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Cairns Trip
Oct. 28th, 2007 07:15 pmExhausted and mildly spaced-out by an overnight flight from Narita, I arrived in Cairns to find it warm and overcast, and amusingly familiar. This would be the first of many incidents, which can only be called "reverse culture shocks". We waited a long time for a coach to take us to our hotel. At least, it seemed a long time, but 28 hours without sleep can do that to a person.
Whisked to the hotel, we were dropped off and had only time to brush our teeth in the reception toilets before being marched 10 minutes down the road to GEOS Cairns, a school so well-equipped and comfy that it made me want to say "いいな” alot. There we heard talks from both DOS and Principle of GEOS Cairns, both of whom did a mighty good job of selling the place to me. Following the talks, we gave presentations of our own, though my original 30 minute talk was reduced down to a frustrating 10 minutes. And then, a whistle-stop tour of the school, including having to climb four flights of steep steps to see even more lovely classrooms - you know, the ones that have carpet, and OHPs and all that fancy modern stuff (no interactive whiteboards, but who has those anyway?).
Then, we were marched back to the hotel and given 15 minutes to change for our "buffet dinner". This turned into 30 minutes as most people had to scrub off a thick layer of sweat and grime from their plane sore bodies. Marching quickly to the hotel where dinner was to take place, we quickly dove into the food on offer and I was pleased to find myself full-up for the first time in a year, especially as part of this gluttony involved heavenly chocolate mousse. (You'd think that for the amount of time I spend feeling hungry on a daily basis, I would have lost more weight than I have.)
Later we (about 40 us) piled into a bar called the Woolshed, where I was delighted to find cider on tap (even if it was just Strongbow). And glory be, they didn't have blackcurrant cordial, but they did have raspberry, and lo, I drank "cider and black", in the process converting many to my tipple of choice. Alas, like the little Cinderella's we were, we had to rush back to the hotel for our 12pm curfew. I ended up in someone's room where everyone kept shushing each other. Eventually I got fed up and went to bed at about 2am, making my interrupted wakefulness about 40 hours. Almost as good as my insomniac days.
Bright and early (6.30am) I got up and walked up to the sea-front where I was met with mud and pelicans. But it was lovely anyway. Then I headed back to the hotel pool where I lounged around for a while in the early morning sun. After breakfast, we were marched down to the harbour where we caught a catamaran to Green Island, 45 minutes from Cairns on the Great Barrier Reef. As I felt a bit sea-sick I rode on the front of the boat all the way there, getting splattered to a salty end by sea-waves. Off the boat I began to feel queasy and decided to forego lunch (on another boat) and go snorkelling instead. Having never been snorkeling before, and with no one to really tell me what to do I plunged in and both amused and scared myself with near suffocation as I choked on seawater and tried to breath in through my nose. Eventually I got the hang of it and enjoyed watching coral and fish below me. Other people saw squid, turtles, sting rays and small sharks. Clearly I must smell funny to sea-creatures.
I headed off to find food after that and ended up eating, not Fried Potato, not French Fries, but Chips out of a paper cup with vinegar and HP sauce! Strange the things you get used to not having with your chips. A cute bird kept looking at me so I gave him a chip, and a few minutes later was enlightened as to the sign (above my eye-line) that told you not to feed them. Doh. Then off to look for crocodiles! Another snorkel, a little beach lounging and then a rush back to the boat.
Mexican for dinner, stock-piling goodies in Woolworths, and then oblivion when I got back to the hotel.
I wanted to write much more about my trip than I have here. To give some impressions of the place and the people. Yet it was such brief trip (1 and a half days in Cairns in total) that it's hard to say anything definitive. It feels rather like a dream, one I remember quite clearly not wanting to come back from. What I will say is that from what I've seen, Australia is a nice place to visit. People in Cairns are friendly, the weather was gorgeous (especially in hindsight when I returned to find the first cold-snap in Ina), and though the city is quite sedate, I definitely want to go back and spend some more time there checking out the rainforest and everything else there is to do.
You can see photos here. I would have posted some here but my internet connection is having a particularly crap day today.
Now I have to rescue my umbrella from last night's restuarant and check train times for tomorrow's visa trip, and then I'm going to watch "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and go to bed early as I have a headache from all the excitement I've had today. But more on that tomorrow.
Whisked to the hotel, we were dropped off and had only time to brush our teeth in the reception toilets before being marched 10 minutes down the road to GEOS Cairns, a school so well-equipped and comfy that it made me want to say "いいな” alot. There we heard talks from both DOS and Principle of GEOS Cairns, both of whom did a mighty good job of selling the place to me. Following the talks, we gave presentations of our own, though my original 30 minute talk was reduced down to a frustrating 10 minutes. And then, a whistle-stop tour of the school, including having to climb four flights of steep steps to see even more lovely classrooms - you know, the ones that have carpet, and OHPs and all that fancy modern stuff (no interactive whiteboards, but who has those anyway?).
Then, we were marched back to the hotel and given 15 minutes to change for our "buffet dinner". This turned into 30 minutes as most people had to scrub off a thick layer of sweat and grime from their plane sore bodies. Marching quickly to the hotel where dinner was to take place, we quickly dove into the food on offer and I was pleased to find myself full-up for the first time in a year, especially as part of this gluttony involved heavenly chocolate mousse. (You'd think that for the amount of time I spend feeling hungry on a daily basis, I would have lost more weight than I have.)
Later we (about 40 us) piled into a bar called the Woolshed, where I was delighted to find cider on tap (even if it was just Strongbow). And glory be, they didn't have blackcurrant cordial, but they did have raspberry, and lo, I drank "cider and black", in the process converting many to my tipple of choice. Alas, like the little Cinderella's we were, we had to rush back to the hotel for our 12pm curfew. I ended up in someone's room where everyone kept shushing each other. Eventually I got fed up and went to bed at about 2am, making my interrupted wakefulness about 40 hours. Almost as good as my insomniac days.
Bright and early (6.30am) I got up and walked up to the sea-front where I was met with mud and pelicans. But it was lovely anyway. Then I headed back to the hotel pool where I lounged around for a while in the early morning sun. After breakfast, we were marched down to the harbour where we caught a catamaran to Green Island, 45 minutes from Cairns on the Great Barrier Reef. As I felt a bit sea-sick I rode on the front of the boat all the way there, getting splattered to a salty end by sea-waves. Off the boat I began to feel queasy and decided to forego lunch (on another boat) and go snorkelling instead. Having never been snorkeling before, and with no one to really tell me what to do I plunged in and both amused and scared myself with near suffocation as I choked on seawater and tried to breath in through my nose. Eventually I got the hang of it and enjoyed watching coral and fish below me. Other people saw squid, turtles, sting rays and small sharks. Clearly I must smell funny to sea-creatures.
I headed off to find food after that and ended up eating, not Fried Potato, not French Fries, but Chips out of a paper cup with vinegar and HP sauce! Strange the things you get used to not having with your chips. A cute bird kept looking at me so I gave him a chip, and a few minutes later was enlightened as to the sign (above my eye-line) that told you not to feed them. Doh. Then off to look for crocodiles! Another snorkel, a little beach lounging and then a rush back to the boat.
Mexican for dinner, stock-piling goodies in Woolworths, and then oblivion when I got back to the hotel.
I wanted to write much more about my trip than I have here. To give some impressions of the place and the people. Yet it was such brief trip (1 and a half days in Cairns in total) that it's hard to say anything definitive. It feels rather like a dream, one I remember quite clearly not wanting to come back from. What I will say is that from what I've seen, Australia is a nice place to visit. People in Cairns are friendly, the weather was gorgeous (especially in hindsight when I returned to find the first cold-snap in Ina), and though the city is quite sedate, I definitely want to go back and spend some more time there checking out the rainforest and everything else there is to do.
You can see photos here. I would have posted some here but my internet connection is having a particularly crap day today.
Now I have to rescue my umbrella from last night's restuarant and check train times for tomorrow's visa trip, and then I'm going to watch "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and go to bed early as I have a headache from all the excitement I've had today. But more on that tomorrow.
