Leaving Europe, I kept saying ‘all I want is a dive-job on the Great Barrier!’ Well, my dear, careful what you wish for.. Even before landing, I was already scheduled for a trial day with one of the day-tripper boats.
Tropical Cairns is the starting point to the world famous Great Barrier Reef. And this reef the size of Germany or Texas is a magnet for tourists worldwide and dive instructors alike.
Excited and amazed but also pretty tired from working a lot in previous weeks I get to the dock at the break of dawn to find my vessel. Seastar Cruises is a well established company going out every day of the year to the same two spots; Michaelmas Cay and Hastings Reef. It’s a small family run business and the vessel can take a maximum of 36 passengers, which is tiny compared to some others bringing up to 300 people to the reefs each day. They offer snorkelling, diving, and glass bottom boat tours at both stops, which makes for an awesome day as a tourist. The staff is young, vibrant, professional and heaps of fun!
My first day is followed by a second trial and before I know it, I’m set up for some courses and get a bag of new uniforms – I got a job on the Great Barrier Reef, yay!
The magic wears off pretty fast though, so within that same week I decide to jump ship. I help them out for another week so they can sort out the staff and then I’m just another tourist in Cairns. Cairns is a real backpacker central, and staying in a hostel I get the full load, parties in the bedrooms, roomies bringing their newly scored lovers to the dorm and disgusting facilities. A hostel isn’t for long term stay, so I get in touch with Ross, who is looking for a helpX to prep his beautiful Queenslander house for the upcoming sale.
Before I know it, I’m packing my stuff and head out to their place, starting as a house-sitter for a couple of days. It’s right next to the CBD and I love the place the minute I walk in. It’s an ‘old’ (for Australian standards, 100 years) elevated wooden house painted in happy colours, with a big tropical garden in the back where you can pick banana’s for brekkie 🙂 Once the family is back in Cairns we do some serious work, washing walls, tidying up the garden and painting those happy colours back to brightness.
In the meantime I make my own plan and decide to get a car to continue my travels Southwards through tropical Queensland. Only once before I’ve owned a car, which was in the Caribbean, and bought from a friend, so the search on the net seems like a maze, looking for the right way to a my own little treasure. Van versus 4×4 versus small car…
I eventually decide on getting a small car and find a rather interesting ad for a little Mazda 121 that seems unreal, few kilometres, very cheap and the story is that it’s only been driven by a granny… When Ross and I head out to have a closer look, we get to a dodgy salesman going by the name Fox. Now Fox is the typical grumpy salesman not interested in anything but getting cash in hand so any question we ask gets a dodgy answer, which makes opting to buy this car all the more tedious. Once we take her for a spin, we figure that this little buzz-bubble is actually solid. But we don’t trust Fox just enough to hand over the cash without having a mechanic take a look at it. The next morning we get to do just that, very lucky it’s still there according to grumpy Fox, and the mechanic concludes the same as us – this is a little treasure. About 2 hours later I’m the semi-proud owner of the buzz-bubble so the weekend is spent pimping it. Windows get tinted, the seats get funky covers and the trunk gets loaded with camping gear so I can take her for a little camping-test ride. Queensland has tons of amazing destinations to explore… I decide to go to Cape Tribulation, ‘where the rainforest meets the reef’.
It’s a stunning drive alongside the coast once I see Cairns fading in the rearview mirror. The coastline turns from brown mudflats into bright light blue water. There is a couple of stops along the way that offer spectacular views and some non-swimming beaches to stretch the legs. I drive through Port Douglas which doesn’t appeal to me at all so I drive to the end of the road where the buzz-bubble gets to board a ferry to get across the Daintree river. On the other side, there is nothing but lush rainforest and long stretched out beaches. My little Mazda is struggling to get across the hills, but slowly and steadily we make it to a lovely campground where I pitch my tent sponsored by Ross (thanks again!) and get a couple ice-cold beers out of the shiny new esky. Everything works just fine! In the arvy there’s not much more to do but going for a long walk along the beach, again, without a dip in the water as crocs will be lurking and stingers are ready to lash out. Even staying on the land you have to be wary, cass-o-wary that is. The cassowary seems to be the biggest angriest bird of all and an encounter may have any person ending up in the hospital. As tall as a person, with a high helmet on its head, a vivid blue neck, big claws and beak, I’d rather see them on a picture than having a personal encounter with the territorial southern cassowary.
On this first camping trip I don’t have any cassowary encounters, but I do get up close to several big goannas (Australian Monitor Lizards) whose claws wouldn’t be appealing either. Later that day I learn that they do have a thing for climbing humans, inspecting what kind of a tree you could be…
After a good night’s sleep with a serenade of thousands of insects and birds around me, the day has nothing to offer but rain. Supposedly it has been super dry for months on end, so it’s very good for the land to get this seemingly infinite tropical downpour, but not good for me as my tent proves to soak up the water as well as the soil. The good part is that we’re all forced into the common area and I get to meet some very nice fellow travellers. The next day we trip around cape trib together and go to a few swimming holes, enjoying the fresh water in the tropical creeks. The sun is back so I decide to re-pitch my tent for one more night on the beach. Great decision, we even make a campfire that has flames blowing sideways due to the roaring wind.
The next morning I pack up early as being a beach bum on a coast where I’m not allowed to swim can’t last very long. There’s a hidden blue swimming-hole I really want to see. So I set out into the bush again, crossing a creek that you’re not supposed to dip in because it’s supposedly Aboriginal land. Well, for once, I decide not to care and just go for it. The land teaches me a lesson by having me go in the wrong direction, walking forever and not finding anything but a big black snake and a feral pig, to eventually turn around and find that the blue hole is at the end of the creek I crossed in the beginning. It is a magical little spot, and I get it all to myself to enjoy for a while. There’s fish in the clear bright blue water and palm trees surface high above it – paradise found…
This is not the last attraction of the day, as I also visit well known Mossman gorge, which is at the other side of an aboriginal community. The tourists get bussed through it like sardines in tins, paying an outrageous amount for the 5 minute drive. Call it a disrespectful day, I decide to walk. It’s only 20 minutes and the sounds of the rainforest always give me the feel of walking in an episode of ‘Lost’ so it doesn’t get old. Once at the gorge there is a boardwalk ending on a plateau, overviewing the gorge where masses of water run through the big boulders. Although I’m pretty hot (…), I still do an hour loop walk, criss-crossing the rainforest and find my own spot to swim in a little creek, away from the masses. Paradise found – again!
Then it’s time to head back to bustling Cairns, the little buzz-bubble has proven to be ready to hit the road! But just when I pull up from a lovely lunch break on pebbly beach, the steering wheel seems to be out of balance and shakes the whole way, getting worse and worse with every kilometre. At some point I even consider stopping as I’m afraid to ruin whatever is broken. The last 30 kilometres to Cairns aren’t so much fun anymore and I’m very relieved to roll into Ross’ driveway. A few days later, my mechanic lets me know that the left front wheel was about to go boom, so I consider myself very very lucky having done this trib-test-trip and getting it fixed in time for the bigger adventure.
I’ll head south – to explore more of Queensland’s amazing waterfalls, seeing cassowaries on Etty Bay, parachutes at Mission beach and diving the famous SS Yongala. Next stop – Airlie beach and the dreamy Whitsundays, yay! Stay tuned!
Planet Bubbles 
Wihooooo Fenna! Superleuk om weer te lezen!! 😀 Take care guapa! Talk soon! XXX
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