Sorry again for the bit of silence, had a hard time getting around to the blog. Heaps of things to write about but I have been living in Cairns for the past 3 weeks and kind of just kept going to go play in the sun and water with friends rather that sit down and type out the fun that I have been having. So lets see here when I left off last time I was just on my way to get certified for scuba diving. I ended up choosing Rum Runners, a very affordable company that my upstairs neighbor Dave was taking as well so I signed up with Irish for a 1 day classroom 2 day 1 night trip to the reef. Massa picked us up at 8 am and brought us back to his house. As Irish and I climbed the steps, leaving our shoes outside the front door and entered a very residential building that in no way resembled a diving school we began to get a bit nervous. When we sat down at the dining room table with a black cat rubbing our legs with a Hello Kitty Etch & Sketch next to our diving manuals we almost got up and walked out demanding a refund… But we stuck it out and even though there was a bit of a language barrier on the written part of the course but when we got to the pool part everything went amazing when Massa got us underwater. With 18 years of diving experience he was able to train us using hand signals, as neither of us were very well able to chatter underwater. My confidence only grew as he got us out on the reef and worked us through the more intricate procedures; the man truly is part fish as he used one third of the oxygen I did!
That night I cooked Kangaroo for a bunch of my roommates and new friends. I cooked the filets in a pomegranate molasses sauce with risotto and grilled asparagus on the side. I must say it was satisfying to see that jealous looks other backpackers gave me as they came in to pour boiling water over their instant noodles. Dinner was a success and all eight of us were completely stuffed before we continued drinking.
Dave (Irish), Harm (Holland) and I walked down to the boat the next morn at 7 am after way to many drinks. At least we made it on time compared to Annabel our English roommate who was a wee bit late for her pickup and caught grief for it her whole trip. On the boat we met a nice older couple from Oklahoma, Silke from Germany, and a bunch of young army boys out of Victoria, OZ. The crew on the 60ft boat consisted of Jase the skipper, Massa the instructor, Craig the dive master, Trinity the dive master in training, and last but not least Kim the cook. 17 of us all together on the sailboat. She is called Rum Runner because she used to be used to run rum back in the day, but for the life of me I don’t know where they could hide a keg of rum as we took up almost every square inch.
Diving was absolutely amazing. It is one thing to swim through the water, even snorkeling you may see more than you would 15 meters down, but by diving you become part of the environment, slipping sideways around coral ridges and slipping through narrow canyons and underneath overhangs. Fish flashing by you shining like the meteor showers seen on a Wyoming mountain. I felt more at ease 15 meters under water than I did fighting the chop of the surface; it is truly one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Better than chocolate cake even J
The wonderful part is that my instructor Massa was so impressed with my ability to take to water like a fish that he offered a sort of internship to me. If I come work for him Jan through April my housing and food would be taken care of and I would get my dive masters certification for free… By far a very tempting offer, to live on a sailboat in the Great Barrier Reef doing 18+ dives a week. A far cry from my first job chasing cows on a Wyoming ranch and a bit easier on the conscience than working for the Corporation on the frantic east coast of America.
Harm, Irish and I finished diving enjoying all aspects of it, for 2 days our lives consisted of diving, sleeping in the sun, and eating 4 delicious meals a day (with snacks in between!) I got in a few snorkel trips where I saw giant clams, lots of Parrot and Trigger fish, some sea cucumbers and lots of things I couldn’t identify. Easily some of the best days of my life. Combined with Massa offering me the job and bullshitting with the crew on the way back to civilization I was well ready to accept the internship opportunity and have that be my life for 3 months.
Coming back to reality I checked my bank account and seeing much less than I expected I set out to find a job. I dropped resumes at bars, restaurants, landscaping businesses and pretty much anything else that might hire me. After a week of nothing I ended up getting a response from a cable TV sales company and two bars. I ended up quitting the cable sales job after one day because it was absolutely horrid and I didn’t fly halfway around the world to annoy people trying to shop in the mall. Of the two bars I ended up taking a job at the Blue Sky Brewery instead of the Crown because it paid better and would be a lot less trouble as the Crown is a bit shady.
Sadly the joy of actually being gainfully employed for the first time in 7 months was overshadowed by my friends taking off on new adventures as they travel down the coast. Harm, Dave, Kai, Ben, Roy, Ashley and Annabel said their goodbyes and for the first time in weeks I was alone in a hostel of strangers. Cesare Pavese once said “Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it”. This is brutally true, but for a week I was able to enjoy the sea, the sky, the dreams and a bit of food and alcohol with great people. All things that make a place a home were there then left with my friends and I horribly missed having friends and family around especially with the holidays around the corner. At the backpackers you meet wonderful people whom are a joy to be around, but as with my friend Sarah from the UK they often take off after adventure or work without much notice.
Luckily it only takes a hello and a smile to turn a stranger into a friend and I celebrated Thanksgiving with 3 new friends. Definitely not a traditional Thanksgiving with Nikhal from London, and Helen and Selina from Germany not understanding the holiday but with Nikhal’s help I cooked a feast of bacon wrapped Kangaroo, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and curried apples which pretty well explained things to them. Skyping home I got to wish the family a happy Thanksgiving and my 2yr old nephew Dom was as adorable as possible. According to him this holiday season I am thankful for Kangaroos (poor kid has no idea how right he was J, it was delicious!)
Shortly after Thanksgiving my 3 friends scattered on, continuing their own adventures. I was pleased to have Marion, my friend from camping in Victoria come into town. She booked into my hostel and joined Piia, Elina, Corey, Robbie, and Kyle for a pasta diner here at the hostel. That following Saturday Piia, Elina, Marion and I went down to the docks and climbed onboard the Dreamagic, a 46ft yacht captained by Alan Littleland. Piia and I sailed with Alan the previous Wednesday and he asked me to come back and help pull ropes for a Saturday race. I got quite a chuckle out of the girl’s reaction when they were described as my “visitors” meaning they were not crew and weren’t expected to help sailing. Alan manned the wheel while Ian, John, Claire, and I hoisted the sails and tacked back and forth in the channel waiting for the race to start. John is quite the character, a professional sailor and helicopter pilot with lots of interesting tales of being stranded rudderless in the ocean and having crocodiles hang off his helicopter runners.
We got off to a rough start in the race but slowly gained on the pack as we passed through the canal before hitting the open sea. Out away from land we were able to catch more wind and started overcoming the pack when we heard the announcement of a course change. Deciding it was too pretty of a day to shorten Alan dropped out of the race, put me at the wheel, and we continued sailing around islands and reefs absolutely enjoying the wonderful weather, company, and a silver bag of bliss. Passing by a reef we dropped the jib sail and coasted along at 2 knots with just the main. Running a line out the back we enjoyed jumping into the ocean then getting dragged along, as we would pull ourselves back into the boat. Of course I waited till Piia was well out there before I made a comment about trolling for sharks, but all we saw was a couple turtles. A truly beautiful day on the water with great friends.
Sadly I had to work that night and after a quick shower and super I went into the bar already exhausted. Work was crazy that night with 3 different Christmas parties on top of the normal Saturday crowd. I had several groups of annoying Canadian girls come up to the bar trying to get free/cheap drinks by acting like a princess. Hilariously I just had to ask if they were from America as they were acting like a stereotypical arrogant American. Turns out I discovered a nice simple way to make annoying Canadians go away J. Later that week we celebrated Robbie’s 21st birthday by getting kicked out of 2 different pools, drinking goon (aka silver bags of bliss, box wine) on the beach, then heading out to the bars. None of us were moving very fast the next morn
I will be here in Cairns for a bit, joined by Erin here shortly then head off to spend a bit of time in New Zealand after a nice long trip out scuba diving on the reef together. It will be awesome to share the wonders of Australia and New Zealand with such a good friend, not to mention Christmas and New Years. Life alone on the road is amazing, but it will be many times better to be able to share the joys and wonders of the seas, skies, dreams and mountains with such a good friend.
Wait, so are you taking the diving job in January?
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