September 17th, 2009

I haven't really written much in quite some time. I suppose that would mean that I've either been really busy doing lots of fun and crazy and exciting things, or that I've really been up to nothing. I'd like to say the former was true, so I'm going to.

I have met a lot of great people at work - mostly Pommies but they're not so bad once you get to know them. Haha, just kidding of course. But honestly, for speaking the same language they are bloody hard to understand sometimes. Since most are travellers, quite a few have left Rattle and Hum, and there are plenty of new people as well. I've been working lots of shifts recently so life has been pretty busy. I'm surprised it's already September because I'm still in August mode.

What I have been up to:

A couple of weekends ago Cam and I went to 'Jazz Under the Stars' which is put on as a part of the Cairns Festival (a two-week celebration with lots of family type activities). Actually the first day of the Festival they had a big parade which went right down the Esplanade in front of Rattle & Rum. Afterwards was a big fireworks display and the city centre was just packed. Anyway, 'Jazz Under the Stars' took place at the Botanic Gardens and was a 'bring your own chairs/picnic baskets' type affair. We brought chairs and sat atop a big grassy hill overlooking the stage. Actually not really overlooking the stage because we couldn't see much but the sound was very clear and I got the comfortable chair so it was all good.

We also drove up to the Atherton Tablelands which is part of the Great Dividing Range (the mountains that run up and down the east coast of Australia). The tablelands are a bit colder than Cairns because of the altitude, and there are lots of beautiful spots up there; lakes, a volcano, crater, waterfalls and best of all, a pick-your-own strawberry farm! You pay by the pound and get a plastic punnet to put all your berries in. We picked quite a few although somehow several made it into my stomach and not the punnet. But don't worry; we did pay for the ones we didn't eat. I'd feel bad if not for the fact that everyone else there was doing the same thing. Besides, people actually get paid to do this job (and not just in strawberries) which kind of makes me feel like I got the wrong end of the stick.

At the end of September Cam and I are heading down to Brissie for Tom and Kelly's wedding. Tom is Cam's cousin and he's going to be Best Man for their wedding. This basically leaves me at a table with a selection of random people that I have not yet had the pleasure to meet. I tend to be awkward in situations like this - I'm hoping alcohol is free.

We went to the beach at the weekend, and it was lovely and warm! It was very much like swimming in a gigantic bath, but with a lot more salt and also some sand. So basically like swimming in the ocean, but warm. I wish the beach was closer and easier to get to on the bus. It makes it a bit hard to get there which is unfortunate because soon I won't be able to swim in the ocean due to all of those small and deadly jellyfish will invade come October. I still haven't made it out to the reef (I'm embarrassed to say) but Cam and I are planning on going snorkelling next week when he's on school break. There are a bunch of different islands that you can snorkel off of; you just have to pay for the ferry ticket.

I may have mentioned this before, but Queenslanders are really up on the whole sun safety thing. It makes sense because apparently 2/ 3 people in Queensland will get some form of skin cancer in their lifetime.The only people I really see out tanning near the lagoon are the tourists, not the locals, and I also see those Skin Alert clinics around. I went to one a little while ago and it was actually really cool. It's not expensive at all and the appointment was like 10 minutes max. The doctor had this little magnifying instrument with a really intense light that is supposed to illuminate skin spots so that they can see through them. The doctor checked every single one of my spots with it, and I asked him to let me try it out - too cool. I found out I am skin cancer free (not that I was expecting anything different, but it's still nice to know).

The longer I'm here, the more I'm noticing all of the odd little Aussie idiosyncrasies. For example, 'habit of shortening every word possible: 'Choc' for chocolate, 'arvo' for afternoon, 'ta' which is thank you… etc. I'm also still trying to figure out the whole barefoot thing. Up here some people walk around without shoes on. When I go to the corner store right by the house there is usually at least one person shoeless, and at the grocery store as well. Cam and I went to Hungry Jacks (aka Burger King) the other day and I wasn't wearing any shoes and felt like such a grub until I went inside and saw I wasn't the only one with bare feet. Mind you I still felt a bit uncouth but apparently it's not as impolite here as it would be back home. I suppose you couldn't really do that in Calgary anyway, even if you wanted to, because it's covered in snow and/or too cold for most of the year. I like some of the words they use for different things. Lolly is more fun to say than candy, and Fairy Floss sounds so much more enchanting than Cotton Candy.

I hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all lots,

xx Linds