Cape tribulation / Cairns

So I've been in Cairns for the last weeks. I've kind of been chilling out here in a very cheap hostel (12 dollars per night), which is still good. I already did quite a lot of things in Australia, so I'm taking it easy so I can do some stuff in Bali and Azia too. I do have some stuff planned for just before I leave. One of these things was Cape Tribulation!

Get picked up in a bus from my hostel, driver makes us introduce ourselves to the rest, where we have to add whether we scrunch up our toilet paper or fold it. I've noticed that all the guides in Australia tend to be quite funny. Like I find myself quite funny at times, but seriously, these guys are FUNNY!

So yeah, cape trib was just beautiful again. I realized that I've never been in a rainforrest in my life. It's so strange to see all the kinds of plants and trees all compete for sun light. They sure have developed some ingenius strategies to steal it from each other. Especially one parasitical tree, that has its seed swept up in to trees by the wind, where it start to grown way up in tree (which is possible because of some leaves getting stuck somewhere and forming dirt). So once up there is shoots its roots down the tree (which it eventually murders) and the rest of the tree grows up. This way these trees becomes the tallest in the forrest (but they cheat because they start 25 meters up pretty much).

I stay in a jungle village hostel, right near a fantastic beach. Have some great cookies and mars bar muffins there. Meet some fun Canadian girls. Go on a night walk through the forrest, where we all get flash lights and spot all kinds of animals. When we turn out lights out, it is about as dark as I've ever seen it.

The first day I go on a walk, which is supposed to get me to a really cool creek. This walk is supposed to be 3 horus in total. So I keep walking along this dusty rain forrest road. I've been walking for over 2 and half hours and there's still no creek. People are looking at me all weird from their cars, like "wtf are you doing out here?!". One stops and they explain to me that the creek is 6kms back where I came from! So I missed it. So start walking back to my hostel (to make it back in time for the night walk). On the way there I climbed and descended this near impossible hill... it went like straight up FOREVER. So on my way back I was climbing it again.. when some random dude stopped. He asked me if I wanted a lift.. I have to say that I did not decline. Guy seemed okay. Turned out he was illegally hunting pigs in the national park though. He brought me to the creek though, where I had a much deserved swim. So yeah this walk was again in the blistering sun, there was so much dust and there was some ridiculous hills. So after my Townsville experience, I'll definitely call this my second death walk. My butt and feet still hurt as I type this.

I was only there for a night, so now I'm back in Cairns, which kind of feel like my home now :)

Other then that, I must admit that I wasn't in the best shape for a while. I generally rely on external things for a portion of my confidence... out here I do not have those things, so it makes things harder. It's been a good lesson however. Also having a lot of time alone here.. leaves a lot of time for thinking, which I already tend to overdo. This lead to my old problem of obsessiveness with things to resurface... All in all, traveling is a very exciting and educational experience. And I seem to give less of a fuck now, so it's all good now :)

Make sure you check out the pictures and the videos, they tell the story better than these words.

PS: there's a gym next to my hostel here, so I've been working out again. I'll take a picture of my new 'uber muscles' :P