Hey, everyone! The past few days have been somewhat busy, with trips to Behana Gorge and the Daintree Rainforest. I also went to Green Island, but I’m saving that for its own post!
Behana Gorge
One day, my new friends Charlie and Carlos invited me on an adventure to Behana Gorge. I hadn’t heard of it before, but it apparently is a lovely spot with a large waterfall and multiple swimming holes. It is near Walsh’s Pyramid, which I had seen last week. We got to the walking trail, which was nicely paved but full of steep inclines and declines. We were hidden in the shade of tall trees, with the occasional glimpse of river. I saw the occasional tiny lizard scurrying about, but nothing compared to the amount of lizards around Darwin.
As we got further into the walk, we started seeing faster running water, and eventually, the waterfall itself. It reminded me of Barron Gorge Falls – tall, terraced, cascading.
We carved out a spot for ourselves and dipped our feet in the water. It was cold. Charlie joked about how it would take him two hours to actually get in. It seemed freezing, but I figured the three of us were never going to get in unless we decided to jump in together. Carlos was scared of deep water where he couldn’t see the bottom; Charlie and I both didn’t like how chilly the water was. We agreed to jump in at once at the count of three.
One. Two. Three!!! We dived in and as soon as I re-emerged, I screamed, “Fuck! Holy fucking shit!” It was FREEZING. I may have scared the abseiling tour group that was propelling down the side of the waterfall.
We swam closer to the waterfall, stopping along the way.
I’m glad we did it, despite the temperature. It was invigorating. The water felt like a “tonic” to our skin, as Carlos jested.
After spending some time in the water, we collectively swam back to our spot on land. We all seemed to be glad that we went in, despite our initial reservations.
Drying ourselves off, we began the walk back to the car. Still warming up after the cool temperatures, I didn’t sweat at all on the walk back, even with the steep inclines.
We decided to stop at a mangrove boardwalk near the Cairns airport before heading home. We were the only ones there and it was a neat area. The mangroves were very tall, with their roots exposed and raising higher and higher from the ground. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were out and were chewing Charlie and Carlos. They seemed to leave me alone, for once, though I was wearing sunscreen.
I had such a nice time with Charlie and Carlos – on the car drive, we were listening and singing along to music, which is one of my favorite things to do. Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga, Madonna, you name it haha.
We made plans to go to Daintree Rainforest the following day.
Daintree Rainforest
I had wanted to make it a priority to check out Daintree, so I was really happy when Charlie and Carlos invited me along. The Daintree Rainforest is estimated at over 135 million years old, making it the oldest rainforest in the world. I’ve heard that there is one section of the rainforest, unavailable to the public, that is technically the oldest area and everything kind of spawned from there.
Our first stop of the day was to Port Douglas, to get some breakfast before continuing on to Cape Tribulation. The town was cute, but reminded me of any other tourist town – lots of cafes, cute storefronts, etc. I was kind of glad I didn’t decide to get a hostel there. I don’t think I’d have liked it much. The food was good, though!
We continued our drive. To get to Cape Tribulation, you have to take a ferry across the Daintree River, reminding me of the Murray River ferry in South Australia. We didn’t expect the wait for the ferry to be so long. I think it took a full hour of waiting in line. As we waited, we witnessed a car accident on the other side of the road as three cars ran into one another. Luckily, everyone seemed to be okay.
The boys wanted to go to the Discovery Center, which included a rainforest walk as well as some wildlife in enclosures (snakes, geckos, etc.). It was kind of expensive and I don’t really like that sort of thing, so I opted to go on my own adventure instead. I walked with them to the Center, though, and as we were walking in, Charlie almost walked straight into the web of a massive orb-weaving spider. I’d never seen a spider with such long legs! Not even the huntsmen I’d seen in Darwin. Yikes!!! It’s crazy how different the orb-weavers in northern Australia are compared to those in Western Australia.
As they went to the Discovery Center, I walked down the road to check out a nearby rainforest boardwalk. Unfortunately, most of it was closed due to some construction works. As I walked back, I saw a tour group pointing out a lichen spider, spinning a nest on the side of a tree. How cool!
I continued to walk along a road, thick rainforest on either side of me. I didn’t see much other wildlife aside from a gorgeous, blue butterfly.
I met the boys back at the Discovery Center. They were already finished, having coffee and snacks. We weren’t sure which hike to go on next. Carlos really wanted to get to Cape Tribulation, since he wasn’t sure if he’d get there at a later date. I wasn’t super pressed, since I had decided the night before to book a week long trip in Cape Tribulation the next week. We decided to go to Cape Tribulation, even though it was making for a long day trip.
The roads were very windy and after having crossed the ferry, we could see why the area was so sought after. It was beautiful!
We stopped at a couple of beaches along the way. My favorite was a beach that had a small, little island not too far from shore. It seemed like paradise. Crocodile and jellyfish warning signs were found on the path to the beach. Oh, Australia.
Once in Cape Tribulation, I got a taste of what I would be in for the following week. Lots of trees, beautiful beaches, and the ocean. It felt very remote, despite a decent number of tourists around.
On the drive up to Cape Tribulation, we were seeing “cassowary crossing” signs on the road constantly. Carlos hadn’t seen one yet, and really wanted to. I can relate to that feeling of wanting to see wildlife haha, but I told him if we didn’t see one, he’d have to go to Etty Bay, since they’re found frequently there.
Finally heading back to Cairns, we spotted a daddy cassowary crossing the road, followed by two babies that were pretty large. I think the babies were almost ready to live on their own. I think emus and cassowaries both have around six babies typically. I had a feeling the other four were already out living a solitary life in the bush somewhere.
I wasn’t able to get a decent picture, since I was taking it through the windshield and didn’t have a chance to adjust my camera settings. It all happened very quickly! The three of us were ecstatic, shouting out with glee. Yay! That makes five cassowaries since I’ve been in Cairns. It hasn’t even been two weeks yet! Wild. It was a wonderful cherry on top of a neat day.
(Interesting how different the babies look to the adults, right? Compare it to the one I saw in Etty Bay!!)
The funny part of the timing with the cassowaries was that Charlie was insistent on us doing one final, five minute walk along a boardwalk. It didn’t really make sense, since it was so brief and it was getting later into the day, but Carlos and I agreed. If we hadn’t gone on that five minute walk (that Charlie even timed on his phone), we would have missed the cassowaries! It’s like he somehow knew.
On the drive back, it started to rain. We listened to music, sang songs, enjoyed one another’s company.
When we were almost back to Cairns, we stopped at this popular spot where people stack rocks and take selfies in front of them. We each stacked our own rock and took some pictures.
What a good day! I’m hoping Charlie, Carlos, and I will go on more adventures in the future – they are pretty fun to spend time with. I’m looking forward to going back to Cape Tribulation next week and seeing what else the area has to offer.
Miscellaneous
I recently learned… that dead snakes can bite, too. Probably for a few minutes right after they’ve died??? Nature, you’re crazy!
I also wanted to mention, because I’m sure a lot of you are like, “how are you meeting so many people?” Sometimes, I make friends from hostels or from Facebook backpacking groups. Other times, I make friends from queer networking sites like Grindr/Tinder. Some people use those apps to date/hook up, but people use them to make friends, too! As a queer person… I like to spend time with my fellow gays haha.
Time for a vent about hostel living! Sharing a room with other people obviously comes with its downsides… that is to be expected – that’s the price you pay at $30/night for a dorm room that you’re sharing with nine other people. Aside from people snoring and occasionally waking me up getting in late/leaving early in the morning, people have been very considerate. This has not been the case the last few days at my current hostel, which, admittedly, is a bit of a “party” hostel.
I am in the bottom bunk which is ideal (avoids your stuff falling off the bed), but the dude above me has been stepping on my mattress as he steps down from the top bunk instead of using the ladder the entire way down. He also has been piling all his stuff right in front of the bed. It is customary in hostels to split your things underneath the bed – this half is mine, this half is yours. His stuff was so scattered about, it actually blocked easy passage to my things under the bed. Rude!
When he wakes up in the morning and I’m still sleeping, he has occasionally rested his hand/arm on my mattress as he’s fishing on the floor for his things. It’s such an invasion of personal space. One morning, he woke me up and I jerked my head towards him, nearly growling. “Sorry,” he apologized sheepishly.
He was smoking weed on the back patio yesterday, too, with the door open. The smell was nauseating me.
He’s not the only one. So many people in this dorm room have been forgetting to bring their keys with them as they leave the room, leading to them knocking on the door throughout the day and sometimes late at night. Bring your keys with you, people! Sometimes I don’t even answer it, letting someone else do it.
The worst, though, was last night. There is a group of a few pommies (Brits) in my room and they are all friends. They have come back to the room late at night before, making noise, but last night it really aggravated me. It is hard for me to fall asleep in general sometimes, but I had gotten two hours and then was woken up at 2.30am to them coming in, talking at pretty much a normal volume, laughing. It went on for probably ten minutes. I think they even turned the lights on at one point. It is such a lack of consideration for the other people in the room. I was fuming, but also didn’t want altercation.
I couldn’t fall back asleep, and decided I was going to get them back… as petty as that is. I set my alarm for two hours later – when they would be asleep. “When they ask me to turn it off, I’ll tell them, ‘Oh, did that wake you? Sorry, I thought we weren’t being considerate tonight,’ I thought to myself. Perhaps it would turn into an argument. I wanted to choose the most annoying alarm possible, but I couldn’t remember the name of the one I had in mind so I chose the alarm Siren, thinking that was the right one.
I couldn’t get back to sleep before the alarm went off again. I kept stewing, playing out how the conversation would go when I woke up the others. Preparing for battle.
Two hours later, the alarm went off and the alarm I’d chosen was the least confrontational alarm ever. Damn it! My plan is ruined! I let it go on for five minutes, waiting for someone to tell me to shut it off. (Someone else’s alarm had gone off two nights in a row, in the middle of the night, and the dude wasn’t in the room. The others got annoyed and turned it off themselves, reprimanding him the next day.) Unfortunately for me, no one asked me to turn it off… but I’m sure it woke them up. That was enough for me. Tit for tat.
I am only in this hostel until Tuesday morning. To be fair, it was a Friday night and this is a party hostel, so this kind of shit is technically expected, but still. I suppose it was a perfect storm for me. I have just been so frustrated with the people in this room.
Art of the Week
Getting back to people again. It’s interesting how, having been so long since I’ve consistently drawn people, things have changed. I don’t feel in the groove – comfortable drawing people in the way that I once was when I was drawing them every day. I’ll get it back.
Reflections
Aside from hostel shenanigans, things are good! I went to Green Island yesterday, which I’ll write about in another post. It was absolutely incredible. My first experience on the Great Barrier Reef, and… wow.
As I mentioned, I’ll be heading up to Cape Tribulation for a week starting Tuesday. I think I’ll likely just chill out until then.
I also went to the travel desk at my hostel today to sort out my PADI certification. I wanted to do a five day course, with two days learning on land, and three days/two nights on the water. They told me the five day courses were sold out, but we could do a four day course instead. I specifically mentioned, multiple times, I wanted an overnight course… and the dude put me in for day trips. We tried to sort it out, but he is relatively new and now we have to wait for his manager to come in on Monday to figure it out because I already paid for it. Hopefully, that doesn’t become an issue. But if I’m paying as much as I am, I want to be paying for what I asked for.
I hope this post hasn’t seemed too negative! It has been a great week – it’s just the hostel thing and now the diving course hiccup that has been annoying.
Until next time! Sending you all my love! xx
