Get lost in the details - Cairns / 26.10.18

Today was a day with lots of details and information. First, we went back to the shopping center and got a prepaid SIM card that works very well, then we went to Linnis bank because she opened an Australian account. After that, we actually wanted to swim in the big swimming pool called the lagoon, next to the muddy beach part in Cairns - we heard that a few times from other people - but before we could do that, we were approached by a really nice travel agency guy. As we later found out, his name is Terry.

'Where are you guys from? How long are you staying? Why Cairns?' - Questions of the day / week / probably the year and life here. That brought us into Terry's travel office for 2 and a half hours. He asked a lot of things and gave us a lot of tips that we couldn't remember. Together, we worked out a really cool time and trip plan and also booked a lot.

On Monday we will go diving in the Great Barrier Reef, which we are really looking forward to. The following days include a rainforest and waterfall tour until we are expected to leave Cairns at the end of next week. But not by car, as we initially thought. At that time, it is supposed to be very difficult to find a working car in Cairns - renting is even worse because it will cost you a lot of money over such a long period of time - there might be a good monthly deal here (it's funny considering that we actually wanted to start here for this reason, because we heard that Cairns is good for buying a car.)

But no, now we're continuing with a hop on, hop off bus to Sydney. During that time, we have a 3-day boat tour at the Whitsunday Islands, the ferry to Magnetic Island - where you can rent a cool big ride-on car!!! - and a self-drive adventure on Fraser Island, where you drive directly along the beach with cool off-road vehicles.

In the meantime, Terry also helped Linni at the bank, invited us on a trip with some friends of his to a secret waterfall on Sunday, and made us his special frozen yoghurt - frozen raspberries with yogurt, some almond cake thing, coconut flakes, and a few white chocolate pieces. It tasted really awesome. Since he is usually a fitness trainer or something like that, he jokingly told us that we should go jogging for half an hour afterwards.

It's really amazing how open and nice everyone is here. And everyone, whether shopping or activating a bank account, always greets you with a 'How are you?' Moreover, it feels like everyone only means well and really wants you to be happy.

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We also briefly visited the art gallery here, there were some impressive exhibits.

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In the evening, we went to the city again to observe the sky at sunset, because it was already so beautiful yesterday. After that, we went to the night market, which only opens at 4:30 pm, and looked at the many cute pieces of jewelry, hats, souvenirs, and other things there. We also passed by a hostel where we booked a room for 3 nights again, this time with 8 beds - let's see how that goes. But there is a big locker for everyone in the room - don't worry, mom and dad, no one will steal anything from me.

Also, when it was dark, we saw at least 200 or more bats in the sky, they were just so huge!

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After taking the shuttle bus back to the hostel, we cooked pasta with tomato sauce in the kitchen, which wasn't bad at all, considering that it only cost 2 AUD together, less than one euro. While eating, we talked to a few girls who, like us, want to get a car in Cairns but didn't want to rent one, and even found one, but it broke down on their first trip outside. Since then, they have been stuck in Cairns for 8 months because there are so many visitors at the mechanic - but the car still doesn't work.

It's good that we can't experience that now.

Song of the day: Shotgun by George Ezra, because it was played really loudly in our shuttle bus from Hostel Calypso to the city.