatted until gone 11pm, so no early night. But the room was cool and the bed felt ok so I was hopeful of a good nights sleep.
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