So I survived the night in the mall, the cyclone ended up heading a bit south and no one got stabbed. All in all it could have been much worse. Come morning I volunteered with the Red Cross to organize and serve breakfast to all the refuges. In honesty I really got to take a shopping cart and loot a grocery store for cereal and fruit (been a while since I had all the fresh fruit I could eat, one up for the cyclone) then helped serve breakfast. Most people were thankful and polite but of course there were the required arsehats who complained that we didn’t have their favorite cereal or a bigger spoon.
Soon after breakfast I was sitting with my friends waiting to be evacuated from the evac site when some news reports came in. The reporter asked a few questions but was disappointed that I had nothing exciting to report on (wasn’t going to mention the stabby threat, the media would take that story too far) and walked away muttering something about finding someone more interesting (my friends say it was more the lack of showering than being uninteresting) but shortly after they left the mall without an exciting cyclone story.
After that we went back to the hostel and were slightly disappointed at the shear lack of damage. Here we spent 30 hours locked up in the mall with 3000 grumpy, annoying (quasi-stabby) people, plenty who didn’t know the benefits of deodorant, because of this massive storm that was suppose to wipe Cairns off the map and here we only lost a few branches. The power didn’t even go out!
Farther down the coast though there was plenty of devastation, newspapers showed yachts 600 meters inland and harbors wrecked with boats and docks piled on top of each other. Cyclone winds had taken roofs, knocked over trees and flattened plantations. It was the first time that inland Queensland had actually had to issue a cyclone warning, 200km from the ocean!
Later that day the rains started coming down in earnest and a couple of us went out wandering to see what damage was done. It was cool to see the beach moved inland about 50 meters and the streets running into the sea. It almost made up for missing the cyclone. While wading the streets I ran into one of the instructors on Mike Ball who confirmed that the Spoilsport would indeed take off the next day.
I returned to the hostel much happier and finished packing for my week on the boat and enjoyed a good curry meal with my friends from the evac center. The next morning I swung in the MB office to confirm that the trip was on then scrambled the rest of the day taking care of last minute details. I went to the office to fill out the paperwork and met Mike Ball himself, a tall Englishman who is incredibly nice and we exchanged some stories. He walked across the UK with his brothers a few different times and enjoys cycling as well. Finishing the paperwork I went and grabbed a bit to eat then headed to the boat. As a Expo (short for expendable) my duties was to help out on the dive deck and in the kitchen as needed. The dive deck was amazing, instructors Nick and Bec are amazing people and I learned heaps from them. The kitchen was even more impressive. Cook Kari, from South Africa, became a great friend and fed me anytime I looked hungry (easily gained 10 kilos in one week, 4 meals a day plus snacks.) Helping out in the kitchen was the most surprising part of the work though. When meals were done the whole crew, first mate and Trip Director included, scrambled to clear the dishes from the table. In a matter of minutes dishes from 30 people were washed, dried, and put away in a massive scramble on everyone’s part. It truly was cool to see how everyone pitched in, no who they were.
On the dive deck I learned the most and had the most fun. Bec is a very bubbly person, often called Dory from “Finding Nemo” or Tigger because literally she bounces everywhere. Nick was a bit more laid back (poor guy would honestly be frightened by Bec’s and I combined cheerfulness at 6 in the morn) Great guy though, very patient with my questions and went out of his way to teach me anything I wanted to learn. The diving was of course amazing. I would get two or three dives in a day (literally my only free time between 6am and 9pm) and would act as buddy for one of the guests or take Catalina the other expo out on dives. My oxygen usage improved drastically as I only had one dive under 50 minutess and one over an hour! As a large man, who spent hours cycling and building up my lung capacity to climb the mountains on my ride it was difficult to train myself to use as little oxygen (and energy) as possible. Having a camera helped heaps as I would have to slow down and wait for the right shot. It was an epic trip as I improved my skills immensely while learning and seeing so many new things. I finally saw a lionfish, a couple nudibranch, two cuttlefish and swarms of new fish. Of course there was the obligatory shark sightings too :D It was so awesome that eventually I even gave up taking pictures of sharks because I had so many!
Working the dive boat I also got to dive some new sites I didn’t see with Erin when we went out in Dec. Our old favorites like Cod Hole were hit pretty hard by the cyclone with damage in the coral canyons where the waves would tear through devastating the beautiful coral. Luckly most of it was undamaged by the natural catastrophy and as the reef has survived generations of cyclones it will rebuild and be beautiful once again. The outer reef, Osprey Reef, was completely undamaged and the visibility was absolutely amazing despite the cyclone and rainy season. A couple weeks before they even experienced 70 meters of visibility under the water, a truly epic experience!
Working on the Spoilsport with such an amazing crew was an epic week, from legendary dives, learning heaps about the sea and its creatures from Bec and the workings of the boat from Nick, to being fed at every turn by Kari to the smiles and jokes from the rest of the crew I can honestly say it was one of the best weeks of my life. One week without land, entrapments of civilization, an occasional cold beer and to be rocked to sleep by the waves of the Coral Sea is a memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Leaving the boat was a sad day, it has been a while since I worked that hard but the rewards were beyond anything I could have expected.
Leaving the harbor I stopped in the brewery just to find that the manager I told I was taking a week off had left on vacation and the other managers scheduled me the whole time I was gone, and when I didn’t return any phone calls or messages they thought I had died. Resurrecting my employee status I started work at 4 that day and worked every day for the next 9. It was nice to have money and good to be around some old friends but life on land didn’t compare to the boat. My new room had a couple old friends in it and also another expo from Mike Ball. Joep from Holland is a 18yr old dive instructor trying to find work. Two nights we went out drinking with some other Mike Ball employees, had a blast then we all went cliff jumping the next day. We went to the crystal cascades and jumped from about 20 meters, hope to get some pics back as one shot had a beautiful waterfall brilliantly lit by the sunlight blazing through a rainstorm.
Tomorrow is my last shift at the bar, and wed I catch a plane back down to Melbs where I continue on my adventure. It will be nice to catch up with some old friends down there before I wander on. It truly is amazing to see how many great friends I have scattered across the country in such a short time.
Cheers
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