The Diary
We all got copies of Beth's underwater pictures which were good as long as there were supposed to be no people in the shot. The shots of a headless Oz will probably be missing from my albums when I get back to the UK.
In the afternoon we caught a bus to Townsville with another driver you couldn't get off his microphone. Watched most of Dances with Wolves which was still going when we reached Townsville (as everyone but the bus driver realised would happen). After not being amused by the Backpacker's at the Transit Centre we went to the Adventurers' for a very hot and sticky night.
I started feeling depressed today, I think, for several reasons. Talking to Christy on the phone made me wish I was back in Sydney and travelling with a couple certainly doesn't help. Three's a crowd and I'm feeling pretty lonely. I wish I'd stayed in Sydney and travelled back on my own. I think the lack of exercise and sport affects me - and I've just had a year of bugger all after my back operation and this is prolonging the situation. Finally, the relative values Oz and I place on money are causing me to find Oz's pettiness with money very annoying. I don't think he'd make a very good branch manager. He'd alienate me as a customer for a start.
2012
Mitigating factors:
- taking underwater photos with a cheap disposable camera in choppy waters ain't easy
- Dances with Wolves is a long film, approx 3 hours
- Hot and sticky - it's January in Queensland, what did we think it would be like?
- Oz had earned very little money in Sydney whereas I'd earned a lot - this exacerbated the situation. His tightness was legendary at Uni. Oz was the man who had mastered the art of striding to the pub first but somehow arriving at the bar last and therefore avoided ever having to buy a round. I can get away with saying this because he's not on Facebook as he wouldn't pay the joining fee. Anyway I'm sure there are several people reading this that could give examples of his mainfishness......
"I don't think he'd make a very good branch manager." An in-joke from Uni. You wouldn't understand.
Cairns to Townsville - 348kmTotal distance since Sydney - 3,261km
The Diary
We all picked up photos from the chemist. A very exciting day as we dashed back to number and comment them. I posted a few cards and the Stone Alone book to Christy but not a lot else happened. Another $3.50 meal at Magnums and then I phoned Christy. I pissed off a lad who was waiting for the phone because I was on so long. There are no rules about how long you can use the phone. It's a good job it was a reverse charge call or I think I'd have been slitting my wrists.
2012
Back in 1992 Telstra was known as Telecom Australia and Optus was just getting off the ground.
I think I've previously mentioned the effort we had to go through with photos. Get them developed, write on the back of them so you could remember what they were, separate the negs from the prints, mail the prints to the parents in the UK, check poste restante several months later to confirm that the prints had been received and then mail the negs back. This is not to mention the several rolls of film that you had to have spare in 100, 200 and 400 ASA, the bulky camera that you had to carry around and the fact that you wouldn't shoot hundred of shots at random as every shot cost money and had to be developed.
And lest we forget......
The Diary
The three of us walked to Barron Falls exploring the weirs and rocks along the way. Now, that's the sort of thing I'm happy doing, it's a little more energetic than lying in a prone position by the pool and it satisfies my inquisitive mind. Unfortunately it was an extremely hot day and we didn't take enough water with us. We also had to wait over an hour to catch the train from Barron Falls station. We then had to sit through the train commentary that we'd sat through 2 days previously. It might have been interesting but I could only hear about every other word.
Back to Cairns where the couple Oz and I had met at Noosa Heads (from Ilkley) were still hanging around Tracks. Their wardrobe seemed to consist of a Hard Rock Cafe Sydney T-shirt each. In the evening we went for another $3.50 meal. We then went to the International Hostel and discovered a message Hels and Kate had left. They'd just spent 4 days (yes FOUR days) at Kuranda, apparently in the same hostel as us and were then off to Cape Tribulation. I somehow think we won't see them again, especially as they've got Beth's books.
2012
I was always amazed that people would hang around in boring places and crappy backpackers for day and weeks on end. We just kept moving and later got into the habit of crashing out for a few days if the travelling had been hard or tiring. We spent a few days on the beach in Phuket recuperating but I don't think we ever chilled out for more than 4 days before hitting the road again.
In the days before email and smart-phones the only way to stay in touch with other backpacking friends was to leave notes on message boards at hostels. We all used to swap books and cassette tapes as well, with no guarantee that you would get them back. An interesting thing that I remember Oz doing was ripping the pages out of the Lonely Planet after we'd been to the places on those pages. He didn't see the point of carrying un-necessary weight.
Almost every backpacker used Lonely Planet guidebooks to get around - though I think Hels and Kate used the Handbook series - and thus LP had an incredible influence on local tourism and the success or failure of many local businesses, cafes and hostels. As can be seen here, Lonely Planet's influence is still significant.
The Diary
Nightmare journey. The seats didn't recline very far and I ended up in a window seat next to a big fat aboriginal woman who squeezed two kids on her lap. She was dressed as if she was going to the Antarctic and at various stages I ended up being draped with kids and blankets. Hooray for Townsville. People got off and I moved to a new seat and eventually got some sleep.
Arrived in Cairns. Thank heavens for courtesy buses. No lugging the rucksack around after 2 hours sleep. Once safe in our 'cell' in Tracks Hos-tell we booked on a day trip to the Great Barrier Reef and a return journey to Kuranda on the scenic railway.
Wandered around town, nothing at Poste Restante, Oz got a haircut (or so he says) and I phoned Christy. She's moving out of her flat in order to save some money and (small world) her parents (Jeff and Sharon) are in Cairns this week.
We all crashed out for about 3 hours sleep and we were still experiencing bobbing up and down despite being back on dry land. The evening meal cost $3.50 plus free beer. Bargain.
2012
Tracks is apparently now called Asylum and is a big party hostel. I remember it for it's breeze block cells.
The first mention of Jeff and Sharon. The don't feature too heavily in this story of my trip round the world but they do feature heavily in my subsequent life with Christy. Jeff was brought up in Cairns. Which explains why he lives in Sydney !
Airlie Beach to Cairns - 623km
Total distance since Sydney - 2,913km (1,820miles)
