Today is the final of the Australian Open (like Wimbledon, only in blue, not green). The 2 weeks of the tournament have seen me start to enjoy the laid back lifestyle of Cairns and enjoy both my shifts at P.J's and the free drinks afterwards.
After winning the P.J's pole dance competition after work, and winning a $100 dollar bar tab, and the luck didn't run out there, I have now been asked to work as a Coyote Girl, so basically I will get paid to dance on the bar and encourage the competitors, and yes, I will be clothed! It turns out I don't seem to need my newly acquired bar tab as I always seem to stumble across people who want to buy everyone drinks. On friday, whilst watching the tennis, I was bought Tequila and Guinness as part of a US soldier-on-leave-from-Afghanistan's attempt to spend a considerable amount of his wages in one night. This mixture of alcohol resulted in me shouting at the TV screen rather alot, especially when Murray started to lose.
So that's the tennis and tequila covered... now for the turtles!! On a rare full day off I was able to go to the famous Great Barrier Reef ( which disappointingly wasn't very barrier like). The weather was beautiful and so was the sparkling blue water and bright white sailing boat I saw it all on. I went on a snorkel tour (far more regulated than the chuck-you-off-the-boat snorkeling in Thailand, there were even life jackets). The coral was different to that of Asia, some blue spiky stuff I'd never seen and a lot of underwater spaghetti. The most exciting marine life on the reef were the giant trevelly fish and reef sharks circling the boat and my flippers. The turtles weren't spotted until the afternoon excursion to Green Island, which was surprisingly deserted despite it's tourist resort classification. Circumnavigating the island via driftwood strewn beaches and shallow waters allowed ample opportunity for turtle-spotting. Whilst swimming I thought a person up ahead had been holding their breath for rather along time until my friend pointed out to me that it was in fact a turtle. They are bigger and more beautiful than I had imagined - just Dori left to find to complete the real-life Finding Nemo cast.
Although I am beginning to appreciate some of the luxuries of Australia; warm weather, turtles and Tim Tams on tap (for those who have never tried them, they are the greatest chocolate biscuits ever), I still feel this country has an unjustifiably large ego. Even on ordinary days the locals seem to celebrate being Australian so when it came to Australia Day (a national public holiday and basically just a big excuse for a party) the national pride was pretty hard to stomach. I was forced to wear an Australian flag as a cape all day at work and serve drunken Aussies in patriotic fancy dress. I was trying to imagine a Great Britain Day - I don't think it would catch on, somehow. Half of Britain seems to be in Australia anyway, and how there are any Irish left in Ireland is beyond me.
Saying that I am grateful for the diversity of people in Cairns and in my hostel. I have met English, Irish, Danish, French and a Swedish lady truck driver. I have played volleyball with a group of competitive German men and attempted to tightrope walk with the help of some Aussie pros.
Off to eat some of my new favourite Tim Tams - white chocolate. I wish I could send some home for you all to try.
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https://picasaweb.google.com/115396624801108203436/Cairns
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Sunday, 15 January 2012
A whole new world - with chips&salad or mash&veg?
A brand new continent, a new atmosphere and a new purpose for my travels.
As soon as we landed in Australia I was on the hunt for a job to help finance the last few months of the trip. Luckily the hunt didn't last long, before even having had chance to clean my teeth or change my clothes since the overnight flight I found myself with a trial shift at P.J O'Briens, an Irish pub in the centre of Cairns.
At P.J's I take the food orders (which all come with a choice of chips&salad or mash&veg, unfortunately for me) serve and clear up. This can be easy at times but mostly it's absolutely hectic as hundreds of backpackers flock in every night to use their $5 meal deal vouchers (of which I am one on my days off as it's just such a good deal). Whilst taking orders from backpackers I am often recognized from my other employment cleaning their hostel toilets every morning in order to get free accommodation there myself. I have been asked quite a few times how many jobs I have. It is only two but some days it feels like more.
The atmosphere here is a far cry from South East Asia. Unlike the general rule in Asia that anyone you encounter will be happy to help you, here, most people seem annoyed when you ask them any simple question, especially those behind reception desks whose job it is, surely, to answer your questions. Saying that my new colleagues at work are mostly very friendly and my ever-changing room mates have all been lovely.
As for my impressions of the place, when Counting Crows played on my iPod the other night I couldn't help but agree with the lyrics that 'they paved paradise and put up a parking lot'. Not that Cairns is a parking lot, but it does feel like a lot of concrete has been dumped in the middle of the jungle to create this very strange place. It is a city but the centre feels about the size of Rasen (with a shopping centre and huge public lagoon, so not quite the same). Oh and the weather is a little better too! I have ventured out to the suburbs in order to attempt to find non-hostel accommodation for my working holiday here. I was expecting Ramsay Street but instead I found wooden huts reminiscent of the hill tribe huts of the Chiang Mai trek.
I dread to think what it's like in the outback, where Louise has just started her new job. It is a strange new experience to be in a foreign country without her. After 3 months of each others' continuous company we were starting to tire but, after 2 days, I am missing her already. Counting Crows are right again - 'you don't know what you got till it's gone'. I intend to try and appreciate all the great things about Australia whilst I'm here before I have to leave, and avoid them being right again.
I'm afraid there are no photos to accompany this blog as Louise has run off into the bush with the photo uploading device so you'll have to wait until she returns.
As soon as we landed in Australia I was on the hunt for a job to help finance the last few months of the trip. Luckily the hunt didn't last long, before even having had chance to clean my teeth or change my clothes since the overnight flight I found myself with a trial shift at P.J O'Briens, an Irish pub in the centre of Cairns.
At P.J's I take the food orders (which all come with a choice of chips&salad or mash&veg, unfortunately for me) serve and clear up. This can be easy at times but mostly it's absolutely hectic as hundreds of backpackers flock in every night to use their $5 meal deal vouchers (of which I am one on my days off as it's just such a good deal). Whilst taking orders from backpackers I am often recognized from my other employment cleaning their hostel toilets every morning in order to get free accommodation there myself. I have been asked quite a few times how many jobs I have. It is only two but some days it feels like more.
The atmosphere here is a far cry from South East Asia. Unlike the general rule in Asia that anyone you encounter will be happy to help you, here, most people seem annoyed when you ask them any simple question, especially those behind reception desks whose job it is, surely, to answer your questions. Saying that my new colleagues at work are mostly very friendly and my ever-changing room mates have all been lovely.
As for my impressions of the place, when Counting Crows played on my iPod the other night I couldn't help but agree with the lyrics that 'they paved paradise and put up a parking lot'. Not that Cairns is a parking lot, but it does feel like a lot of concrete has been dumped in the middle of the jungle to create this very strange place. It is a city but the centre feels about the size of Rasen (with a shopping centre and huge public lagoon, so not quite the same). Oh and the weather is a little better too! I have ventured out to the suburbs in order to attempt to find non-hostel accommodation for my working holiday here. I was expecting Ramsay Street but instead I found wooden huts reminiscent of the hill tribe huts of the Chiang Mai trek.
I dread to think what it's like in the outback, where Louise has just started her new job. It is a strange new experience to be in a foreign country without her. After 3 months of each others' continuous company we were starting to tire but, after 2 days, I am missing her already. Counting Crows are right again - 'you don't know what you got till it's gone'. I intend to try and appreciate all the great things about Australia whilst I'm here before I have to leave, and avoid them being right again.
I'm afraid there are no photos to accompany this blog as Louise has run off into the bush with the photo uploading device so you'll have to wait until she returns.
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Singapore Swingers
No, I'm not referring to myself or Louise in that title!
The swingers I am referring to come in various forms, some animal, some human, but all overly energetic and extremely amusing to watch. Read on to learn more.
The week between Christmas and New Year has been spent on metro systems, hopping between the sights of the concrete (or rather steel and glass) jungles of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The buildings are out-of-this-world - the architectural achievements of mankind seem most obvious here in the Petronas Twin Towers of Kl and the Marina Bay centre in Singapore that looks exactly how I imagine a space station to look.
The fantastic mix of cultures is evident as you turn the corner from Chinatown into Little India or as you peruse the food court counters to find a delicious treat from practically anywhere in the world. In Kuala Lumpur we found the best curry in the world which arrived seconds after it was ordered and came with a side of friendly banter from the restaurant owner. Here, in Singapore we have treated ourselves in the luxurious malls with Sushi, cream puffs and a little retail therapy as well as finding a tasty and ridiculously cheap chicken 'n' rice kitchen with down-the-road ques day and night - the locals certainly like it and having eaten there three times now it would definitely go in my Rough Guide.
But it's the people that make both of these cities such exciting places to be. I saw in the new year on the riverside with a lovely Indian family and then celebrated it with my first example of Singapore Swingers - the highly enthusiastic dancing crowd at the rave that followed a Madonna tribute concert. A group of Indian guys started a dance-off with some pretty impressive moves that involved flailing arms and disturbing pelvic movements. Cultural dances were exchanged as Louise and I taught some Asian hip-hop fans some old school routines and they attempted to teach me some 'popping'. Our last day in Asia was spent watching some more 'swingers' - at the Singapore Zoo. The tigers, giraffes, hippos etc. were good to see but the most interesting were the collection of primates - especially the huge crowd of Baboons jumping up and down as they were thrown bananas which were then fought over.
Now in Oz - back to the real world of cleaning toilets and serving food to earn my keep, but more about that later. I'm sad to have left Asia - no more bargains :( but I am looking forward to the adventures to come.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151158033265301.788439.698710300&type=3
The swingers I am referring to come in various forms, some animal, some human, but all overly energetic and extremely amusing to watch. Read on to learn more.
The week between Christmas and New Year has been spent on metro systems, hopping between the sights of the concrete (or rather steel and glass) jungles of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The buildings are out-of-this-world - the architectural achievements of mankind seem most obvious here in the Petronas Twin Towers of Kl and the Marina Bay centre in Singapore that looks exactly how I imagine a space station to look.
The fantastic mix of cultures is evident as you turn the corner from Chinatown into Little India or as you peruse the food court counters to find a delicious treat from practically anywhere in the world. In Kuala Lumpur we found the best curry in the world which arrived seconds after it was ordered and came with a side of friendly banter from the restaurant owner. Here, in Singapore we have treated ourselves in the luxurious malls with Sushi, cream puffs and a little retail therapy as well as finding a tasty and ridiculously cheap chicken 'n' rice kitchen with down-the-road ques day and night - the locals certainly like it and having eaten there three times now it would definitely go in my Rough Guide.
But it's the people that make both of these cities such exciting places to be. I saw in the new year on the riverside with a lovely Indian family and then celebrated it with my first example of Singapore Swingers - the highly enthusiastic dancing crowd at the rave that followed a Madonna tribute concert. A group of Indian guys started a dance-off with some pretty impressive moves that involved flailing arms and disturbing pelvic movements. Cultural dances were exchanged as Louise and I taught some Asian hip-hop fans some old school routines and they attempted to teach me some 'popping'. Our last day in Asia was spent watching some more 'swingers' - at the Singapore Zoo. The tigers, giraffes, hippos etc. were good to see but the most interesting were the collection of primates - especially the huge crowd of Baboons jumping up and down as they were thrown bananas which were then fought over.
Now in Oz - back to the real world of cleaning toilets and serving food to earn my keep, but more about that later. I'm sad to have left Asia - no more bargains :( but I am looking forward to the adventures to come.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151158033265301.788439.698710300&type=3
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