Redemption

Ohhh how my body cries for sun, warmth and no poison! The last week has been a blur, a very blurry blur. Its amazing how you can treat you body and it still works. My car sure wouldnt take this kinda of abuse. Well heres the breakdown.

Day 5/6 : As I last wrote,we went to Sydney to catch our flight to Cairns. Good times with Thomas & Megan. Had some awesome Thai food in "New Town" and then proceeded to drink until the sun came up(Literally). Went to a really swank bar till they kicked us out, so we went to a really shitty backpackers bar called Scruffy McGees until they kicked us out around 5:30 or 6:00 AM. As if the beer, wine and shots werent, enough the last spliff was a doosey. All i remember is Thomas & Megan asking if we needed help to find the airport train and my response was to laugh hysterically and say "airplane, airplane" pointing to the station. Once we got in the station i realized we probably shoulda got the help cause the melee that ensued was a memorable one!
Walkng into the huge and vacant Sydney Central station was interesting. Logic was still working as we followed the airplane signs to the train. Thinking it would be easy from there we exited at the Domestic Terminal where the lizard lady checked us in and told us we had to go to the International Terminal. Whoops. The next hour or two consisted of going through customs, a few checkpoints, and a sunrise ride across the tarmac on a really weird bus. Surreal as it was i thought they were taking us somewhere far, far away to sell our body parts for chinese medicine or something weird like that. We got to the gate AS they were boarding the plane. Whew. The plane ride was just as weird. Qantas is one of the best airlines ive been on, but when your cracked out and wanting sleep, not so much. They feed you and give you drinks when you dont even ask. I woke once to a stewardess leaning over me asking if iwanted breakfast and then to Matt chewing my food saying," Im eating your breakfast, sorry dude". The first words out of my mouth when we arrived in Cairns were "I want to kill things". Namely the annoying Ozzie girls sitting right behind me that laughed non stop throughout the flight.




Cairns = Redemption: I really dont want to bore those of you actually reading this but Cairns is awesome. Well actually the surrounding nature areas ( read Bush ) are. Once I finally opened one eye I was introduced to Matts friend John. Hes form Jersey too and they only really knew each other for a year or too when they were 16. A ten year reunion is what it was. He was suprisingily understanding of our conditions and proceeded to push us enough but not too much. First thing we dropped in on a little roadside fruit stand before driving up the mountian to his house. He then made us a nice stirfry for lunch. Mmmm. Drinks and other refreshments ensued shortly thereafter only continuing the delerious state. Slow gin fizz.... Bombay Gin, Grapfruit Juice, & Some weird wine. Perfect. Not one to let us sit idle for too long he took us straight to Barron Falls and on a little "Bush" walk to two huge trees. Bush is basically any forest or nature area it would seem. More Gin, More weed, met Layla (Johns Girlfriend) and then the inevitable sleep. Aaaaahh. And that was just the first 24 hours.

Day 7: Rejuvenated and feeling mellow we mosied on down to one of the best farmers markets ive seen in a while. Tons of Fruits. Took the boxes of goodness back up to his house in Kuranda and proceeded straight to the Beach (Yorkies Knob). About freakin time! Water was warm, beer was cold, and bud green. Picked up pizza on the way home and continued the intoxication.
Johns quite good at entertaining. Besides his outlandish botanical/animal knowledge he just likes to talk, which was perfect for the first 2 days of incoherence.

Day 8: Drive day! We left fairly early and John gave us a professional tour of the surrounding wilderness. We stoped at a fruit stand for some "hot salty nuts" (Mac & Cashew) and flew through the rainforest to the tablelands. Vast high elvations of agriculture and cattle. Also the location of Lake Eacham, an old crater lake which is beautiful with cute little Archer fish in it. You know the fish that spit at bugs outside the water to catch them ! The next stop was a really deep hole in the ground called simply "The Crater". Very, very eerie spot. Among the countless other boardwalks and stops we made was the Curtain Fig. A tree enveloped in a vine the was draped like a huge curtian. Pretty cool.Oh yeah i also saw a big cute bird called a Cassoarie (?) Of course back home were more Slow Fizz Gins and Bright Greens followed by sweet dreams.


Day 9: Got up fairly early to hike Lambs Head. About a 12 km hike through rainforest to the top of huge monoliths. Unfortunalty the clouds blocked the view, but a few breaks allowed for glimpses of Cairns. Epic hike over all through some really cool terrain. Beer,Pizza,Smoke,Stories,& Sleep followed.

Day 10: Easy day. In fact very mellow. Chilled around the house and did more of the same. (I dont think this day really existed but im putting it in here anyway!)

Day 11: Went into town with John while he was at work and met up with Megan who was following after Matt, i think. Of course we ended up drinking until 3:30 in the morning at horrible bars. We started at some dive bar around 12:00 and moved on to Cafe China for lunch, where i think i ingested chicken broth. Yuck. Met up with John at Gilligans, a upscale backpackers resort during happy hour. On to the Green Ant, which was the best bar Ive been too so far! Rock music, mellow atmosphere and good beer. Then came the decision: dinner at home or sushi and sake. If anyone knows me, then you know what happened next. Sake,Sake,Sushi! Uh-oh. Not having enough we moved on to P.Js where we got to see pole idol! A horrible co-ed pole dancing show. Having enough of the bad music there we moved on to Toohooneys (Tropo) and proceeded to dance to even better (read worse) music. After grooving to Madonnas "Like a Prayer", during which John was on his knees singing at the top of his lungs, we finally went home. I think Megan was definitely after Matt cause i took the couch instead of her.

Day 12: John had to work at 7:00 collecting data and then at 9:00 for his new desk job dealing with wilderness permits. He made the 7:00 gig but came home called in and passed out until around 11:30 when we finally went to town while he worked. We walked in circles for many hours. Our last night was a mellow one, had dinner at Cafe China again (though not me, i had thai) went home for a quick slideshow of Johns past and promptly passed out to "The Life Aquatic".

Day 13:Overall good times were had, John was an excellent host,Layla was also very sweet for putting up with our mess and stealing John for a week. So excellent he even got up at 4:00 this morning to take us to the airport. Definetly coming back to Cairns.
And right now im soooo sick of typing, sitting here in a dark internet cafe in Brisbane waiting for our flight to Bali in the morning. This is where it gets interesting. Ill add pics when i get to a machine that lets me, Peace and Love - Z