Hey, everyone! Since getting back from my scuba dive trip along the Great Barrier Reef, I’ve had two additional adventures: a camping trip to Murray Falls and a day trip to Fitzroy Island.

Murray Falls

Almost immediately upon my return to Cairns, Gene and I set off to Murray Falls. It was literally the next day haha. We woke up in the morning and Gene put together a huge, comprehensive packing list. It has been years and years since I’ve been camping and I couldn’t help but think, “Damn, is all this really necessary?” For a successful camping trip… it was necessary.

Gene was well prepared. He had a camp stove, two lawn chairs (his was quite deluxe; mine on the other hand… haha), a tent, an air mattress, a gazebo, collapsible table, a huge container for water, cutlery, etc. The list goes on and on. I should have had Gene send me a screenshot of it so you all can get an idea haha.

We had to stop at Gene’s storage unit for a few things and at the grocery store to stock up on enough food for three days. Then after picking up some firewood and kindling, we set off on the 2.5hr road trip to Murray Falls.

The day had somehow slipped away and we ended up getting there around dusk. Microbats were flying overhead. We set up camp with our headtorches on.

Gene had done this before and recently, so he knew what to do. I, on the other hand, was quite clueless. I patiently waited for Gene’s instructions on what to do next. The one thing I didn’t need instruction on was how to put sheets on the air mattress haha. I don’t really like the feeling of not knowing how to do things and with camping, I hardly knew how to do anything. I found I was a little down on myself for not knowing how to set things up the right way. Gene constantly had to correct me or show me how to do things. Alas. I can’t be good at everything! And I haven’t had much practice.

Once everything was set up, Gene started a fire and we started making dinner. Well, Gene started. Not familiar with camp stoves, I didn’t know how to go about it. I did assist in stirring, though! We had spinach & ricotta ravioli with a mushroom sauce. Gene had chicken strips with it and I had kofta. Both were dipped in a nice per-peri sauce Gene had prepared prior to leaving Cairns. Unfortunately, the sauce leaked in his cooler and all our ice turned peri-peri flavored. Damn it!

After dinner, we sat around the fire. Gene played Pink Floyd, smoked cigarettes, and drank beers. I don’t drink so I just looked at the fire and puffed on my vape. We could hear the waterfall at the edge of the campground. I was eager to check it out, but we waited until we had sunlight.

It rained overnight and while I hadn’t noticed it, apparently some rain got in the tent. Gene was quite disappointed as it was a brand new tent and shouldn’t be leaking.

We had Gene’s famous cereal for breakfast, paired with a tea for myself and a coffee for him. His cereal is so damn good. He mixes two different brands and it is… perfection.

We went to go check out Murray Falls. It was a lovely waterfall. There were a couple of nice vantage points from a boardwalk but after looking at those, we decided to do a hike with a different perspective of the falls. The hike was maybe forty minutes total and wasn’t incredibly steep, but it offered really nice views of the surrounding mountains. Along the way, there were informational signs about the Aboriginal history in the area but Gene and I decided to make up our own stories as to how different parts of the mountain were formed.

We descended from the lookout and upon our return to the campground, we spotted… a cassowary! This is the second time I’ve seen a cassowary with Gene, the first being at Babinda Boulders. It also marked the seventh cassowary I’ve witnessed in Queensland. That is quite lucky! Although, it is kind of cheating since four of those cassowaries were a dad and three of its kids near Cape Tribulation. Still, some people come to Queensland hoping to see a cassowary and never get to see one. Gene himself has lived in Queensland his whole life and said that this encounter was the closest he’d ever seen a cassowary. Cool!

After the cassowary retreated into the bush, I walked back to camp and was stopped by someone else on the campground who was staying in a red campervan. “Did you hear what you just missed?” He asked me. “Oh, we saw it,” I responded. Later, I found I was annoyed that this random stranger assumed I hadn’t seen the cassowary. HOW WOULD HE KNOW? However, he ended up telling me that the cassowary came out of the bush and walked over to where our camp was at one point.

(Note how MASSIVE the cassowary’s crown is – this one looks much bigger than the one I’d seen at Etty Bay!)

Back at camp, we discovered that… our bread buns were missing! How were we going to have our burgers? Gene speculated that the cassowary must have eaten them while we were hiking. Later, we came up with a joke that it wasn’t the cassowary, but the dude with the red campervan. The joke eventually evolved into the cassowary being the dude’s pet. Or maybe the cassowary and red campervan guy were just in cahoots. Gene and I have fun.

Gene had to go into town to extend our camp reservation another night and to get more firewood. I stayed behind to watch our stuff and to meditate/do a little reading. It was nice to be in nature with tall trees surrounding us and the sounds of the waterfall constantly flowing throughout the day. It was a solid day.

It had been some time since Gene had left and I started to worry a little bit. “What if he died?” is where my mind eventually goes to. THE DRAMA! But then he came back. Phew. We had burgers for a late lunch. I had cut up the tomatoes and was starting to do the onion when I accidentally sliced my finger. It wasn’t too deep but it started bleeding.

I was being a bit of a brat because I’ve never been good at cooking meat (hence, vegetarian) and now I was expected to cook WITH A SLICED FINGER? Gene eventually picked up on my irritation and took over for me. I suppose really what I needed was just some assistance to make sure I was doing it right, but alas. Thank you, Gene! Bonus: he also made me a makeshift band-aid out of a strip of paper towel and saran wrap. Legend.

Before long, it was dark out. Gene started the fire pretty early on and tended to it throughout the night until we ran out of firewood. The soundtrack of the evening was the last four albums of The Beatles. Good tunes. Once the fire had gone down, we baked potatoes in the fire for dinner. Later, we had a cup of soup. I also may or may not have had a couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter as a sweet treat.

I eventually got sleepy and went to bed. Our final day went by pretty quickly. We had Gene’s Legendary Cereal and then even though it was drizzling, Gene went down to check out the Day Use area. I think I was reading or something because I didn’t go with him right away. Once I joined him, he was just getting out after having had a dip in the swimming hole. They didn’t have warm showers at the campground so we’d basically just been sitting around in our own filth. Sweaty and smoky from the campfire. I eventually decided to take a dip too but had to go back for my swimming trunks first. The water was COLD.

By the time I’d gotten back to camp, Gene had pretty much packed everything up. I helped with the final items and we began our trek back to Cairns. We stopped at Tully on the way back and got some brunch. Gene got a sausage roll and I had a veggie roll. VERY good.

We stopped at Gene’s place so I could get my large backpack and then he dropped me off at my hostel. Despite feeling like I wasn’t very good at setting things up for camping, it ended up being a nice time. We slowed down, enjoyed nature, each other, the fire, and food. At times it is hard to slow down, but I’ve had some practice lately and am getting better at it.

I had never heard of Murray Falls before – we originally were going to go to Mission Beach but decided against it. I’m glad Gene suggested it. It ended up being a really unique experience. “Proper bush camping,” I believe he said.

Fitzroy Island

On my last full day in Cairns, I went on a day trip to Fitzroy Island. The boat ride took about an hour.

Upon arriving, I went on the Secret Garden trail, which is a short, 20 minute return. I was impressed by the massive boulders that were all along the trail.

I also saw some little skinks trying to catch some sun.

From there, I went to Nudey Beach. I thought it was a literal nude(y) beach, but it was not. Unfortunately. It was supposedly a good spot for snorkeling and after having had such an amazing snorkel at Green Island, I was prepared for more of the same.

Nope.

The visibility was AWFUL, reminding me of my early days trying to snorkel around Perth (specifically Mettam’s Pool). Just really, really bad. What a difference after the amazing visibility of Green Island and then while scuba diving the Outer Reef. And it’s a shame, because there were supposedly lots of sea anemones with clown fish around. I’m still yet to see one of those guys.

One thing that’s pretty interesting about Fitzroy is that there isn’t much sand, but there is a lot of coral around. Staghorn coral apparently grows very quickly and easily breaks off. It washes onto shore and Fitzroy Island has staghorn coral all over the place. It is essentially a coral beach. As people walk along it, it makes musical noises, almost like a rain stick instrument..

And then… it started raining! Just another day in paradise.

I took cover under my beach blanket and walked back to the area where I first got dropped off. By the time I got there, it had stopped raining and was getting sunnier out. I went to another area where people were snorkeling and after laying out for a little bit, I got my snorkel back on.

This visibility was even worse. So, so bad. I almost bumped into a sea turtle – that was the only thing that I saw and it was maybe a foot away from me. Whoops! After that sighting, the visibility seemed to decrease. As I swam back to shore, I couldn’t see a single thing in front of me. I was basically looking into a glass of milk. Yuck!

Defeated, I decided to simply lay on my beach blanket and enjoy the sun. Occasionally, huge gusts of wind would blow through, covering every inch of my left side in sand. Sigh. I should’ve stuck to the coral beaches!

I didn’t have much time left at Fitzroy, so I decided to rinse off, pop out my contacts, and switch into my shorts. I still had about an hour to go but I just sat at the beach, watching people snorkel (looking at what, I have NO idea) and admiring the mainland from a distance. I also accidentally dropped my vape into a puddle of water while sitting there and now it’s dead hahaha.

Geez, after typing this out, I did not have the best of luck at Fitzroy! When I first got to Cairns, I heard a lot of people compared Green Island and Fitzroy. They seemed quite polarizing – some people thought Green Island was better, etc. Personally, I think that Fitzroy, as an island, is absolutely beautiful. It is much, much larger than Green Island. However, I had kind of a lousy time there. I much preferred Green Island. Still, I’m glad I was able to get out there to check it out.

Miscellaneous

It had rained/drizzled a lot in Cairns prior to me leaving. Gene mentioned it seems the wet season is taking a long time to finish up.

After Fitzroy, Gene and I met up for a farewell dinner. We went to Hemingway’s, which is a brewery that has the BEST pizza I’ve had in Australia. Second time around and it still didn’t disappoint. Their veggie pizza is… perfection. Although, still doesn’t compare to the homemade pizzas my mom will be making me when I’m back in America haha.

As we talked over dinner, Gene mentioned how Cairns really seems to be a city that caters a lot to tourists, not so much the locals. I have to agree. I might have mentioned it before, but it seems like everywhere you go, people are trying to sell you on a tour. A tour to the Daintree, to the Great Barrier Reef, to Karunda, etc. Tours, tours, tours! We’ve got ’em!

We also were talking about animals and Gene and I decided we would make a trade. He’d give me a bin chicken (ibis bird) for a raccoon. I’d prefer an echidna, but I agreed to it. Additionally, we made tentative plans to meet in New Zealand when I’m there.

And finally… any time I am waiting for a bus – whether it be from Coral Bay back to Perth, or from Alice Springs to Darwin… I’m like. Is it even coming? Am I in the right spot? That is anxiety.

Art of the Week

So happy to be sharing this one with you all! I drew this shortly after returning from Cape Tribulation. Lots of artwork lately. I feel I am getting more confident in this new style and am still very happy with it. It feels new, fresh, exciting. Yay 🙂

Reflections

After getting back to my hostel from Murray Falls, I started to feel a little out of sorts. This occasionally happens to me when I am getting ready to leave a city. The feeling lessened the next day when I went to Fitzroy, but it returned in the evening after Gene and I finished dinner.

I found myself tearing up as we were saying our goodbyes. He put his helmet on and got on his scooter. As he drove away, I felt my throat tighten and I got slightly choked up. “This is how it goes,” I reminded myself. Endings. They suck! It wasn’t only that it was potentially the last time I’d see Gene, but it was also my last night in Cairns and pretty soon, my time in Australia will be up, too. Endings are really hard. That’s one of the beautiful things in life, though. You get to meet these people, experience these places, and it’s hard to say goodbye, but I still would rather cry about it than never have experienced it.

And so… where does that leave me now? I arrived in Townsville a couple of hours ago. I am only here for the night and then I head to Magnetic Island for four nights. Apparently, there is a really healthy koala population there. Mm… and a pretty healthy Death Adder (venomous snake) population. Supposedly some great snorkeling, too. Fingers crossed!

That’s all for now.

Sending my love! xx