Cairns-Day One

Arriving in Cairns

We left at 6 am for the airport, and I had the absolute easiest airport experience I’ve ever had. It was tropical and bright and had the lightest security ever-I think I went through it in under 45 seconds. Truly. 

We boarded the plane from outside which is always fun! Right away, we noticed we were the only people who spoke English as their first language (besides the flight attendants). A huge Japanese group filled the plane, as did their quick spoken language. It was a different kind of noise than a baby crying the whole way. I think it was almost worst because at least the baby sounds are familiar to me. The constant shouting across the rows and down the aisles for three hours should have made me feel impatient and annoyed. Instead I just looked at my friends in the next row and we laughed. Sometimes, that’s all you can do. We arrived in the very sunny, 34 degree (93 F) Cairns around noon and hopped on the shuttle that our hostel called for. It’s called Nomads Esplanade, and we arrived only after a five-minute ride from the airport. It looked like it was in the middle of a rainforest, with nothing but trees and back roads around it. The place itself was the most colorful building I’ve seen, with no white whites to be found. 

NOT our Nomads Hostel

After talking to the receptionist, who was the first Australian I TRULY couldn’t understand, we found out our rooms weren’t ready yet so we waited on the lounge chairs outside. After a half hour or so, I went back and asked her if they’d be ready soon or if we can grab lunch somewhere. Then, I realized why I couldn’t understand her accent-it not only an Australian accent, but had a multi-pierced tongue component to it as well. Probably the worse job for her, considering she spends most of her time talking to people on the phone. She kept answering the phones when I was trying to talk to her and didn’t even notice I walked away. Eventually I went back and asked again, and she asked what our names were as if we didn’t have the same conversation when we walked in an hour ago. She looked us up on the system and said “Oh you’re at the wrong Nomads.” Interesting, because they were the ones that brought us here! Their shuttles were all out giving rain forest tours so we waited a while longer until one could take us to the other Nomads. We all packed into the shuttle and were driven much further to Nomads Esplanade, which had an appropriate name considering it was literally a few steps from the beach! 

We found our Nomads!

The receptionist, very easy to understand, let us know that our rooms wouldn’t be ready till the later afternoon, so we dropped our backpacks off and walked around to find lunch. We walked all afternoon, checking out the dozens of souvenir shops, unique didgeridoo places, and other hostel spots. 

Didgeridoo Shop-learning how to play it

 My favorite part of the day was in the didgeridoo shop where the lady let us all play all the different types of didgeridoos. She was absolutely hysterical, an older proper lady at first glance, then rambunctious and wild when explaining how to play it. Quite inappropriate to spell out, but basically she told us to pretend like it was our lover when our lips where against the instrument. I couldn’t stop laughing because she was so serious about her raunchy comments. She told the guys to be gentle because anything is possible that way. If only our music teachers could be like her, I think a LOT more people would be interesting in playing instruments. Still giddy from our interesting encounter, we headed back to our hostel with fingers crossed that the room would be ready…and it was! This was my first hostel experience, and I was expecting both ends of the spectrum (completely unlivable to a nice, clean accommodation.) It fell somewhere in the middle.

The key was an actual key (not a hotel room key), and took about six or seven tries to get the door open, every time we tried opening it. Aside from the spilled instant noodles in the shower, flooded sink from its non-stop stream of water, and many cockroaches and other bugs, it wasn’t too bad! All we needed were beds, and that’s what we got. We stayed in an eight-bed room, so all seven of us were together. After unpacking, we spent the evening swimming in the lagoon, which was a massive pool right next to the ocean. 

The beaches in Cairns are rarely swimming beaches because of all the city pollution as well as the natural coral. We couldn’t even access the ocean except for a small lot of sand that lead to the water by a pier. It was a lovely first night in Cairns, besides Justin losing his brand new camera. We searched for hours in every shop we went in earlier that day, but no luck. He ended up buying a new underwater camera for our Great Barrier Reef trip the next day.  For dinner, our hostel gives dinner vouchers for “free” dinner with a drink purchase at the Woolshed.

 It was a short walk from Nomads and we ended up going there every night. They served pasta in different sauces, or you could upgrade to a steak, fish and chips, ribs, or chicken for $8.00. I asked the bartender for lemonade, and she looked confused, as if no one has ever ordered a virgin drink from that bar. Apparently they don’t have lemonade, or their lemonade is called Sprite, because that’s what I received. Since this was a pub, you had to be 18 or over to get inside, so we had to sneak Justin in every night. It wasn’t too hard though, as they didn’t check our IDs. After our dinner (of all pasta), we walked around downtown, which was right where our hostel was located. Back to our room before 11:00, we went to bed early for the big day ahead of us!