Everglades & Sunscreen

Today is our last day in Noosa and also a travel day, as we will be taking the night train to Airlie Beach this evening.

Part of our group, including me, is participating in a kayaking tour through the Everglades. No, I’m not suddenly in Florida; actually, there is one of only two Everglades in the world right here in Noosa. We glide through the very calm lake in the morning until we reach a narrow passage, where we continue for about 20 more minutes surrounded by many plants and the sound of cicadas. At a small rest stop, there’s a picnic, and on the way back, we take a swimming break, including a swing photo shoot. By the way, swimming is limited since the lake is on average 1.5m deep - if you run out of strength to paddle, you can simply get out and push your kayak to the shore. The American who wants to kayak shirtless keeps his word: When I shout at him, 'Put your shirt back on, you'll get sunburned so badly!' he gives me a somewhat annoyed look but then sighs and puts on his long-sleeve rash shirt with a hood. Thirty minutes later, he shouts back to me from across the water, hood up: 'You were right again!'

After the kayaking tour, I go with two fellow travelers on a hunt for lunch, and I end up watching because it's too hot for me to eat warm food. However, I'm not too warm for the iced latte – yes, I drink cold coffee in Australia, even though I’ve never liked it before, but it’s simply too hot. After food and coffee, there’s not much left to do, leaving a little time for organizing (airport transfers) and repacking (will all my provisions for the train ride fit in this bag??).
Absolute luxury today: After showering, I don’t apply sunscreen anymore because I decide to stay indoors and in the shade for this one hour until the train departs. My daily morning ritual here is indeed: Sunscreen! Sunscreen! Sunscreen! And unlike Lorelai in Gilmore Girls, who expressed, 'Coffee! Coffee! Coffee!' just to say she quickly wants coffee and not three cups of it, I mean it literally. Often, I am already fully slathered for the third time before half-past nine; I have since bought sunscreen in a 1L dispenser and anyway, I have never talked or pondered about sunscreen as much as I have here. But it's true: The sun in Australia is different. And I'm a bit proud that I’ve only gotten one somewhat worse sunburn so far. And indeed a little tan.
At just before 6 PM, we board our night train, where I amusingly run into a familiar face: a fellow traveler from the first group is also heading further north. You really do see people at least twice in life. Sometimes with and sometimes without sunscreen.