Beach Bum in the Rain

So I've made it to Cairns. The most north I'll go on this trip to Australia. I last left you in Airlie Beach, having just stepped off the boat if I recall correctly. I headed to Townsville, where I promptly caught a ferry over to Magnetic Island. There isn't a whole lot to do on Magnetic Island, especially if the weather is poor. I stayed at this backpacker called Base, which is also home to the Full Moon Party. I had just missed the full moon party by a few nights so the nights that I was there were pretty tame. While the hostel itself had great potential - I loved the little bungalows right above the beach, the hostel itself sucked. Everything seemed to be broken - internet terminals, washers, dryers, stoves, there were hardly any dishes. It was downright poor. I did have fun the day that I was at magnetic island. I had a few friends from the previous stop there and we rented a car for the day (see pictures) to drive around the island. It was the "campest" card ever. A little white and pinkconvertible that reminded me of Barbie's dream car or something. The island itself wasn't very big but we drove from bay to bay, looking for cool beaches. I did get some sunshine that day. We also got to feed some rock wallabies, which was cool. We were suppose to go on this trail in search of koalas, but it was closed. :( Oh well, we did find another pretty bay to check out.

The next day, the 3 friends that I had been hanging out with checked out. The weather was bad again, so I made a snap decision, forfeited by 3rd night accomod and headed northwards. I stopped into Townsville briefly to kill a few hours and went to the Reef Aquarium which was pretty cool. By nightfall though, I was in Cairns, which is the jumping off spot for trips to the Great Barrier Reef. It proved to be a wise decision. There was a much bigger night life in Cairns - full of backpackers.

Yesterday, I went to Kuranda, which is just north of Cairns. It's a small town (read: tourist trap) located in the tropical rainforests of Queensland. I rode the 7.5km skyrail (gondola) up to Kuranda. There were two tree top stops along the way, which were pretty cool. I walked around Kuranda for a few hours and then caught the scenic rail back down to Cairns. It was an old, old renovated train, which was pretty cool. Lots of nice views of gorges and the valley below. Last night, I couldn't go out b/c for some reason, my bank cards weren't working. All I had was $16 cash (i had a mini freak out) so to be on the safe side, I decided to "ration" my cash. Thankfully, my ATM card was working again this morning, so I can go drinking tonight. Hurray! Actually, in an hour or two, I'll be checking myself into a resort for a night. I decided to splurge. I am craving my own room, own bed, and bathroom to myself, even for one night. I figured it was the best way to prepare myself for my camping trip next week. So yeah, tomorrow morning, I'll be flying to Alice Springs - which is at the very center of Australia. From there, I'll be doing a 5 day camping trip in the desert. Looking forward to it!

I'm rather sad that my time in Australia is drawing to a close. Thankfully, I'll get to see some really good friends during my last weekend in Sydney next week. Hurray!