7 months in Asia (Summer + Fall 2014): 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.