Life as a fish

I am writing from the beach in a town called The Town of 1770, usually referred to as just 1770. Who names a town using a number? I've met many an Australian and New Zealander who joke that Australians just name things exactly the way they are... nothing fancy--the blue-tongued lizard, plates and tables coral, the territories of Western Australia or Southern Australia. 1770 got it's name because this was the year that Captain James Cook first landed in Australia and at this location.

1770 is the only place on the east coast where you can dive and surf. It is the end of the reef and therefore the start of the surf. I arrived here on the overnight bus at 9:30 this morning after a 9 and half hour ride from Airlie Beach. Not the most comfortable of places to sleep but at least I saved $25 on a hostel for the night.





(COOL BANANAS IN 1770)

So let's back up a bit from where I am now and fill you in on the time I spent at Airlie Beach and at the Whitsunday Islands. Airlie Beach actualy does not have a beach -- which I guess contradicts the theory that Australians name everything exactly the way they are... hmm. What Airlie does have is an inlet of sorts with really calm shallow water that at low tide is just a shelf of mud. But to make up for this there is a man-made lagoon and beach area.

Anyway, 8 days ago I left Magnetic Island to head to Airlie Beach. On the ferry ride from Magnetic to Townsville I met three American (gasp!) girls from Connecticut. Megan, had been living and working in Sydney for the past year and Erin and Catelyn, who are twins, had come out to travel with Megan two months ago. I took the bus with them and although we were staying at different hostels in Airlie I met up with them each day for some time on the "beach", dinner and some long overdue beers.


(Me, Meagan, Erin and Caitlyn)

Where Mission Beach and Magnetic Island were really nice quiet places to visit, Airlie Beach has an actual nightlife, even if the main strip consists of only 3 streets. We happened to be in Airlie for the weekend -- Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights -- and on top of this it also happened to be the start of the September school holiday. This is a holiday (for no particular reason as far as I've been able to gather) for both public schools and universities. Therefore, being that it is also spring here, the closest thing I can equate it to is spring break. It is in no way as crazy as American spring break (at least not in Airlie) but it does bring many Auustralians to the beaches and the bars. Which was awesome because it has been otherwise uncommon for me to be around Australians outside of tour guides and the people who run the CVA projects. Even many of the people who work at the hostels are travelers and not Australian.

The hostel I stayed at for the weekend in Airlie was called Airlie Waterfront and was situated in exactly that location -- waterfront. The view... from the kitchen, not from my room... was flat out perfect..

However, the room itself was still one of my favorites because... there were NO BUNKBEDS! It was a 6 bed dorm and I was there for 3 nights and in that time every bed changed owners every night except for 19 year old Andy who had been staying in the room for 2 weeks but had just gotten his diving license, a job at a restaurant and a room to rent and moved out on Saturday. He plans to stay in Airlie about 2 - 3 months and says he hates England and is never going back.

Some other roommates were two Irish brothers, one of whom is living in Sydney and gave me his business card and said to call if I were ever in trouble(?); Mikel from France who came to Australia on a year-long work and travel visa 12 years ago, found a job to sponsor him and has been here ever since; Emily from England who had just arrived in Airlie from the Snowy Mountains where she had spent the winter working at a ski resort and now that it was spring was looking for work and a room in Airlie. Alex from Norway, who told me that I was the first intelligent American he had met, to which I responded, "I don't know if that is a compliment or an insult." In any case, I needed to introduce him to some more intelligent Americans, so he and his friends joined me and the connecticut girls at beeches that night.

All these stories aside, all of us were in Airlie for the same reason -- the Whitsunday Islands. The Whitsundays are 74 small islands all intermingled with the reef. There are tons of different boats you can take out to the Whitsundays -- there are snorkeling or diving boats, there are boats that just sail and visit islands, there are party boats and there are even tall ships that fly pirate flags and look like they just sailed out of... I don't know... 1770.

On advice from Judith, (remember the German girl I camped with at Cape Trib?) I signed up for a boat called... Spank Me.

The other Whitsundays boats are called things like "Wings" or "Apollo". So having to respond "Spank Me" whenever asked what boat I was taking also results in good conversation. As people were arriving on the pier to board the boat, a german guy would ask each arrival, "Are you going to Spank Me?" At the time I thought he must know what it was that he was saying and think that he was being funny. However, just before boarding the boat he turns to me and says, "What does this word mean? Spank?"...

Spank Me was formerly a racing sailboat and won some big race that has Sydney in the name of it... hmm facts. It is now retired and instead sails around the Whitsundays taking passengers on 3 day, 3 night diving, snorkeling and obviously, sailing trips. Although Spank Me sounds like it would also qualify as a party boat, since the trip was 3 nights instead of 2 like most boats, it was also a bit more money and therefore was not appealing to the very young partier-backpacker crowd. Not to say we didn't have a good time -- just not the type of good time that involves people falling overboard.

The girls from Connecticut had chosen to do a 2 night trip on another boat and so we said our goodbyes on Monday with plans to meet up again further down the coast.

You are only allowed to bring one small soft bag plus alcohol on the boats. So I packed up my small backpack, put the rest of my stuff in storage for $5, hid some food in the back of the fridge at Airlie Waterfront, hired myself the required stinger suit (like a wetsuit but doesn't do much to keep your warm just to protect you from deadly invisible jellyfish), bought a 6 pack, and located the pier. About 15 minutes later 5 girls walked up each carrying a 30 pack, and some also with a box of goon (Australian for wine in a box). Mike from England and I, who had both choosen to bring minimal alcohol, exchanged looks of concern regarding our purchases and hurried back to the liquor store for more.

There were 26 passengers and 5 crew on Spank Me. As we boarded the boat, our shoes were taken from us and we were directly to the two giant cooler compartments on deck to store our drinks. As the 5 girls carrying 30 packs boarded the boat, the skipper commented, "You girls must be Irish." Oh and they were.
The average age of this group was older than most of the people I have met in Australia so far. There were actually 7 of us who were 27!! Hooray, I'm not so old! 27 year old Shane and Noel were Irish guys spending 2 months traveling Australia and Thailand; 25-27 year old Norita, Caroline, Norma, Kate and Dee were 5 Irish girls driving the coast in a camper van after spending 5 months working in Sydney; 32 year old Christoph was a Polish guy who had been living in Bondi beach (near Sydney) for 4 years, mostly surfing with a little contract IT work on the side, and he was traveling with his best mate Bart who had come to visit for a few weeks with his wife, Evelina, and her sister, Anna (Bart and Evelina were Polish but had been living in Dubai for the last year); 3 german girls, 24 year olds Clara, Sabrina and Ulla, and a swedish girl, 27 year old Sophie, who were all studying together at Gold Coast University; 27 year old Mike from England who had just finished up his degree in arch
etecture and was traveling for a few months in Australia, Thailand etc; Mikel from Denmark, whose story I never really got; Patrick from Germany who had a round the world ticket and had been to Machu Picchu earlier in the year; 22 year old George from England who had 8 weeks left on his round the world ticket and had been traveling in the US and Mexico earlier in the year among many other places; 20 year old Leanne, from Oregon who came to Australia with plans to stay for months but was trying to figure out how she could switch to the year visa; 19 and 20 year old Isabell and Brita from Sweden who had met in Australia earlier in the year and were now traveling together; and 27 year old Tobias from Germany who had just finished a degree in politics and was traveling and diving around Australia and Thailand, and to whom I had to explain the meaning of "spank".

The deck of Spank Me was void of anything not absolutely necessary to a racing boat. This makes sense, since in order to be fast the boat must carry very little. All this meant for us was that the only place to sit was on the floor. It was so relaxing to have such limited options as to how to spend your time for 3 whole days. You were either sitting on the floor and talking to your neighbor, laying down on the floor and sleeping, sitting on the floor and eating or drinking a beer, or in the water. Well I guess you could have been in bed or in the bathroom, but who wants to be there when you have perfect weather and perfect scenery and 30 awesome people to hang out with?

Included in with our trip, you got your first scuba dive for free. For licensed divers, this meant the first time they hopped off the boat in scuba gear. For unlicensed divers this meant a 30-minute introductory session in groups of 4 with the dive instructor. We did this on the first day and of course I got put in the first group and was chosen to be the first to jump off the boat all geared up with airtank heavier than my all my backpacking gear combined, weight belt around my waist, stinger suit, vest, mask, flippers and of course, regulator (the thing that you breath through). Taking that step off the side of the boat feeling like you are carrying so much weight that you won't even be able to stand up much longer is damn scary. What if they didn't really put the right about of air in your vest and you don't float right back up the surface? How far down will you drop with all that weight before you rise up again? But they don't leave you very much time to panic. They just sort of
set you up, tell you to look at the horizon, give you enough time to throw out a few choice vulgar words and insist you take a giant step off the boat.

Once I had surfaced, Priscilla, the deck hand, instructed me to grab onto the rope on the side of the boat slide down out of the way of the next jumper and wait for the rest of the group. Since this was only a 30 minute introduction, everything happened very fast. We each had to display to the instructor, Shawn, that we could perform 3 breathing and water clearing tasks just below the surface. In order to do this, Shawn would press a button on a tube attached to your vest that made you less bouyant and cause you to sink until your head was below the water. You could still pull yourself back out of the water if necessary but it took a great deal of effort to stay that way. I ended up having some issues with finding a mask that fit and they had to throw down 2 different masks for me to try before I found one I was happy enough with. Because of this delay and subsequent rushing through the 3 skills, I didn't feel entirely confident under the water. One other girl opted to get out of the
water because she couldn't get the hang of it, but I couldn't bear the idea of giving up after all this so I joined to the group and headed out away from the boat anyway. Shawn changed the pressure on our vests and we sunk down holding onto a rope that went about 10 meters deep. Eventually to my surprise, Shawn waved to us to let go of the rope and we swam around the (mostly dead) coral. It was definitely a unique feeling swimming like this underwater and having the option to go not only forward and back and side to side but up and down. However, there wasn't much to see that was all that interesting. The reef I saw on my Cairns snorkel trip was much nicer and much more colorful. I ended my diving day though when I managed to get water in my mouth, tried to remedy this and ended up also getting water in my mask, so I panicked a bit and swam up to the surface holding my breath. Shawn practically beat me to the surface with questions of "why did you take your regulator out of your mouth?", to which I had no response other than, "I don't really know what happened, I panicked." So anyway, I am glad that I did the intro dive, but if I were ever to dive again, I would want to do a real dive course where they start you in a pool and give you plenty of time to get comfortable with the equipment.

Another highlight of all Whitsunday's trips is the visit to White Haven beach. The sand here is like baking powder in both it's color and texture. The water is entirely clear and calm. The only way to access the beach is by boat and the only permanent man made structure on the island is a bathroom. We spent an afternoon on this beach enjoying the steady ground under our feet.

One of the perks of Spank Me was that you could participate in putting up the sails on the boat.



We had great weather right up until the early morning of the last night when the boat began to sway in a way that had many people wondering if they would fall out of bed. Once we put the sails up and began sailing back to Airlie, the boat took some pretty steep tilts, several of which had most of us holding on to keep from sliding across the deck.

I could probably go on and on about the sailing experience but this post is getting quite lengthy and I have to go get myself ready for a trip to fraser island -- where I will be spending 3 days in a 4x4 with 10 people on an island with no roads.

See more pictures by going to facebook and viewing the group "Spank Me!!"
Or go to:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35972&l=7e35f&id=802088251

Magnetic Island

Yesterday, a python was wrapped around me and its head was sitting on my arm and she looked at me and opened her mouth big and wide. Everyone around me gasped. I didn't flinch. Something is wrong with me.

The python was named Amanda. I guess it must have been a snake yawn because there were no fangs and she didn't lunge at me. Maybe she found me really boring.


I am at Bungalow Bay Koala Village on Magnetic Island. This is both a YHA hostel (rooms are actually cabins), campground, and a koala, bird and reptile sanctuary. I took the tour of the sanctuary yesterday, during which I held a baby crocodile, touched a Koala, had the little incident with the python, and allowed a bird to stand on my head.




--Did you know that crocodiles have evolved very little in the last 60 million years. They have just gotten a bit smaller as they have gone from eating dinosaurs to eating possums.

--Did you know that of the 42 people who have been killed by crocodiles in australia in the last 100 or 200 years (I can't remember) that 32 of them were drunk, 4 were drunk backpackers and 2 were drunk American backpackers (the other 2 were drunk German backpackers).


--Did you know that Koalas are not bears. They got that reputation because when Europeans arrived, a bear was the most similar thing that they knew that a koala looked like. But koalas are marsupials and therefore are related to kangaroos and wallabies. They evolved completely independently of any bears.

--Did you know that baby koalas eat their mother's poop for their first 5 days of life. And they must do this so that they can develop the bacteria in their stomachs that they need in order to eat a diet consisting 100% of eucalyptus leaves.

OK enough facts. I also saw an echnid, many lizards, a talking cockatoo, and the crazy screechy colorful birds below.





I arrived on Magnetic Island on Wednesday morning via a ferry from Townsville after a horrible night in a hostel in Townsville. The night was kind of reminiscent of a Saturday night in a freshmen dorm, except that I had 5 roommates instead of 1, they were Irish, and I was no longer 18 years old. OH and my top bunk with no ladder was concave enough to qualify as a hammock.

Anyway, after departing my new drunk Irish friends (who woke me up several times including one purposeful one around 330 am so that john could find out who I was, where I was from, and apologize for waking me up), I put half my stuff in a locker at the ferry terminal and skedaddled out of Townsville on the 10 am ferry. Magnetic Island has a population of 2000 people. It also has wild koalas. I arrived at the koala village and immediately realized I needed to stay more than just the 1 night I had originally planned. Maybe the experience from the night before was getting to my head but I just did not want to leave this place. So I changed my bus from Thursday to Friday, pushed back my reservation at my next destination and I am staying another day.

Last night I treated myself to a personal pizza and a beer and sat down with my little keyboard to send some emails. As always, you are never really alone for long around here because before I'd finished my pizza I was in the middle of a conversation with a couple from Manchester, England, a grandfather from Newcastle, Australia, and a (humorously drunk) guy from New Zealand. We discovered that we all had the experience of initially waiting for our "mates" (friends) to want to travel with us and then finally deciding to stop waiting and just go on our own. But once we'd arrived we discovered that this is the best possible way to go about it anyway! (The girl from England had been here for 6 months before her boyfriend joined her.) Traveling alone means you never have to compromise because every decision is yours. And you make more of an effort to meet new people if you are alone--hence finding yourself in a conversation with people representing almost all of the major English speaking nations of the world.

Grade 4 rapids

Back on the bus. Going to Townsville and traveling there with two Welsh girls, Anwen and Bev.

Quick story though.

Went rafting today. Amazing. They needed 6 more people to participate in the extreme rafting trip so they upgraded myself and 5 others (including the two Welsh girls) for free. Extreme rafting just means that we go to the head of the pack and don't have to wait in line behind the other rafts at each rapid, that because we move faster we get to stop and jump off rocks from 5 meters up, get out of the raft and body surf down a section of rapids (not actually that much fun), slide down a rock and get forced down underwater for 10 seconds if you have a normal amount of body weight (5 seconds if you are me), and it means that your guides are hotter.

This is not rafting like we do in Pennsylvania in July. On the bus on the way to the Tully River, one of the guides explained to us that a grade 6 rapid is a rapid that is considered deadly and undoable. As soon as some one rides that rapid and survives it becomes a grade 5. We would be on many grade 4 rapids.

Also while on the bus on the way to the river we stopped at some railroad tracks because a train was crossing. While there an Australian girl says to the driver, "Hey can you open to door for a second?" The door opens and she jumps out of the bus. Everyone starts saying, "What is she doing? Is she going to puke?" She hops back on the bus 30 seconds later, puts her hand in the air and says, "It is! It's a bag of weed!"

Which indeed it was.

Sea creatures

I burnt my butt. I forgot that when you snorkel your butt needs lots of sunblock. Whoops.

Snorkeling was absolutely awesome. I went snorkeling once before (in the Bahamas) and found it quite difficult. Water kept getting in my mask and I felt like I was drowning. And if I remember correctly, we might have been drinking a bit of that mysterious rum punch beforehand? Maybe it was just a hangover. Or maybe it was residual drunkenness from the day before? Do any of my Bahamian spring breakers remember?

Anyway, this time all my gear was worked well and my head was sober and unhungover.

Not to mention it was the GREAT BARRIER REEF we were looking at. The night before my snorkel trip I went to a program called Reef Teach. This is a 2 hour long presentation where you learn about the fish, sharks, whales, turtles and corals that you could encounter out on the reef. You learn how to identify different creatures, where to find them, what is ok to touch, and what to swim like hell away from. The girl doing the presenting was American (woohoo!) so I didn't have to do any sort of accent or phrase translations as she spoke. I'd recommend attending this if you ever find yourself in Cairns about to go out on the reef.

The boat ride out to the reef was about an hour and a half. We did about an hour or so of snorkeling and then we had the option to hop onto another boat with a glass bottom for a ride around where you could check out the reef without actually being underwater. Then we hopped back on our big boat for lunch. Next we sailed out to another location where the tide was going out and revealing a sand cay. We snorkeled out to the cay, hung out a bit and snorkeled back to the boat.

I saw Nemo and Dora. I saw a sea turtle from the boat but didn't get to swim next to one--although others on the boat did get to do this. I held a blue starfish and a cucumber fish.

Every way you turn there Is something new to see. And it usually comes in colors that are shocking to believe occur in nature.

I'll be snorkeling again next week in the Whitsunday Islands and am very much looking forward to it.

On Sunday I started the first leg of my long journey on the greyhound. I bought a hop on hop off pass from Cairns to Sydney. The pass is good for 6 months and I can get on and off the bus as many times as I want between those two locations. Each time I want to get onto a bus I go onto the Greyhound website and book myself a seat on the particular bus I will get on. There are usually about 4 buses a day leaving from any location along the route so you have your choice of times. The other two bus companies, Oz Experience and Premier, offer only 1 bus a day and sometimes only one bus every 2 days. Which means that with them you have to go when the bus is going.
With me, I like to make the rules.

Anyway, what I was getting at was that on Sunday morning I started my bus pass and took the bus 2 hours to Mission Beach. Now this is where traveling light actually becomes important. The hostel I was staying at was called Absolute Backpackers and was located 200 meters down the road from the bus stop. Therefore this hostel does not offer a pick up service. And I can't call a cab to take me the equivalent of about 2 city blocks. So I have to be able to put one foot in front of the other for 200 meters--and not end up with a hump on my back. This walk would be the first test of truly traveling like a backpacker. That morning I'd eaten as much oatmeal and raisins and I could in an effort to drop a few ounces from my food bag. So with my big bag on my back, boots hanging off the side and sleeping bag underneath, and my little backpack on my front, and a medium sized pocket book in one hand and a green canvas grocery bag (filled with my tree planting clothes) in the other hand I set off
I arrived about 10 minutes later with cramps in all kinds of crazy places.. but with all belongings still in hand.

I've been trying to figure out if I actually have more stuff than other people. Most people have two backpacks and a grocery bag, just like me. But everyone comments that they can't see me under my bags. But I think I have the same amount of stuff as others... I just have less surface area on my body on which to carry it all.

So I passed the first luggage test. But I will still be ditching a few more items here. My rule is, if I don't use it in 3 weeks then I don't need it--except for a few long term necessities like 9 months worth of contact lenses.

There is not much in Mission Beach, and especially not much in Wongaling Beach where I am actually staying. This is where people come to skydive. Mission Beach is the only place in Australia that you can skydive onto the beach. Since I'm going to be skipping that activity, l will instead being going White Water Rafting on Tuesday on the Tully River in grade 4 rapids with two Welsh girls I met yesterday.

Today I walked the 5 km along the beach to the tiny town of Mission Beach, checked out every single shop in town, and walked the 5 km back along the beach. The beach was like walking into a postcard. There are very little people around here so during my 5 km walk I encountered maybe 12 people, about 5 of whom I watched arrive on the beach via parachute, and 1 of whom was a completely nude guy standing at the edge of the rainforest.

It was an excellent slow and timelineless day. But tomorrow will be exactly the opposite.

Defending my country

I'm getting tired of the following conversation "You're American? Who are you voting for?".

In case you weren't sure, the world really is paying attention to everything the United States does.

I watched a half hour on an Australian morning show about Sarah Palin. Updates on the campaigns are almost as common here as they are in the US. Although there is definitely more media attention on Obama.

I'm also getting a bit tired of defending my country. Europeans, Australians, and Asians have all asked me, "WHAT is your country doing?!", "Why can't you guys get it together?", "How did you guys ever elect Bush? And then why did you do it again?!", "Aren't you glad to be out of the country now?", And the ever popular, "Who are you voting for?"

They all know Obama. Some people can't remember McCain's name, but the ALL know Obama. And if they had the chance they would ALL vote for Obama.

A guy from New Zealand who now lives in Australia and is employed by an environmental agency that frequently works alongside CVA, asked me, "Do you think Obama will last more than 6 months? I think there is just still too much racism in your country."

I've been asked about the electoral system, if people really go out and vote, and about campaign spending. And again, "How did you guys ever elect Bush?"

Remember the 911 conspiracy theories? I remember them being a topic of conversation 4 or 5 years ago. But out here people are still on that topic. Maybe it is the presence of an American that makes them want to talk about it. They want to know what I think about the theories. They want to know if I was in New York when it happened. And they want to know, "Why the hell did you guys ever elect Bush?"

They share their own country's election proceses with me. Did you know that there are 12 parties in Holland and that when you vote you get to vote for your #1 candidate, #2 candidate, #3 candidate, etc; putting all the possible options in order of preference. You never have a candidate that wins by a majority but I think there is something to be said for increased options. And people from England/The United Kingdom/Great Britian are all mixed up. Most of them don't even understand the differences between the 3 titles and what the reasons are that they use all these titles.

They watch all our TV shows, and movies and listen to our music. I watched the last half of "The Italian Job" dubbed into... Italian. Australia has Australian Idol, and I saw a commercial for a "new" show called, "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?" But they mock so many of our methods as "so American" -- peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, giant containers of anything, the size of our pool tables!

I was about to play pool at the Serpent one night when I noticed that the table and the balls were smaller than I was used to. I asked an english guy what the deal was and he said, "They are bigger in America because that's what you do in America. EVERYTHING is bigger." They also apparently call the game with the bigger and table and balls that we play "snooker" and the game with the smaller balls and table "pool".

Guilia, an Italian girl on my Cairns CVA team, told us that her family has kept the bottle from a 100 pill container of asprin from a trip to the US 9 years ago as a souvenir because they found it so hilarious that anyone needs to buy 100 asprin at one time. In fact she said, "If I want to kill myself, I go to America. They sell all drugs in big bottles."

They ask me if there are bitches near New York. Oh wait, they mean "beaches". The word always sounds like "bitches" when it comes from a native French or Italian speaker and always makes me laugh. But I can't explain the difference in the sounds to them and therefore they are all still out there asking for the nearest "bitch".

I've started to adopt some Australian into my language for the sake of clarity. Today I asked if we were going to meet in the "car park". I've started to tell people that it is a good idea to "hire a car" to go to Cape Trib. And I've succumed to calling cheddar cheese "tasty cheese". I won't use the phrases but I'm no longer thrown by "entrees" being something you eat before your main course, and the toaster being on the "bench" in the kitchen, or putting my "rubbish" in the "bin".

Put I've gotten off track here. The point WAS that as a Canadian woman who has been living in Australia for the last 20 years said to me, "The US really IS the leader of the free world. And all other countries do pay attention to what is going on over there; sometimes even more so than they pay attention to what is going on in the politics of their own countries."

That's scary. That's a lot of pressure.

Digging in the mud

My time with CVA Cairns has almost come to a close and I haven't even filled you in about it at all.

I was signed up for 2 weeks with Cairns CVA. As oppossed to at Uluru where 2 weeks actually meant working for 10 days in a row and living entirely secluded with your team and team leader; 2 weeks with the Cairns CVA and I believe all other locations actually means 14 days, working Monday through Friday with weekends off to do as we liked. Each week long session goes from Friday to Friday with housing and meals provided even on the weekend before you have begun to work. So when I showed up at the CVA office/house at 11am on Friday August 29th just outside the city in a town called Marobool, I would be housed and fed by CVA starting that day but would have the weekend to do whatever I pleased... not bad.

On this particular Friday, I showed up at the house and found myself amongst a team of 7 Japanese college students and their "translator" (whose English was horrible). My initial fear was that this was about to be the loneliest and most confusing week of my life -- in addition to basic language barriers the japanese team for some reason believed I worked for CVA and I just could not seem to communicate to them that this was not the case.. They asked me for directions to places I'd never heard of and even the translator asked me if I would be cooking all the meals... uuuh no.

However, I was reassured that I would not be staying with this team at the CVA house, located above the CVA office. I would instead be staying at a hostel with another team who was on their way back from staying in Bramston Beach for the week. The hostel was the same one I'd already spent a night at -- The Serpent -- and Judith was still there one more night so this was excellent news.

My team returned to the house around 2 and out piled a rather large team of rather young and rather British--for lack of a better word--kids. Some were headed home that day but many were staying on for another week or two. I wasn't sure whether I'd prefer spending my week with 18 and 19 year olds with whom I could communicate but who were very much intent on being as drunk and high as possible every opportunity they could get; or with 18 and 19 year olds who were very polite and quiet but whom might be expecting me to cook them dinner. Hmm.

Anyway, I started to get to know my team and as I did they started to drop like flies. First, 18 year Nick, who is the spitting image of Ron Weasley, took a dare from a 10 year old at a skateboard park that resulted in a sprained left ankle and a torn ligament in his right wrist. The next day he decided to finish off his other wrist by getting it tattooed with a lightening bolt.

19 year old Jemma was planning to get her free weekend at the hostel and quit first thing on Monday... so she did just that.

19 year old Dan, had some sort of a mix up about medical forms and a medical card he had left in Sydney. This compiled with some other issues resulted in him being kicked out by about Thursday.

On Wednesday, 22 year old Vans decided she'd had enough of the work we were doing and she tried to quit but was guilted into staying.

And on Thursday, I succumbed to the strep throat I'd been fighting all week and announced I'd be going to the doctor and not on the project.

So my first week of CVA Cairns was a bit dramatic. Those of us who remained formed a rather small team that was also again highly female—and made up of many city dwellers--one of each from London, Paris, Milan, New York, and Seoul.

The work that we were at least supposed to be doing was assisting the Green Corridor Project. This is a 20-year long Queensland (the Australian state where Cairns is located) project whose goal is to reforest the banks of the Barron River with the tropical plants that are/were native to the area previous to the arrival of Europeans. Over the last 150 years the rainforest has been cut down to create farmland here. The farmers brought in fertilizers that as a result of rainfall have ended up in the barron river. The river flows out to the ocean, where the Great Barrier Reef is located and deposits the fertilizers at the reef. The fertilizers are like poision for the corals. So ultimately deforestation is killing the Great Barrier Reef. By planting trees along the river, the fertilizers and other chemicals are broken down and dilluted by the trees and plants so that they do not reach the ocean in such poisonous quantities. A second purpose of the Green Corridor Project is to create a "green corridor" of tropical forest so that animals, specifically a large bird called a cassowary, can move between the remaining areas of tropical rainforest and breed with one another, keeping the genetics of the species healthy. The cassowary is endangered but for reasons I don't understand, the bird is such a vital part of the tropical ecosystem that they say that if it were to go extinct, the rainforest in this area would also not be able to survive. The cassowary is one of the oldest surviving species still in existence in Australia. Hundreds of thousands of years ago there were all kinds of weird now extinct animals in this part of Australia... But the cassowary (and the crocodile) has made it through to today with little if any evolutionary change.

As we drive all around northern Queensland to our various sights along the Barron River, we frequently see cassowary crossing signs. The picture of the cassowary looks as though the sign is warning that a Muppet might cross the road here.

Apparently cassowary are somewhat dangerous. They are about 4 feet tall and can run fast. They have been known to kick and even kill a few people by using a claw on their foot to slice you right up the back. Fortunately, I didn't yet know this little tidbit the day the Germans and I encountered a cassowary on one of our wild hiking expeditions. I don't have any pictures of the beast though, so I guess we did know enough to just keep moving.

So now you know all the reason why we do this work in cairns. Now here is a bit of how we did it.

The first week we spent several days fertilizing (with organic fertilizer) and watering plants that had been planted over the last several months. Sometimes this was along the river at the side of the road, sometimes it required climbing down a cliff, and sometimes it was on somebodys private property (usually a farm) who had donated a section of their land to be part of the corridor.

The second week we dug holes, planted trees, fertilized them, and put mulch around the trees. Depending on the day we did just some or all of these activities and everyday we visited different sights in Cairns, Kuranda, the Atherton Tablelands, and Brampton Beach. Although it is still technically the dry season, we never needed to water these trees because it rained ALL week. This was good because the normal temperature would have been damn hot in the sun (we experienced that the week before and over the weekend) but bad because we were just always wet. On Thursday we planted trees along the river bank on a cattle farm. The holes had been dug the day before and were filled with water. It continued to rain Thursday and so planting trees was equivalent to playing in the mud -- red clay mud. The cows wanted in on the action too and stuck their heads through the barbed wire to eat the trees we were trying to plant.

Here's James Bond's spy cow checking up on us.


During week 2 we lost a few people and gained a few more. And we moved into the CVA house. It was quite nice to get out of the hostel and have a place to stay that had a TV (gasp) and a real kitchen and bathroom. Our team was again almost all female (gasp... no wait that is not surprising) and again mostly European. Guilia from Milan, Camille from Paris, Maxine from London, Rita from Italy, Victoria from Madrid, Melanie from France, Yong from Seoul and me.


ABOVE: My team and another CVA team in Kuranda.


Workdays are generally split into 3 shifts -- two in the morning and one in the afternoon. But this week, due mostly to rain, we frequently only did 2 shifts and then would spend the afternoon visiting waterfalls and parks and beaches. Of course it is still raining at the waterfalls, parks and beaches, but it was nice to have the opportunity to go to many of these places that had I been just a regular tourist I wouldn't have the means to get to, nor the inside knowledge to find. We did go one day to the centenary park, which is an area within Cairns of protected rainforest with a 400meter walkway through it and the botanical gardens with all kinds of crazy tropical plants. I am not usually one to get all impressed by plants but this was really really awesome. Unfortunately I have no pictures because I didn't want to take my camera out into the rain.

Today was the last day of Cairns CVA and we spent it digging holes and planting trees on a super steep creek bank in Kuranda on some private property. The people who owned the land had a barbeque for us at the house and I had a chat with the woman and found out all kinds of interesting things. For instance the woman is Canadian, and the man is American (from New York City) but they met in Guatamala and then lived in Indian for many years. But when their children were about 7 they decided they needed to go somewhere that their kids could get a decent education. So they made a list of all the places they thought they might like since neither of them wanted to return to the north american continent. One of their requirements was that they wanted to live someplace tropical. They had never been to Australia before so they came to Brisbane, bought a campervan and just north until they reached the rainforest. The next problem was finding work in such a remote place in their field that would also make them eligible for visas that would allow them to make Australia their home long term. They were artists... mostly theater but the woman also used to design a line of clothing. So they started Tjapukai -- a park and theater that presents Aboriginal dance and ancient stories. And they've been living in Kuranda and Cairns for over 20 years.

I went to Tjapukai the weekend before but the park was closed because they were hosting a huge Reggae festival. So Maxine and I went to the Reggae festival instead. Which was equally if not more awesome. So many hippies... like real ones with dreads arriving in hippie vans. Awesome.


Well anyway, I'm back on my own now. I will be volunteering in Brisbane at the same time as Maxine so I'll meet up with her again. And Guilia insists she is coming to the US in November 2009 because she really wants to check out this thing we call Thanksgiving. But other than this I'm back to being a loner. But as the Australians would say "No worries", I'm at a new hostel in the city called Bohemia Central that I really like and I am going out to the reef to snorkel tomorrow and heading off down the coast on Sunday; so there is still plenty of adventure to go.

Where did this nasty bug come from?

I have strep throat. Well it is unconfirmed strep throat but the doctor did give me antibiotics.

Where might have this nasty bug come from? I have 3 possible guesses.

1. Judith, the German girl who I was camping with last week was not feeling well shortly before we parted ways on Saturday. We shared my waterbottle frequently during the 6 days we traveled together. We sought out free water sources whereever we could find them (bathroom sinks, campground taps, spickets at the back of a yacht club). And this meant when we ran low we all drank from waterever bottle still had water. Judith was heading out on a 7 day camping tour of the outback from Cairns to Uluru and so I really hope this is not where the strep came from because that would be a miserable place to be sick.

2. I finally made my first venture out to the Australian bars with an American guy (I am not the only American!) and an english girl who is part of my Cairns volunteer team. We tagged along with 4 french guys in button down pajamas and slippers; 4 irish guys attempting to replicate the irish flag by wearing green body paint on their upper bodies, white bathingsuits, and orange body paint on their legs; and 4 english guys who painted their face, arms and legs with blue paint - one of whom used WALL paint - because some girl was celebrating her birthday and wanted her friends to dress up like smurfs.
Crazy europeans.
Anyway, there are unconfirmed reports that "the Americans" did not return home until 4 am. This is fine for the young kids, but old folks like me get sick when we behave like hoodlums.

3. CVA is putting us up in a hostel this week (Nomads - Serpent). Part of the agreement with CVA is that they provide our food during our volunteer committment in the form of groceries. This is fine if you are in a house with just your team but in a hostel -- where you have to cook in a communal kitchen -- it's really difficult. I've seen some people make some really awesome meals in these communal kitchens. But I think the trick is that you have come straight from the grocery store, cook up you food and eat it all right away, avoiding the need to use the fridge. The fridges are so jam packed with food that it is practically impossible to get your stuff in or out without pulling out 15 bags belonging to others. And of course when you go to put those bags back in, you will undoubtedly put it back in someplace different than where its own put it, therefore causing that person to have to pull out 15 bags to find their stuff. Also, nobody has tupperware or plastic wrap. So when people open something and use half, they just toss it back in and sometimes it leaks...and leaks right through your canvas bag... and sometimes it is meat that is leaking right through your canvas bag onto someone else's open package of cheese. Anyway, as much as that is sketchy and dangerous, leaky meat juice does not cause strep throat. What might spread strep throat though is dishes in a communal kitchen that are not washed as well as they should be. Perhaps this is a long shot. But let's face it, a hostel will never be the healthiest of living environments.

We will never know the cause of my ailment. But the good news is that I have visited an Australian doctor for $55 and gotten an Australian antibiotic for $16. If I were Irish the Australian goverment would let met have all this for free. But I am not.

I did not go out on the CVA project today and instead slept for a huge portion of day. Fortunately, my team is sleeping at another place tonight up at Yungaburra and so I have the room to myself -- no people in and out and no needing to climb up and down to the top bunk. However in their departure they forgot to leave me some food. I happen to have a few of my own groceries. But these groceries are only the ingredients needed to make my favorite kind of oatmeal; quick oats, raisins, cinnamon (the consistancy of which is much less fine here) and peanut butter (which is not as delicious as at home). Therefore I ate oatmeal for breakfast, and oatmeal for lunch. I will splurge and buy some dinner from the hostel bar/restuarant tonight.

So speaking of this hostel, let me tell you a little about it. Nomads is a chain of hostels in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and perhaps elsewhere. They fall into a category of hostel called a "Flashpacker" (instead of backpacker) hostel. Flashpacker is a word used to describe a new generation of backpackers who are maybe not quite so tight on cash and are more interested in a trip that resembles springbreak than a trip that is culturally fullfilling. This is definitely not the case for everyone who is here, but there is definitely a larger party scene here than at some other hostels. Sometimes "Flashpacker" hostels will be a bit more expensive but this place is a bit outside the city and so they happen to have the lowest rates around while still providing a good, if not always quiet, experience. A 6-bed room was $18 and a 10 bed is only $10. The next lowest cost I saw in Cairns was $24.


ABOVE: All my possessions.


ABOVE: Our 4-bed room at the Serpent

Each night there is a free "meal" between 6 and 7 for all guests. This is really just a snack, (last night it was about 15 french fries and one chicken wing) but you can upgrade your free meal for $4 and this meal is usually pretty decent -- considering it costs only $4. Tonight is Thursday and every Thursdays there is a $10 beef, chips, salad and beer special. (Chips are french fries here, and what americans call chips are called crisps.) I had the beef and beer special last week mostly because I was enticed by the salad part. But the salad was whimpy and the beef was a big slab of fat. The "chips" and beer were delicious though!

There is a pool and and sand volleyball court at this hostel. Last Friday, Judith and I participated in a game of 7 on 7 volleyball with 12 guys of miscellaneous european backgrounds. The game sounded like this: "It's your serve, mate", "Bloody irish guy!", "Vat vous out!" "Get it together lads!"

Turns out that many of those guys we played volleyball with were actually staying at the hostel a month or more working there. They don't actually get paid, they just get free accommidation and 3 meals a day. They work about 21 hours a week doing things like driving the van back and forth into the city center to drop people off, take out garbage, put new sheets on the beds after people have left (most hostels require you to take your own sheets off when you leave), vaccuuming, painting the hallways, etc. Not too bad of a deal.

Oh and how could I forget. On Sunday, at about 6pm one of these typical safari/Australian looking 4WD vehicles drove through the fence surrounding the back of the hostel, across the sand volleyball court, and into the pool. AND when it hit the water there was no one in it.



I was nearby when it happened and yet strangely, myself as well as many others, didn't hear a thing. We didn't know it happened until we saw the smoke and the crowd gathering. It was a very good thing there happened not to be anyone on the volleyball court or in the pool because according to those who saw it happen, it came through very fast. Apparently the guy who was driving, lost control, tried to aim for a tree to stop the car, missed and came through our fence and then somehow managed to get out (unharmed) before the car got to the pool. The Cairns news came and the next day I happened to be near the tv area when the story came on. It was a bit of excitement for us. However, the pool has now been drained and is closed indefintely so they can repair it.

K, now you are fully filled in on how it works in a hostel. Hopefully I haven't scared away those of you coming out here who I have been encouraging to embrace the hostel option.