Australia Day 17: Fitzroy Island

Again got lucky and snagged the local special and got a boat ride to and from Fitzroy Island for $30. 

On the island we snorkeled ($15/ all day hire), did one of their small hikes (the other was closed off for whatever reason) and proceeded to be really really cold. We got pretty unlucky with the weather and couldn't stay in the water for more than 1 hour, even with wetsuits. 

Overall it was still a great day, the best part happening at the end when we decided to do the "Hidden Garden" trail. The actual trail took 10 minutes to walk but we climbed past the closed off bit and followed an old trail deeper into the rainforest. The old trail had clearly been used before, but closed off years ago for whatever reason. 

Seriously don't know why, there was nothing even remotely dangerous about it, barring a few sticky mud puddles.

We found this awesome collection of rocks and spent some time climbing in and out of it - assuming different characters and behaving like 5 year olds. It was a great time. 

Just hanging out on a vine

The beach 'sand' = corals!

Cool tree that was bent from the (very) intense wind

Australia Day 16: Hiking Up a Waterfall

I awoke this morning slightly bummed because our plans to head to Fitzroy Island had fallen through. Nonetheless, I was determined to do something interesting so I walked downstairs to get my laptop and look for inspiration for an alternative adventure. At that exact time our local insane adventurer, Tim, rode up on his mountain bike. He called out to us from the parking lot, asking if we wanted to go hike up a waterfall today.

Uh, duh.

That happened around 11am. By noon we were all packed in the car and en route to the hike. It was an anfractuous 2 hour drive and since we all stayed out late last night it was a mentally (and physically) trying drive.
No one puked, so that was good.

We arrived in the middle of the Daintree Rainforest around 2pm.

The immensity of the lush foliage was astonishing.

We adorned ourselves with backpacks and bug spray and headed out on a completely random path that was marked only with "Daintree Lodge ->" sign. I was confused as to why were we starting here but Tim (mountain bike dude) and Aaron (my bf) seemed to know where they were going, so Fane (Aaron's roommate) and I followed.

Within minutes we were away from any paved road and walking through the river. Or rather, up the river. In fact our hike 'trail' was literally the river.

Our plan was to hike about 1.5-2 hours up the river and reach the top of Alexandra Falls. I was warned that we'd be wading about knee-deep in water for most of the journey. In reality it was more like swimming.

The start of the hike was awesome. Loved being the water and going through an area seemingly untouched by man. Overall the journey was a tad sketchy since my running shoes had zero traction with the slippery river rocks. About 30 minutes in I rolled my ankle pretty badly. Whatever, keep on going.

10 minutes later I slipped again and rolled the same ankle. About 15 more minutes go by before I rolled my other ankle. Now both throbbed incessantly.
Suck it up, push onwards.

I proceeded to slip another 10? 15? 30? times on our way up, stubbing toes, jamming fingers and banging shins left and right.
Honestly though, whatever. The experience was amazing. We were literally climbing up a waterfall in the middle of an Australian rainforest. 

About 1 hour in we reached a divide and accidentally chose to go right instead of left. We continued summiting for about 40 or so minutes until we realized we had gone the wrong way. Unfortunately it was already 3:40pm and we just wouldn't be able to make it back down to the divide and then up the rest of the waterfall and then all the way back down before it got dark (around 6:30pm) so we resolved to merely head back home.

Although a slight bummer that we didn't get to the top, the experience in-and-of-itself was absolutely worthwhile.

Also, while being 5' 3'' and trying to climb against the current was nearly impossible at times - I frequently had to find pathways with weaker currents while the other three members of my group (all 6'' and above) just bulldozed their way through, being vertically challenged when going downstream was great. I just floated a good chunk of the way down, giving my throbbing ankles a much needed break.

Floating down wasn't all fun and games though. When the rapids in the river picked up (and thus picking me up with them) I was often swept a bit too fast into rocks and crevasses where the force of the impact did a number on my body. In one particularly sketchy encounter my foot got stuck in between two rocks but the rest of my body did not.
This resulted in me hanging completely upside down, with the rapids cascading onto my face and into my nostrils.

Yum.

With the wind knocked out of me it took a good 10 seconds for me to dislodge myself and somewhat safely move further downstream.
Because I'm a pitifully far cry from badass hiker/explorer, I needed to take a few moments to catch my breath and have the shock settle. Physically I was fine, it was more shock than anything.

As we continued downstream it started to drizzle and then full-out rain. And honestly? It was the best. Both the river and the rain were a refreshing temperature. Not terribly warm but not too cold either. Being utterly soaked was an incredibly invigorating experience and we continued down, swimming/slipping/stumbling/scrambling our way back to the car.

We made it back just in time, around 6pm. Had we arrived even 15 minutes later it would have been way too dark to be safe.

Overall:

• Innumerable minor bumps and scrapes
• 1 wrong turn
• 0 crocodile encounters (whew!)
• 7 bug bites
• 2 baby leeches
• 3 spider webs
• 5 nasty encounter with Wait-A-While's
• A dozen or so fun 'water slides'
• 6 broken trees the spanned the width of the river 
• 1 actually scary fall 
• 1/2 an emptied camel pack 
• 6 muesli bars, 2 sandwiches, a banana, 2 apples [from us four]
• 1 monsoon
• 1 cassowary
• 3 Aussies, 1 Belarussian-American
• 2 pairs of clothes
• Many stones in shoes
• 3 Acapella renditions of 'Amazing Grace'
• and 8 hours 

later we arrived back home around 8pm, thoroughly satisfied with our spontaneous and awesome adventure.

Australia Day 15: Is Australia Worth It?

One of the top 3 most frequent questions people ask me is whether Australia (in all of this expensive-ness) is worth it.

As with any economics question, the answer is "it depends" but below I've broken down some of my main financial takeaways.

If you're already in Asia, in Bali or something, then yes. Make a trip at least down to the Gold Coast/Great Barieer Reef.

If you're coming from America/Canada and you're looking at a $1600-$2200 ticket, then maybe not.

Things to take into consideration:

• Food is 1.5-2 times as expensive as in the States
• Any day trip (some sort of adventure/cruise/tour) is about $100-200 USD a day
• Everything is really far away - the Europeans I've met consistently comment on this, but I'm pretty used it to being from the US. That means you'll need a car and need to pay for gas (which is also much pricier than in the US)

• Cairns has a huge backpacker culture with tons of affordable hostels and lots of interesting people to meet
• Cairns also offers lots of things for free (the Esplanade outdoor fitness activities, the swimming lagoon, music festivals, etc)
• Cairns is very pretty and all foliage is nicely hedged and manicured - so you get nice views and a friendly and comfortable environment for free in that sense
• There are also plenty of free hiking trails and tons of mountains to explore (with marked and well-maintained trails, signs and even info booths)

• I don't know much about Sydney's hostels but the cost of living is higher than Cairns

I've only been to Cairns, Sydney and very briefly to the Gold Coast, so I can really on speak about the first two.

Where sidewalks = grass

Lovely little bench near the Cairns Marina
There's lots of beautiful little spots like this
that pepper the costal area

Awesome iron artwork, depicts a tale of two
lovers

Australia Day 14: I've Seen All There Is To See?

Bus stop on grass!

"Get out of your comfort zone."

Everyone always says this and we all nod our heads thinking "yeah, obviously, totally I'll do that" and then we opt to stay in and watch a movie or scroll through our Facebook news feed instead of going out and exploring our city. 

Our argument: "There's nothing to do today, nowhere to go, nothing to explore. I already know what's out there in my vicinity, no point in doing much else."

WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.

You think there's nothing to do or see. You think you know everything. But how could you possibly know if you haven't explored. I thought I'd learn nothing running through the Cairns suburbs. It would just be houses like I'd seen already. 

Wrong. 

I saw new things (sidewalks covered in manicured grass instead of concrete, bus stops on grass, crazy colonies of ants, random native fruits, a myriad of bird species, abandoned railroads), I made connections to experiences I had in the past (Cairns reminds me a lot of Belarus but far more green), and I got a nice endorphin rush from my run. 

Overall it was a great day and it was all because I decided to push past the hump of "There's no point in doing something since I have no car or no one to hang out with today". I thought I had done everything there is to do in Carins. I had spend 2.5 weeks here last summer, now 2 weeks here this summer, I'd explored and adventured so surely I had seen it all.

LOL, found this little gem on my run

Nope.

I had done the big things but I had completely missed the little nuances of life. I had bulldozed right past them en route to my next white water rafting or bungee jumping adventure. 

Obviously I'm not saying that the big things are bad. 

They are awesome.

Go bungee jumping and rafting and skydiving and hiking and kayaking. 

But also go for a casual run/walk through the local parts of any town/city you're in. Pay attention to what's around you and the little things that you take for granted.

My god how have I spent a total of 4.5 weeks in Cairns in the past year and never noticed how many bird species there are here?? They are all so different and beautiful.

And the ants?

I'm not a fan of ants. They are small and annoying and in Australia (much like everything else here) they bite. 

But I saw two really cool ant colonies doing ant-y things and it just felt good to appreciate this little tidbit of life.

This is a lesson I will definitely keep for life. Next Spring when I'm back in Berkeley and have a lazy day over spring break where I can't think of something to do and am tempted to vegetate in front of my laptop screen watching The Daily Show or reading funny Buzzfeeds I will close my laptop and put on my running shoes. 

I have no idea where I'll go. 

Maybe I won't see any new place but I definitely will see something new. I will become more aware of the little things around me and suddenly that street that I've driven down a million times will be completely different. 

I encourage everyone to do the same. Regardless if you're traveling or if you're in a city that you've lived in for the past decade. 

Broaden and sharpen your sensitivity to alternative types of aesthetic value. 

Just put on some shoes, plug in your favorite audiobook (or playlist) and go.

View of the Marina out of the treehouse

Tree house at the Marina!

Railroad that slowly narrowed and led into
the ground

All of those white specks are ants carrying
bread pieces (or what looked like bread)

The ants were coming in and out of that
hole. In without anything, out with a white
speck on top. They must have found some
storage of food somewhere. Pretty cool to watch
them mill around. 

Green ants carrying a worm

Saw these cool rusted bolts, was really
tempted to pick them up and build
some cool art piece...except I have no
welding equipment :(

Awesome Cost of Living Calculator

Just found this in my preparations for the rest of Asia, very accurate and very useful!

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/

Australia Day 10 - 13: Ironman, White Water Rafting, Fickle Grocery Prices and $80/kg Nuts

Brunch time!

These past couple of days have been pretty chill. Hung out with lots of German (almost) doctors - at one point I joined them in some German polka dance thing and that was jolly good fun. Truly marvelous people, definitely thankful to have met them.

My boyfriend and I discussed why pretty much all the foreign people we meet are so cool and resolved that it's probably because people who put in the effort to travel are already the kind of people that you want to be your friend. The gregarious, open-minded and socially competent type. 

Moral of the story: TRAVEL.

But that's the moral to most of my abroad stories haha. 

----

Volunteered at Ironman and that was an interesting and novel experience! The people who did this course are insane. Seriously impressive. So many people were finishing the race with limp-causing cramps and hyperthermia.

Trying to make a psuedo-fancy desert - failing

What is the Ironman?

Well you get to wake up before the sun and then swim 3.8km, cycle 180km and as if that isn't enough, you conclude with a marathon (45km in Cairns).

Casual.

Anyways I worked the medals (organizing them and handing them out to finishers), so that was a lot of fun. Only did it for a few hours because I got bored but definitely a worthwhile experience.

---

Went white water rafting! Went with a company called Raging Thunder. The people who worked it were awesome and incredibly lively and engaging. Scored the local discount ($30 for the whole trip) as opposed to the $133 it normally is.
For $30 it was totally worth it.
It was a Grade 3 trip (Grade 1 = your bathtub, Grade 6 = falling down Niagara falls).

There were fun bits for sure, but nothing to really get your adrenaline pumping.

I really don't recommend it if you can't get some sort of discount. Unless you get scared very very easily, then maybe.


---

Stores in Cairns have such sensitive supply chains, my god.

The prices in the grocery markets change on a daily basis. So strange since I'm used to prices being relatively stable in the US. Sure I've seen pomegranates range from $2 - $5 depending on the season, but those are variations that occur over months, not days!

One of my friends told me about Cyclone Yasi that made the price of bananas skyrocket to $12-15/kg. The highest retail price for bananas was $17/kg, which was in Adelaide (capital of South Australia).
For reference, I get my bananas for $0.19 each at Trader Joes and Bureau of Labor Statistics sites the average price for a lb of bananas at about $.60. That's $1.32/kg.

Here's an interesting excerpt:

"Category-5 Yasi tore through north Queensland in early February, wiping out 75 per cent of Australia's banana production."

Ironman runners! Love the lady rocking the
vibrant pink haha

There is also really only one grocery store that people go to in Cairns, Coles. No competition = they can price things however they want. There are some smaller grocery stores but they don't seem to get much business, we walked into a few earlier today. 

The health food stores here are outrageous. We went into one and it had macadamia nuts for $80/kg. That's $36/lb. 

Seriously, what?

For reference, here's what a 30 second amazon search brought up:

1lb of macadamia nuts for $15. 

Definitely can find cheaper in a store. 

Peanut/almond/any nut butter is literally twice as expensive here.  Ahh, 7 months without Trader Joe's almond butter will be tough. 

Watermelon, veggies and fruits are all nearly twice as much here. But their minimum wage (I think I've mentioned it before) is $16, more than twice ours.
So it makes sense for them. Just stinks for foreigners.

YUM GELATO

Superman!

Park of the children's water park in Cairns
(Free entry for all)

Volunteers!

Nasty Chip Club (where you put everything
that's on the table onto a chip/leaf/banana/etc
and then eat it)

Love it

One out of 4 people I saw in the mall in a 5
min time span who had no shoes on

Organizing the medals 

Where in the World Have You Been?

I always try my best to read at least 2 news articles everyday (aim for 4 though) and today on The Guardian I stumbled upon this awesome map that the website will build for you depending on which countries you've been to. 

Here's my map (although I cheated and added in China, South Korea and the Philippines, which I haven't been to yet but will go to by the end of August). 

If you want to make your own, click here!

Australia Day 6-9: Reading, Hiking Pyramids and Working Out

I've been reading lots, going to some hospital tutorial things (learned about multimodal analgesia this time!) and just hanging out with the Aussies.

Did the Walsh's Pyramid hike (922m vertical, 12km round trip). Great hike, lots of fun, make sure to bring bug spray. Also lots of water, you will sweat and then your sweat will sweat.

Cool skate park (covered too) at the Esplanade

This dog decided to follow me around :)

Hairy tree!

Lonely tree in the middle of the water

So many fit people on the Esplanade

Just always casually working out, love it

Top of Walsh's Pyaramid!

Australia Day 5: Pretending to be a Doctor and Making Ice Cream

Strange fruit that grows on the streets

Today I pretended to be a doctor (or med student) and went to a info lecture series at the Cairns Regional Hospital. Learned about the joys of gonorrhea - quite interesting.
Also learned about lots of random other things like dysuria, PID and got to see lovely pictures of infected genitals (heavy sarcasm in case you couldn't tell). But overall it was informative and I'm glad I went!

After the hospital I learned lots about emergency medicine (what to do if you're shot, get stabbed, etc) and watched a finger amputation on Youtube.
Why did I do this? I don't know, I've never seen an amputation before, so I wanted to at least be familiar with what it looks like.

Afterwards we went on an absurdly epic trek to get all the materials we need to make ice cream. Could we have just bought ice cream from the store for pretty much zero effort? Yeah, duh, but where's the fun in that?

High school science class throwback via
making ice cream in ziplock bags
(using salt to lower the freezing temperature of ice and
all that fun stuff).

No parking spot? No problem.