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.
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