Alright so I was going to try and do a fabulous recap of the last few days, but I just don't know if there is enough time... so I'll stick to yesterday and today.
--Day 4--
We woke up and I felt like death, either I have a cold or I'm allergic to Australia. Either way my entire face is congested. It's probably a bit of both, since I was sick before leaving and you can literally see pollen floating through the air in Sydney. But as bad as I felt, in hindsight I feel worse for my travel companions because my demeanor yesterday was uhhh,,, less than peachy.
So we checked out at 10am and and stored our bags because our flights were not until 3:40. Headed for breakfast and then caught the train to Circular Quay to get an up close view of the Opera House and the Bridge. Breakfast took a little longer because I ate an extra large portion to compensate for the extra large portions of Dayquil and Benadryl. We got to Circular Quay at about 11:30... We had to be back at the hostel by 12:30 to catch the airport shuttle we had prepaid for when we arrived. We walked to the opera house, snapped photos, realized it was noon and started the trip back. By about 12:20 on the train back we realized we were not going to make our 1230 shuttle.. but we figured we'd only be a few minutes late we'd still catch it..... cut to the three of us running down victoria st at each of our own top speeds to turn the corner to our hostel street to find the shuttle just pulling up. Praise the Lord. Dripping in sweat, I run up to the driver to let him know we are here and show him my ticket. He looks at it and is like sorry, we don't accept these anymore, you need to call this number instead and I was like whoa dude, no way, we prepaid, this is the number to call from kings cross and we need to go to the airport. he flat out refused to drive us and climbed in his stupid non-subaru vehicle and peaced out. So mad, head into the hostel and the receptionist explains that the girls that sell us this round trip tickets at the airport are supposed to let us know about this in advance and show us the right number to call. But there was really nothing she could do and we'd have to pay again to get to the airport. Yeah, 14 aussie dollars down the drain. But on the bright side we got an awesome shuttle driver that bumped our trip's theme song so we could rock out. He also offered to break out the drugs, we all respectful declined. Got dropped off at the airport and caught our flight to cairns.
Arrive Cairns at about 6. Swing out front to catch a taxi because it was cheaper to split three ways then catch a shuttle to the hostel. Enter Dan the taxi driver. He asked where we were going, i busted out my handy little travel binder that details info about everything on this trip including googled directions from the airport to the hostel and show him where we are going. He takes one look at the binder and then at me and goes, you must be an accountant or something, you no fun. Commence hearty giggles from us girls. Everyone climbs in and off we go. Sitting in the cab, we all continue laughing, and dan takes a look at us and states "oh i can tell by you laughs you girls are very bad'... bahahhaa, that was it that's when the nonstop hysterical laughter ensued. dan proceeded to assess each of us individual as the good girl, bad girl, and dangerous girl.... i'll let you figure out who is who... then he proceeded to tell us he was going to take us out in his space ship and we'd be his princess, Yep, classic. I believe Maria has a pretty awesome video of all this. Dan drops us off and asks to be my fb friend, i said sorry no, he asked if we could go salsa dancing together, again sorry no. Bye Dan.
Arrive Travellers Oasis. All sorts of awesome Steve and Gabe are at the desk and set us up in our rooms. Steve takes us on a tour of the grounds, we drop off our bags, and go back to the desk to settle up payment. As we walk to the desk, wadda ya know, Dan's back. He tells me I left something in the car. Totally confused I ask what and he slips me a piece of paper with his number on it,,,. mm he went from funny taxi driver to creepy stalker in a matter of seconds. We all nervously laugh he says goodnight and leaves for a second time... interesting.. mm yes, this is why i bring pepper spray when i travel
At the desk Gabe and Steve discuss our plans, both are super nice and funny. Really great chat. They explain the local bars/restaurants and deals. we asked where's the place on wed. they explain there is a bar that everyone one goes to, great time... "in fact" gabe says "they have a wet tshirt contest on wed nights, you girls could go and win some prizes, there are good prizes, right steve?" steve -"ah yeah, you win a couple hundred" Gabe "you girls should enter" hmm yes just what we came to oz for, wet tshirt contest. I kindly explained to Gabe and Steve that our dignity and self worth were retailing at a much higher rate than a few hundred in prizes. after that we grabbed dinner and headed home for an early night because we had a 730am departure for the rainforest.
--Day 5--
7 am front desk is at our door saying girls your driver is here to take you on your tour. i was like no, the tour is at 730 he said no it's seven and i said no the booking said 730. But regardless, we had to pull it together because the bus had to leave. Frazzled we run out the door but before i did, i grabbed my trusty travel binder to point out, that the booking was indeed 730 and when i did i realized the paper and 3 subsequent all said 7,.,, ahh perhaps the girl on copious amounts of dayquil should not be the timekeepper.
We head off on our bus, with Wiley, quite possibly the best tour driver ever. Super funny guy, and really nice, he drove me to the chemist while everyone was having their morning tea to pick up some medicines because i had left all of mine in the hostel when we rushed out the door. Today our tour included port douglas, mossman gorge, daintree river crocodile cruise (and we saw 2 crocs!!!), alexandra range lookout, cape tribulation, and the daintree rainforest. Phenomenal day! And to seal the deal as my favorite tour guide, Wiley played our trips theme song on full blast in the tour bus, just for us! Amazing.
That is all my brain can handle for now.. I will try and do some photos tomorrow.
Oh yeah and to keep a running list, so far the casualties of this trip have been as follows:
1 adapter
14 aussie dollars (actually more like 42 because it was all 3 of us)
1 pair of sunglasses
1 converter
1 taxi driver's heart
