Exuent Act 2

Cairns will always remain the low part of the trip from me. In many ways, it is an end of Act 2 so to speak: that point in the story when things aren't looking too positive for our protagonist, but only if the story has a happy ending. This is also the point where my stint traveling alone has ended.

My time in Cairns started with loneliness. After a week with a good friend, preceded by a few weeks meeting only really great, down-to-earth hippies, I wasn't quite ready for Cairns. By the time I reached town, I was quite burned out on traveling; I really just wanted to be with consistent friends and just have a home. Cairns instead proved to be a soulless, tourist wasteland, with a 24/7 party to help everyone forget how soulless the place truly is.

The first hostel I inhabited was a flashy, clean, super-hostel, or flashpackers as it is affectionately called. I chose it for its close proximity to the airport. Despite the large number of people, it wasn't very social. I ended up socializing with only the hostel employees, heading to the clubs every night, trying unsuccessfully to enjoy the company of somebody cool. My days were spent mostly alone, hung-over, and reading Dostoevsky. I don't think this was a wise choice of reading for my period of mild depression.

Thankfully, a random conversation over karaoke helped break my loneliness. I met Annie, owner of the Asylum Hostel. I was expressing my dissatisfaction with the social scene of my hostel. Annie assured me that her hostel was quite the opposite; this proved incredibly true. The Asylum or as the locals dub it "The Mad House" is probably the most crazy party hostel I could ever imagine. It is run down, dirty, everything is broken, but it is filled with lots of really cool people who are always willing to chat.

I got sucked into the crazy endless party of the town sadly. Now I wasn't quite as bad as some; many began drinking around 11AM and kept going until 5AM daily. I always waited until after dinner and I did take days off. Even though I quickly tired of this lifestyle, there I was most nights, joining the group just to avoid being alone. It only took a couple of days to forget many of the lessons I worked so hard to learn.

Not to say I didn't have fun...cause I did. I met some great people in the town. Once again, I found myself gravitating to an older Australian woman. Sandy was quite cool and we spent many days just sitting around talking for hours. I blame her for my lack of productivity. I also met Roman from Russia who was quiet sober but insane when drunk. Krissy from Canada proved to be lots of fun; we spent one night pretending to be Oregon hippies, straight-faced for three hours before we finally cracked up. Mostly though, I sat around waiting for my friends to arrive from Darwin. I avoided seeing any of the surrounding sites Cairns has to offer, because I expected to just see them with Eline and Mirte. A week disappeared into a pool of box wine and existential Russian literature.

Finally on Monday, Eline, Mirte, and our other travel mate, Henani from Israel arrived in their beat up hippie van Sandy. Their arrival ushered in the next phase of my trip: group travel. No more sitting alone. No more need to tell my life story nightly.

The send off to these dark days was of course a massive party. Every Monday, our hostel hosts the Mad Monday Party, where we all don matching t-shirts (which we eventually cover in writing), get drunk, then hit the town, scaring everyone who crosses our path. It was so much fun. The energy that 40 people in one giant group can generate is amazing and exhilarating. We won some bar games and with it free beer.

I arrived home at three that morning. I really took it easy considering, so I wasn't as partied out as the rest of the group. There were a few still awake in the common area and I talked of my loathing for the town and how it has dragged me into a depressive hole. Thankfully, Paul the Kiwi, snapped me out of my funk. "Look around you, bro!" (though the Kiwis say more like brew). "Look at the hills, look at the rainforest, look at the reef that surrounds you here. This is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. That's why it is a tourist wasteland. Just because the town has no soul, doesn't mean you have to lose your own."

I just smiled back at him. "I guess you can't control the town, only how you look at it."

"Exactly Brew!"

With the passing of that test, I headed to bed, eagerly ready to face the next phase of my journey.