On Tuesday, I spent the day walking around Cairns and looking through all the shops, and decided I couldn’t do this for another whole day while waiting for my dive course to begin. I spent more than an hour just browsing through the brochures in the hostel reception, trying to decide on a day trip to do for Wednesday. Because I was leaving early the next day, I went to bed early again that night.
On Wednesday, the day trip I decided on was up to a village called Karunda. In the morning I went to a wildlife park, petted kangaroos, wallabies and koalas, saw crocodiles, dingoes, and several different types of Australian lizards. After the park I went on an Aboriginal Dreamtime walk, where I learned about spear-throwing, learned how to play the didgeridoo, and learned how to throw a boomerang. After the walk I watched some of the Aboriginals perform some of their traditional dances. Once the dances were completed, I went on a tour through the rainforest on an amphibious vehicle. We drove through the rainforest and went down a river, and saw heaps of different types of flora, but not very much fauna. I had the best eyes in the group, however, spotting a water dragon lizard, a turtle, and a wild turkey. After this I took the shuttle into the actual village of Karunda, where I browsed through the various markets, and finally purchased a pair of wood earrings that I’ve wanted for a while. I took the shuttle back to Cairns and had an early night to prepare for my big day the next day. Overall the day trip to Karunda was good, but not really worth the $50 I paid.
On Thursday, I got up real early and was all ready to go, standing at the pickup spot about 15 minutes early. Can you say keener? I got picked up, and went, met all the cool people who were going to be in my group, and we got through the morning classroom session with no problems. At lunch time, we all had to visit the doctor to get our dive medical. Of course, typical keener behaviour, I’m first in line. And of course, just my luck in Cairns, I fail my dive medical because of a medication I’m on. You can imagine my disappointment as I’m told I won’t be able to dive, and won’t be able to continue on in the course with everyone. I waited until everyone was through, and was brought to another doctor for a second opinion. I failed this second exam as well. The fact that I proved my physical fitness and determination a month ago by climbing the largest free-standing mountain in the world meant nothing. So I was brought back to the dive centre, where everyone stood watching me balling my eyes out, because there was nothing they could do to make me feel better. I was issued my refund, and went back to the hostel. Back at the hostel I immediately went out and bought a bus ticket down to Sydney, and booked myself on the next bus out of Cairns. I needed a change of scenery so much. After the day, I was so exhausted, emotionally and physically, so I went to bed really early.
On Friday, I caught the bus out of Cairns at 7:30am. I travelled all day on the bus down to Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands. After 10 hours on the bus I arrived, and went and booked into a hostel. I booked a day tour for the following day to go snorkelling on the Reef, and went to bed early.
On Saturday, I got the shuttle to Shute Harbour, where the boat was leaving from, at 7:15am and the boat left at about 8. We dropped off and picked up a few passengers at Hamilton Island, and continued on our way. We got to the reef and into the water at about 11. After about 2 hours of snorkelling, I took a break for lunch and went right back in for another hour or so. Being on the outer reef, the majority of the coral was hard coral, so I didn’t see any anemones, and therefore no clownfish. A HUGE disappointment for me was not seeing any sharks, rays, or turtles. Another thing I didn’t realize was that
about 80% of coral is brown, and all the colourful pictures and videos that I’ve seen are from the inner reefs, so while it was really amazing to see the coral structures, I didn’t see any of the colours that I was imagining. A fish that I thought was really cool though, was the sandy damselfish. I would swim over a sandy patch that had some algae, and these fish would charge at me, occasionally knocking my goggles, and one actually bit me. I thought this was very brave for these fish, because they are about 10-15cm long, whereas I’m about 165cm long, so if I wanted to I could have damaged those fish. Of course I didn’t, I swam away once I got bit. The weather wasn’t very cooperative, it was very windy, and it rained off and on, so I was almost sea sick a couple times on the way out and back, but I ended up falling asleep instead. Overall, I’m glad I went out, but I will NEVER go out on the reef again unless I can dive. Snorkelling just wasn’t that great. That night, the hostel that I’m staying at had a ladies night going on. This included free pizza for everyone, free pitchers of beer for everyone, free champagne for ladies, and a free shot for every time you did a successful limbo in the competition. Naturally I entered this limbo competition, and I came second! The prize for 1st was $25 cash, and it came down to rock paper scissors. I got a free drink for coming second. Saturday night was a lot of fun.
Today, Sunday, I walked around Airlie Beach, and lay by the Lagoon and swam and sunbathed. We are allowed to swim in the ocean here, but it’s not recommended because of the stingers, and so the lagoon offered a stinger free solution for swimming. Overall it was a lazy, but nice day.

On Good Friday, everything was closed, but luckily the weather was amazing. It was probably 25-30 degrees and sunny. A group of us went down to the beach and spent the day sunbathing and swimming. Friday night was a really quiet night for me because everything was closed, so we weren’t able to go out anywhere. However, my room was right across the hall from the common room, and there was a pretty big party going on in there, so it was pretty loud. I was still exhausted enough from the couple late nights I had before that I was able to fall asleep fairly quickly though.
On Saturday, my last day in Melbourne, I got up early to skype home, and then made my way into the city to go see Federation Square. Even though it was Easter Weekend, it was still bustling with people. There was a huge book sale going on, but I wasn’t quite finished with my current book, so I wasn’t able to sell or trade it, but I did manage to purchase a book I’ve been wanting to read for a while for fairly cheap. After Fed Square, I took the tram back to Albert Park, and spent a little while wandering around there. I then stopped at the South Melbourne Market, and bought a few ingredients for dinner that night. Since it was my last night in Melbourne, we had a big party, starting with us sitting around drinking goon. That is definitely one thing I will not miss about Australia. The goon is dirt cheap, but kind of gross. We then all went out to a club with a live band. It was overall a pretty good night.
Sunday morning I got up real early to pack my stuff and head to the airport. I got to the airport at about 10 and was able to get on a flight to Cairns at 11:30, and arrived in Cairns at about 3. I made my way to the hostel, and within 2 hours of checking in, someone in my room stole all my cash. It was just $100, but when you’re in the end leg of your journey, $100 can make a big difference. Needless to say, I moved rooms right away, not that it made much difference because my cash was already gone. I booked my scuba trip on the reef (starting Thursday!!!), and had dinner, and an early night.
Today, Monday, I had a nice long lie-in, went grocery shopping, and basically just explored the area. I looked into day-trips, but I haven’t decided on anything as of now. I found out that even though my hostel is just metres away from the beach, we’re not allowed to swim in the ocean because of the crocodiles and jellyfish. A bit of a bummer, but there is a massive pool called The Lagoon right beside the beach, so that’s ok. I spent some time sunbathing and swimming there today.

I was right in thinking I wouldn’t get much sleep on the bus to Melbourne…I think I maybe got an hour total, very frustrating. When I got to Melbourne, I took the tram out to St. Kilda. The man who sat beside me told me this was where a lot of backpackers stayed, and it’s right on the beach. I got to a hostel at about 9am, only to find out I couldn’t check in until 1pm. At this point all I wanted to do was sleep. But instead I left my luggage at reception and went into the common room where I read all morning pretty much. Once I was able to get my luggage in I got cleaned up and wandered around St. Kilda, and got familiar with the surroundings. After an early dinner I walked down to the beach and watched the sun set over the ocean, it was just beautiful.
On Wednesday, I went into town to go to the Melbourne Museum. It was actually really cool. It wasn’t like the other museums I’ve gone to that just have paintings and stuff; this was kind of like the Science Centre in Toronto, where there was so much information on so many different things. Naturally I spent about 5 hours walking around, and since I didn’t get out of there until 5pm, any other plans I had were kind of shot. I went to Federation Square afterwards, where there are usually loads of displays and exhibitions set up, but I got there late, and everyone had gone home already. I ended up staying there and watching a bit of this street actor’s performance, which wasn’t very funny so I left. When I got back to the hostel I ended up met so many people and we all went out later that evening. It was a pretty good night, apart from me leaving my ID back at the hostel, and this one place that I had a free drink voucher for wouldn’t let me in.
Today, Thursday, I went back into town with a group I met last night and we all went to the Queen Victoria Market, which is the largest open air market in the southern hemisphere. We spent a couple hours just wandering around, buying some fruits and vegetables, and looking at all the clothes. We came back to the hostel because we were all pretty tired after our big night out, and made some food. I made some chicken cesear salad, and cooked the rest of the chicken breast so I can heat it up at dinner. However, I pretty much butchered it. Traveling and having to cook for myself has been a real eye opening experience, and I appreciate it so much more that I never have to cook at home. Cooking a chicken breast has got to be a pretty straightforward thing to do, and I still managed to screw it up. Oh well, my cooking skills are pretty much rock-bottom, so they can only go up from here!

So I've been in Australia for a week now and have yet to see a koala or a kangaroo. I'm a little disappointed with that, but otherwise, it's been pretty good. It didn't get off to a great start, however.
I arrived on Sunday March 24th, and immediately had problems. At customs they decided to do a narcotics test on some of my stuff, and low and behold, they found traces of cocaine on my keyboard! I started to freak out, because I've never done cocaine, I've never even seen it in person! Because of this, and the fact that I booked my flight and bought my visa last minute, they needed to rip apart all my bags. It took me probably an hour after everyone else to get through, but finally I did, and it turned out okay. It was pretty terrifying though, I'm not sure what would have happened if they decided I couldn't come into the country. Anyways, after I got through, I got picked up and went down to Victor Harbour, where Louisa had spent the weekend. We went down to the beach for a little while, and then drove home. I was extremely jet lagged, having spent more than 40 hours in transit, and Louisa was just hungover, so we napped for hours. Even with the 4 hour nap, I slept for 14 hours that night. I must have needed it. Louisa finished school and came home before I woke up. Once I did, we went down to the beach, and had lunch, and then went to see The Hunger Games. It was a fantastic film, and there was hardly anyone in the theatre. That Monday night I slept for another 12 or 13 hours, I was still catching up I guess.
On Tuesday, while Louisa was in school, I went to the mall and had a look at all the shops, went into some travel agencies to try to get some plans formulated, and went to the doctors to try to get a prescription for some of the pills I forgot in Nairobi. I ended up making an appointment for the next day because it would have been about a 2 hour wait to get in. We both had a quiet night that night.
On Wednesday, I skyped home early in the morning, and then went to the doctors. After the doctors, I made my way down to the beach. I spent probably an hour or 2 just browsing through a used book store. That night Louisa and I went out to meet a couple of her friends for drinks.
On Thursday, we went into the city and walked through the Botanic gardens (still no koalas, but I did see a kookaburra). It was very pretty with all the big tall trees, and different flowers. We then went to Rundell Mall, which is a huge outdoor shopping centre, and found some beach chairs that we sat in and people watched for half an hour or so. We then made our way to the market. It was so interesting, and you would never expect there to be so much room in the building it was in, but there was so many vendors. After the market we walked through China Town for a bit, and then made our way home. It was a long day, so we had a quiet night that night as well.
On Friday Louisa’s father, Louisa and I went kayaking in Port Adelaide. It was awesome! We discovered my common sense is not so great sometimes, Louisa told me to stand up in my kayak, and I tried to, and consequently fell in. After struggling for a few minutes to get back in, I realized I could stand up. So we emptied my kayak and went back to the shore. After an hour or so of tanning, we were getting ready to leave and then all of a sudden I look out at the water and see 3 dolphins swimming along. Naturally we both got really excited and watched them for about 10 minutes. In total I think we saw about 6 dolphins. It was wonderful to see them in their natural environment, they are so graceful. That evening, we were supposed to go to a benefit concert about climate change, but we were both so tired we just stayed in and watched a movie. On Saturday, Louisa, Adrian (L’s brother) and I went to Comic Con. Adrian didn’t want to dress up, but Louisa went as Poison Ivy, Batman’s nemesis, and I went as Katniss from the Hunger Games. It was actually a really fun day. Lots of people got dressed up, and I felt really cheap with my simple costume and homemade bow and arrow, but a couple people recognized me, so
that was good. After Comic Con, Louisa and I went to a SAFL (South Australian Football League) game with a bunch of her friends. SAFL is a very interesting sport; it’s like a mix between rugby and football. I didn’t understand much of it, but it was fun. After the game we went to a bar for some drinks and ended up back at one of her friend’s house. All in all, it was a good day.
On Sunday, Louisa and I went to a housewarming party for a couple of her friends, and we met a lot of people. It was meant to be quiet but Louisa was still so tired from Saturday night that I had to drive home. It wasn’t much different than driving in Canada, apart from being on the left side of the road instead of the right.
Today, Monday, we have no plans, and have not done anything exciting. I’m heading to Melbourne tonight; I’m taking an overnight bus so I don’t think I’ll get much sleep. Because of that I’m just taking it easy today.