Compulsory break in Cairns

09.02.2019 - 14.02.2019

I finally arrived in Cairns on Saturday evening and was immediately greeted by Craig and his boys. We took a quick tour so he could show me everything, and then he took the kids swimming. I unpacked my things and moved them from A to B. Then I took a shower and retreated to the living room with a beer on the couch.

Later, everyone came back and we had dinner together. Craig and I talked for a long time, but I was glad when I finally could go to sleep. We all slept in the same room. I had my own bed and the kids slept with Craig in the big bed on the other side of the room.

Craig has a greyhound named Maddy and she wanted to cuddle right away, so she slept in my bed at night and spread out between my legs on the blanket.

Since I have short legs, it didn't bother me. Besides, she is super thin and doesn't take up much space =)

On Sunday morning, we all got up relatively early because Craig's youngest son Flynn had to go to soccer. I stayed with his older son Sunny and his nephew Josh. I wrote on my blog while the boys sat at the computer. When Craig came back, we ate pineapple and I made pancakes for the boys. After that, we cleaned up everything and hung the boat from the car to go to the water. We went out on the water with the boat, up and down the rivers.

It was really cool and we had pure sunshine. It was amazing. The kids were able to steer the boat and were super happy. I just enjoyed the sun and the wind. I was in a bad mood in the morning, but that definitely lifted my spirits.

We went fishing in small tributaries of the river and then went to a friend of Craig's who lives on a boat. Quite a crazy hippie with many creepy and exciting stories from his life. His parents were crocodile hunters. That's what you do up here. He has incredible knowledge about the underwater world, goes diving with harpoons to catch fish. He has even been attacked by a shark, but luckily not by a crocodile. I don't know which one is worse. It was definitely exciting to listen to him!

It was also really cozy there.

Afterwards, we went fishing again, but it wasn't very successful.

When it got dark, we went back because the kids had to go back to their mother. We unloaded and washed the boat and then Craig took the kids away. I showered and ate in peace. Craig came back in the evening and we chatted over a glass of Jack Daniels with lemon. Later, he picked up a pretty crazy heavy metal friend named Yules and brought him with him. He smelled like he hadn't showered for weeks, but he was super nice.

He told some really crazy things, but we had almost the same taste in music, so we understood each other =) He had a rock and many other crazy things in his pockets and made me a gift out of it.

He said I was cool and that's why he wanted to give me something. Okay then! We had more Jack Daniels and around 2 o'clock I said goodnight and went to bed. I was dead tired and left everything to the boys.

On Monday, I woke up with a slight headache, but I stayed in bed until it was gone. Around 9 o'clock, I finally got up because I had to take my car to the workshop. I got ready slowly and just before I was about to leave, Craig was awake too. I took the car to the workshop at 10:30 and then went to the shopping center. I didn't stay long, because Craig came shortly after and picked me up. We drove to Stoney Creek together and climbed up to the waterfall. That was really cool.

We went swimming there and climbed through the rocks. I really like something like that.

We made several stops on the way back and went into the water again. It was like a natural whirlpool when you sat in the right places.

I treated myself to a nice back massage there. Super relaxed, we later went back to the house. Shortly afterwards, the mechanic contacted us to say that my car was ready. We went right away, but unfortunately we were too late. The workshop was already closed. Now I hope that they have my car inside and that I can pick it up tomorrow morning. So, we went back to the house. I wrote on my blog and Craig took care of the apartments upstairs in the house. He grew up here and has been living in the house again since his separation from his wife. He renovated the actual rooms in the house and rented them out. We had dinner together in the evening and then chatted.

I went to bed relatively early because I was completely exhausted. Probably from splashing around in the water all day =D

On Tuesday morning, I was still tired, but couldn't sleep anymore. Maddy, the dog, woke me up because she wanted to look out the window and pushed the curtain aside. The sun hit me directly in the face and that was the end of sleeping. She jumped into my bed and fell asleep immediately. How nice for her =)

So, I slowly got up and went to the living room to continue planning. When Craig woke up, we left and finally picked up Jack. He continued on and I went back with Jack. Before that, I made another appointment because my handbrake doesn't work. Always something new with Jack. But I hope that's it. Back at the house, I started planning my Bali trip. I booked my flight and already reserved a hostel for the first 2 nights. Otherwise, I made a rough plan of what I want to see there. I can't do much because I'm only there for 8 days, but that's completely fine with me. I'm only going to Bali because it's the cheapest from here and I have to leave Australia to apply for a tourist visa. I'm staying in Australia longer than my Work and Holiday Visa allows, and to avoid being illegal here, I want to extend it with a tourist visa. The stupid thing is that you can't apply for it while you're in Australia. Hence my departure plan! The original plan was to fly from Darwin, as the flights from there are the cheapest and you can get there in a short time. But since I can't leave here right now, it's perfect to fly from here. Even if it's a bit more expensive. But I assume that it will take another 1-2 weeks until the roads inland are open again and I can continue driving. The water is slowly receding, but some roads still need to be made passable again. As long as I'm in Sydney until the beginning of April, I don't care about anything else. There is always something nice to do.

I spent the whole day sitting on my phone and planning. Craig came back in the evening and we chatted. Shortly before 12, we had a midnight snack. Delicious noodles with pesto! After that, I went to bed and Craig, like the day before, tried to fix the one tap in the house. A friend was there to help him. I don't know if they succeeded because I fell asleep immediately.

On Wednesday morning, I was alone, except for Maddy, who was wandering around outside. I had no idea where Craig was. It didn't really matter, because I had my own key and went to the living room after breakfast. I wanted to do something active after my lazy day yesterday, so I drove to Crystal Cascades.

Yes, another waterfall! When I arrived, I saw that you could hike to a lake, so I went straight there.

It was extremely hot and the sun was really intense already at 11 o'clock. But I still went and hiked through the bush for 9 km. The beginning was hell because it was all uphill and I couldn't continue after a short time. Probably because of the high humidity and of course because I haven't done much recently =) But I persevered and it got better in the end. When I arrived at Lake Morris, I enjoyed the view for a moment and then went down to Copperlode Dam.

That was pretty cool there. I didn't pause for long, just filled up my water bottle and went back to Freshwater Creek.

There, I walked along the river and up to the waterfall. Then I found a quiet spot and jumped into the water to cool off.

That was fantastic! I spent a long time in the water and relaxed. When a lot of people suddenly arrived, I went back to the car. I quickly changed clothes and drove to the nearest shopping center. There, I stocked up on some snacks from Coles. Chocolate was a must and I got a 1.25L bottle of coke for 50 cents!!! I couldn't say no to that. Then I sat down in a café and used the free Wi-Fi to upload my blog. When they closed, I wanted to go to McDonald's to use the internet, but it didn't work somehow, so I went straight back to the house. When I arrived, Craig was there with a few friends. They were still trying to fix the tap. Craig told me that he fell asleep on the couch in the living room at night. That's why I didn't see him =) We sat down and chatted. Later, he brought pizza and we watched TV together. Since he had to get up early the next day and I was tired, we went to bed relatively early.

I woke up early on Thursday because Craig's alarm clock rang forever. Of course, he didn't notice anything and continued to sleep peacefully. At some point, the ringing in my ear became too much, so I pushed Maddy, who always sleeps next to my legs, out of bed so she would go to him. She jumped on him and he woke up immediately and finally turned off the alarm. I hate it when people keep setting it =) I got up with him and when he went to work, I did laundry and packed my backpack. I also played with Maddy while doing so.

I didn't really need much for the few days in Bali. The rest I packed in the car so it wasn't lying around at his place. Craig came back around noon and then we moved Jack to his front yard in the shade. Craig immediately started cleaning my car. He said that Jack looked bad =)

Not that I minded. I even helped! I'm nice after all. I was infinitely grateful that I could leave the car there. That way I save the money at the airport. After that, we drove to his sister's house, who also lives in Cairns. Craig cleaned there and I lay in the pool.

That's what I call sibling love, that he cleans there. I have to tell my brother that. Not that I have an apartment right now, but I will have one again at some point. After about an hour, we had to leave for the airport. I quickly changed clothes and off we went. Craig drove me directly to my terminal. I was so grateful to him for everything.

When I arrived at the airport, I went straight to the check-in counter and got my ticket. I didn't have any checked baggage because I only had my small backpack and a cloth bag with me. That counted as carry-on luggage. After that, I went through all the controls and treated myself to a beer for a cheap 10 AUD. What a deal! After sitting around for about an hour, the time finally came and I boarded the flight to Bali.

To be honest, I didn't see much of Cairns. But I'm not really interested in cities anyway. I really liked the surrounding area. The nature here is super beautiful. The tropical has something special. But also creepy, with all the crocodiles and other dangerous animals.