Cairns
“What a wonderfully venomous and toothy country.”
— Bill Bryson
Stepping off the plane at Cairns Airport, I was in a daze. I had just spent more than 12 hours travelling from Hong Kong and was still recovering from the culture shock of being there. I was looking forward to hearing English again. Australian English would have to do. Cairns was hot that day — around 36°C. At least it was hot to a Canadian boy.
I reached the YHA hostel on McLeod Street and was shown the room I would be sharing with five other people for the next week. The look on my face when I saw how small it was must have been priceless. After a few days, though, everything was great. I’d especially like to thank my hostel roommate Mike from Sheffield, England, for befriending me and making my introduction to hostel life considerably less painful.
Cairns would be my starting point for trips to Cape Tribulation and the Great Barrier Reef, as well as the beginning of my journey south along the Queensland coast. I had seven days before picking up my rental car, so after carefully locking up my backpack, I hurried out of the hostel like a kid in a candy store, anxious to explore my new surroundings. It took me several days to acclimatize to the tropical heat, and during those first few days I seemed to be drinking water constantly.
Wandering around Cairns, I came across an art gallery selling opals and Aboriginal artwork, and a little farther along I found shops selling didgeridoos. There were also crocodile products of almost every description, made from farmed crocodiles. Then I spotted menus advertising crocodile and kangaroo steaks. Yep, I was definitely in Australia.
Some of the photographs in the gallery show Cairns itself, while others document the next stage of the adventure: my rental car and the camping supplies that would become my home on the road. One particularly reassuring feature of the car was a sticker inside reminding me to KEEP LEFT. Driving on the left side of the road while sitting on the right side of the car was an adventure all by itself. I was called a few choice names during the learning process. Luckily, it was still early in the trip and I hadn’t yet become accustomed to Aussie slang. Otherwise, I might have been insulted.
I also discovered that Burger King in Australia was called Hungry Jack’s. When Burger King expanded into Australia, the Burger King name was already registered there, so the company operated under the Hungry Jack’s name instead. Just another little reminder that I was a very long way from home.
