Cairns

Another looooong journey with an absolutley raving bus driver. The scenery on the way up to Cairns is stunning; banana plantations and rainforests.

Cairns is not a particluarly beuatiful town but there is LOADS to do around here. There isn't a beach here but there is a massive lagoon. It was good to spend a couple of days chilling out as the last few weeks have been soooooo stressful!!?? One of the guys from Fraser Island and the Irish guys from the boat have followed us up here too. Everyone pretty much does the same route up the East coast.

I spent a day snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, amazing! Sooooo much to see and I'm pleased to say I found Nemo! We managed to fit in 2 different locations on the reef before having to head back. The colours and variety of fish and coral out there was waaaaaaaayyyyyyy better than I imagined.

Which brings me to the hippes........ I need to set the scene a wee bit: I met a girl in Cairns who went to the same uni and did the same course as me, a very small world. She is up in Cairns and we met up, her name is Jen. Jen has 2 german friends, Liza and Sybil and they are all very nice and a good laugh. They went up to a small village just north of Cairns, Kuranda, last week missed the last bus home so had to hitchike back. They were picked up by a lovely old lady called Eunice. Eunice met them a couple of times in Cairns for a bite to eat or for a coffee. She then invited them to a 'party' up in Kuranda. She has a spare flat with loads of room for them to stay. The 3 girls invited me along too.

We arrived in Kuranda yesterday afternoon, a cute wee, touristy village in the middle of the rainforest with some good markets. Eunice picked us up and took us back to her place which was really lovely. All we knew about the party was that it had an international theme.

Eunice picked us up at 6 and took us to 'Aurora' which is a series of properties in a huuuge area of land. We were based in the main hall which was beautifully set up with food from Indonesia, Japan, India, USA and Holland. Everyone was dressed up in national dress from one of the particular countries. There was a wide age range but mainly families and older people. We now start wondering who these people are and why they all live together. Although we weren't too concerned as there was loads of free, yummy food and off course wine!!

Everyone we chatted to seemed fairly normal until a red book was handed out. Half the people present stood up, round the piano, and proceeded to sing random hymns for half an hour. We start to get worried....!!

Thankfully there was no sermon or mad sacrificial ceremonies but there were, oddly enough, a candle dance, mini ninjas running around the place and a flute recital.

A very bizarre evening, I did manage to find out they're a community originally from Indonesia who then moved to Holland and then Australia for some bizarre reason. We did do quite well though, 1 bottle of wine, 1 bottle of Ouzo and plenty of takeaway food. We also denied their many invitations to stay and join their 'community'

After such an eventful evening what better way to spend the next day than at a fruit bat rescue centre. Very odd looking animals but kinda cute in a strange ugly way.

I'm now back in Cairns, probably going to spend a 'peaceful' evening with the Irish guys and Donuts when he gets back from his diving. Of to Cape Tribulation tomorrow to do some crocodile spotting, kayaking and zip lining through the rainforest.