...Welcome to the land of Oz. Familiar faces Helen & Yeshim. First backpacker hostel experience. Carnie Kelly. Exploring Cairns nightlife...

I arrived safely in Cairns on Friday the 13th. I can't actually believe I'm here its absolutely amazing.

Been a pretty busy week of getting my bearings and catching up with people from home. Firstly, saw Helen and stayed with her for a little while at Holloways Beach and later on in the week caught up with Yeshim, which was really random as it was sheer coincidence we were both in Cairns at the same time but a lovely pleasant surprise. So nice to see some familiar faces.

Also found a lovely backpackers called Tropic Days that is a converted traditional Queenslander home. Quite nice to be in a homely environment again and be able to have a kitchen again to go make a cup of tea and do a bit of cooking. Its strange the things you miss. On my first night at the backpackers they had a BBQ which was wicked as I got to try Kangaroo, Croc and Emu. Really like Roo and Emu as they were nice tasting red meats.

This week I also became a carnie for three days when I worked at the fair that came to town. I worked on the laughing clown stall where kids have to place balls in moving mouth and see what score they get. Was quite funny as I had a Madonna Vogue style headset microphone I had to talk over. I sounded like a cross between a market stall holder and a bingo caller.

Other than the fair I've spent my days catching the sun at the towns purpose built Lagoon, which is a lovely outdoor swimming pool with a little beach as in Cairns there is only protected mudflats on the coastline. But the scenery here is gorgeous as your surrounded by lush mountains, ocean and fields of sugar cane that looks like it has a beautiful purple haze on it as the sun sets... it really is good for the soul out here.

During the week I also sampled the delights of the Woolshed which is a bit akin to a Brannigans backhome - cheesey awful music and and an absolute meat marker. Although it was quite funny and as we went with an ex-staff member we got in for free and cheap drinks. I also tried my first Jager Bomb which is a shot of Jagermeifter sunk into Red Bull that down in one go... actually really nice.

Today I went on mini-pub crawl to the town's Irish bar PJ O'Briens, the Pier and the Casino. Defnitely the nicer places to go drinking. Was quite a funny afternoon and evening as I went with an English woman and some Aussie carpenters who were really nice and treated us to drinks and a lovely meal at the Casino. I think I shocked them when I was keeping up with drinks with them all night especially when we started to get onto the Jager Bombs.

This week also marked a year since my operation. I can't believe how much my life has changed during this period of time. This time last year was such a difficult time for me and now I'm off living the dream seeing what this big wide world has to offer.

Photo: Sunrise from the plane as I flew into Cairns

[Next blog entry: Cape Tribulation Wednesday July 25th 2007]