La Goon

Back on the mainland Gilligans was booked out, so I checked in at Nomads on the esplanade. I thought I was adapted to the land right away until I took a shower and the walls started making me landsick. In the night we had a dive-reunion party at the Courthouse and the Woolshed. Some people from the boat showed themselves a lot more active on land than in the sea, maybe it was because now we were not drinking tea.  






In my hostel I planned to relax  and lazy for a couple days waiting for a releasing phonecall of my car that was getting fixed 400k south. But plans changed. Cairns has a reputation which is hard to escape from. I met Pascal and Danny from Germany and the next 10 days we had at least like 7 parties in the woolshed and Gilligans. My bioritme that was finally adapted to the sunrise and the moon, changed again in the ritme of housemusic and goon.

Everyday we headed for a 3$ dinner at Gilligans, had a drink there or slapped the goon in the hostel, we spectated a gladiator fight, ultimate bingo or a way too naked Jelly catch. Then we kept dancing, doing things we’re not proud of, waking up with the promise of never doing a goon waterfall again. Alcohol is the Devil! After an afternoon relax at the lagoon, sleeping as we lost the fight,we look in each other’s eyes, smile and say: Gilligans tonight? …

 

Between hangover 3 and 4 I went with my weak body and soar neck to the world heritage Daintree rainforest: the oldest rainforest in the world that was on my to do list in Australia. Altough the tour was great, I had a lot of laughter with Julia and the tourguide was a walking Wikipedia, it was a bit to organized and I missed the adventure. A couple days later I did the legendary Barefoot tour to the tableland watefalls. The day started with a hug and tropical fruit. We went to a lot of waterfalls and lakes. The grouppicture we took at the one-and-only waterfall where the Ushuaia commercial is recorded. A succesfull tour with a really crazy tourguide, and at the end we did the natural waterslide. 

 

Altough I had a great time in Cairns, I felt a bit bad because of my broken car. I had no clue how much money I would lose and when I could hit the road again. Time was running and working 88 days for a second visa before the summer was becoming a big challenge. So many times when I layed in the sun I wondered if I really wanted to stay a lot more in Australia, earn money and travel. Or was it time to go home and see all my digital friends and family again. Then the garage called me with the good news that my car was finally fixed for 1200$! BUT,.. to make it roadworthy again they had to spend at least another 1800$, at least. The balance was not in my advantage and I decided to go to Townsville, take some stuff out of the Van and say goodbye to my "investment".  But the day before we wanted to leave, luck was on our side again. Danny found an ad on gumtree where they were looking for 3 backpackers to work as marine research assistants taking part in the investigation of the influence of the global warming on the great barrier reef. We had to clean a bit on the boat and do some administration for pro dive. We would earn a bit money and could dive for free in our spare time!! So we took our chances and wrote a nice cv and motivation. Because graham, the contact person didn’t reply, we went to the Pro Dive shop to speak to him. The guy at the reception released our tension telling that all of this ad on gumtree was spam, fake, bullshit,..

 

So no great job, lost more time, not in the mood for dirty farmwork, no second Visa, no extra travel money. So I went to Townsville, said goodbye to the van, stopped 2 days in Airlie, went in 19 looong bushours to Brisbane, said goodbye to Danny, took a plane to Hobart with Passie, looked for the cheapest car deal and got ready to complete my journey in Australia. Because in the last months I had almost been everywhere, except there.