Last week, I was at that point of my trip where I was starting to get a little home sick. 2.5 months have passed and now, it's officially the longest I've been away (more than Asia 2002). That said, things have changed and I am now feeling rejuvenated.

 

Cairns was my stop after my tour in the Red Centre. Cairns is a huge tourist trap with tonnes of info centres and tour agencies trying to tell you where to go and what to spend your money on. There are so many options and it's downright confusing (on purpose I'm sure). The bad thing is though that Australians generally are not very helpful. As an aside, the service industry in this country stinks. Whether your getting some coffee, lunch or trying on some clothes - no one really cares and NO one will ever go that extra mile to help you out or be accomodating for a slightly different request. Cairns reminded me a lot of Miami actually with the water close by and because it's the starting point for so many different activities. It also has that seedy nightlife and lots of not so savoury characters.

 

I tried to minimize my time in Cairns but while I was there, I took in a few sites. Notably, me and some friends from my Uluru tour rented a car and drove up to Cape Tribulation, Port Douglas and Daintree National Park. Cape Trib was really cool and we stayed in hostel right in the middle of the rain forest. That was definitely a very neat experience. Getting to that hostel (Cape Trib Beach House) was a whole other story though. When we arrived, it was pouring rain and pitch black. The street signs were terrible and trying to figure out where to go and how to get there was basically impossible. We also didn't want to get into any trouble in the rental car and some of the roads were so muddy and steep, we weren't sure we were gonna get through them okay. In the end, it all worked out but I was definitely stressed and I had to do all the driving because I was the only one over 25 in the car. Port Douglas was a really cute little city with a great vibe to it. I definitely enjoyed it and would love to go back some time.

 

Once back in Cairns, I made a couple day trips. First, to Kuranda where I saw Barron Falls and rode on the Skyrail and Scenic Kuranda railway. Kuranda is a cute little village but it is just about as tacky as Niagara Falls when it comes to touristy stuff. Next, I went to Green Island for my first snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef. I think I've solidified it now that I am not a very comfortable diver or snorkeller. I think it's the salt water that gets to me most. I just don't like the taste at all and when I swallow even a tsp full, it's too much and I start coughing and spitting everything up. I saw some fish but definitely not as much as I would have liked but I'm told the conditions weren't that great so I'm not too upset.

 

From Cairns, I went down to Townsville and took a ferry across to a place called Magnetic Island. While there for a couple days, I met a bunch of Canadians (a guy from Victoria and two sisters from Edmonton). Magnetic Island was a pretty chilled out place. I was sick of doing the hostel thing so I decided to splurge a little and stayed at a Bed & Breakfast. I left Magnetic and got to Airlie Beach on Saturday the 13th.

 

Sunday the 14th is when my trip took a nice turn upwards. I started my sailing adventure in the Whitsunday islands. It was such a great experience and I'm so glad I did it. It's definitely one of my highlights of this trip so far. The weather was perfect. The snorkelling was pretty good (and I was feeling a lot more comfortable underwater). The food was yummy too and all the peeps I met were pretty cool. We even got to sail through really horrible rainy weather yesterday on our way home so that made the experience more complete. The sea-sickness pills I took helped as well since I didn't feel any symptoms at all so that was great.

 

I'm in Hervey Bay right now, the gateway to Frasor Island. I'm heading to Frasor on a tour for the next couple of days. Then on Saturday, I'm going to Brisbane to spend a couple days with my cousin Ashwini. Time for some dinner. I might go for some Indian food cause I'm craving...

 

Finally, a belated Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there. Especially Sharavati, Jennifer and Gina, some of the most recent moms.