I landed in Singapore after a lovely journey back with Vietnam airways. I decided to stay in a hostel overnight rather than stay in the airport because my flight the next day wasn't until 10:30pm and it meant I could spend an extra day in Singapore. Checkers inn was basic but clean and I had a good wander around during Chinese new year. I found out that that us dragons (born 1988) have a good and prosperous year in out careers. Let see shall we. It was that that morning I heard about the cyclone in cairns from a couple of English blokes in the room next to me. Despite the 'luck' predicted for me I was feeling pretty unlucky. I phoned the airline and nothing was cancelled although I was unsure whether it would stay that way. So I made my way to the airport regardless and, after a huge kafuffle with receiving money through Weston union (love you mum), I got on the Jetstar plane to cairns. During the quick stop over in Darwin I realised how close I was to having this flight cancelled, as all Quantas flights to cairns were cancelled. The flight into cairns itself was rough and bumpy and the stupid bint next to me was practically crying with fear, making the rest of us feel equally as nervous. However, a few stomach lurches and a couple of Hail Marys later we landed safe and sound on cairns soil.
I stayed in a hostel called Tropic Days, and the journey from the airport gave me a good idea of the damage that was done by the cyclone. I was informed by the van driver that the eye of the storm actually went south, leaving cairns reasonably unscathed. There was very little damage to property, it just seemed like trees took a battering. It was raining and windy but to me it seemed like a typical British day. The only life that was taken was a silly guy who died of diesel poisoning from the generator he slept with in his bedroom.
Tropic Days was an awesome hostel with big rooms and a friendly atmosphere. The owners and the staff that ran it were fantastic and helped whenever possible. There was free Internet (rare in Australia) and a free meal every night. I was told by a girl I was sharing a room with that everyone had to be evacuated to a local mall where it was a lot more terrifying than the damage made out to be.
Not much happened over the next few days to be honest. It was rainy and windy and australia is so expensive you don't end up buying anything or going anywhere. Going to the local supermarket was usually the highlight of my day an even then I would walk set in a cold sweat from how much everything cost. We're talking $2.60 for a small cheap chocolate bar- about 2 quid!! Cairns is reasonably small with the own centre only stretching over 3 or 4 main roads. It is a clean simple town surrounded by beautiful mountains with rainforest that you can only find in north east australia. The main attraction of cairns is the access to the Great Barrier Reef so I naturally was curious about booking a few dives. The four days in cairns were taken up with sussing out finances and booking tours and travel. In the end I booked my advance divers course on the great barrier reef, a whitsunday island hopping boat tour, a 4x4 drive trek through Fraser Island and my Greyhound bus ticket down the east coast. I was set. For those of you that are curious, dad sent me my debit card details so I was able to book it online without the actual cards which I still don't have.
The night before I was to go off on my diving tour we had BBQ night which was sooooo much fun! The hostel was full if couples but they were all friendly and open for a chat and a laugh. We had kangaroo steak (tasted like beef steak), crocodile steak (a mix between fish and chicken) and emu sausages (normal tasting) as well as several salads and pastas. After eating we had a didgeridoo competition which I didn't take part in because it's always just funnier to watch. I had a quick go after and I was actually pretty good. I practiced on the vacuum cleaner funnel which had the same concept but had the extra novelty factor.
The next day was diving day!!! I was so excited but slightly nervous that I had forgotten all my original training at Kata beach in Thailand. The 2 hour journey on the smaller motor boat to the main diving boat was rough but thankfully I had my iron stomach trained up from the roughest days in Sapphire Blaze when I was younger. We eventually arrived on Kangaroo Explorer, a three-storey motor boat with 16 cabins, a saloon and a large diving deck. I arrived with a couple of pompous snorkelers who had their heads so far up their own asses I doubt they could see any fish, and two elderly Americans who I had the best time with. They were like having two protective grandfathers on board so you were constantly kept amused by funny stories and anecdotes. It also meant that I wasn't the slowest one there which actually made me feel better. The first dive was simply getting myself used to the equipment and being underwater again. The water temperature was a whopping 29 degrees Celsius so we only had to wear stinger suits, an all in one black zip-up that made you feel like a giant condom, that protected you from any small jellyfish that might be lurking in the water.
In total over the 3 days I completed 10 dives, two of those were night dives and 3 advance training dives. The visibility in the water was bad, another part of the cyclones aftermath. The reef was in a pretty bad shape and we found that entire reef walls had been ripped apart by the storm. The scene was an eerie one, with the ocean floor looking like a bone graveyard. I spent a lot of the time helping the dive master flipping over table-coral that had to face the sun to survive. We also had to dig up several giant clams that had become buried underneath the broken coral. The group I was with had an underwater film made that was definitely a laugh. The entire crew were friendly and helpful and I suggest anyone who's planning to go to cairns to pay them a visit. I was so sad to be back on land again after the 3 days but was happy that I in a few days time I'd be back on the water again in whitsundays at airlie beach.
I arrived back at Tropic Days at about 5 pm and I was like the walking dead. It was pizza night in the hostel so after filling up on a few slices (11 to be precise) and my free beer I said goodbye to everyone and staggered off to bed. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
Seven in the morning I was up having breakfast and getting ready to head down to the bus station to climb onto my first Greyhound bus. From what I had heard from other people the journey weren't that interesting or friendly but as long as it got me from a to b I really couldn't care less. Our driver was called Graham and he was a reasonably friendly man easily in his 60s who was grossly overweight. The colour he turned as he was lugging the bags into the storage bunker under the bus, made me convinced that I'd be practicing my CPR training at any second. But thankfully Grahams a tough cookie and we were off on the motorway and away from the rain in no time. As lovely as he was he would have a nasty habit of blasting you with a new piece in Australian trivia down the speakerphone just as you were drifting off to sleep. Entire fields of banana crops were flattened which simply meant higher prices in fruit over the next few months. We missed out on several stops on the way down due to the destruction which meant we were in Airlie beach 2 hours early. And there is sun, beautiful sun!!