Hey guys, while I have been settling into Australian life yet again, the blog has been a bit quiet. But not anymore! Most of you might not realize but in order to write on a regular basis, one need a routine and some regularity. You need to stick around in one location for a little bit and preferably not live out of a hostel.
Behana Gorge, totally worth the walk
Back to Cairns
That’s how my new life in Australia started. As it is my second year holiday visa I don’t want to waste a second of it. My new homebase was the same as my last one last year, Cairns. The backpacker party capital of Australia and the home of Australia’s most beautiful rainforest and the perfect drop-off point to, of course, the Great Barrier Reef.
I wanted to come back to Cairns because there was still so much to see. No nightclubs such as Gilligans or Woolshed on my list, only waterfalls, beaches and the ocean. I spent my first month living at a hostel in the city. A lovely hostel as it is with such amazing people, living in a hostel is not for me. Give me a week and I’m fine. However a month without having a proper work table and no air conditioning in scorching temperatures tends to drive me up the walls.
Nandroya falls, I will be back!
Hostel life
Working for accommodation was something that was left on my bucket list. I always thought it would be a fun experience to have. How it works is that you do a mostly agreed upon time of hours in exchange for free accommodation. Perfect for when you’re low on money. However, when you’re stuck in a hostel for six hours a day just for a night’s accommodation, the fun quickly gets sucked out of it. But more on that later. I had to leave the hostel, that was a given!
Scary backpackers
Enter the dreamiest house of them all. Most share houses in Cairns are geared towards working backpackers. People that come through Cairns for work or stick around for a while. The people in these houses tend to be the best! They are working, they are independent and I just adored them in my last share house. However, the rules of those houses can be staggering. Especially if this is not your first time living by yourself.
First some context. For those who have not visited Australia, you might not know that the term ‘backpacker’ in Australia is like the word ‘blogger’ in Belgium. It ain’t all that good. Backpackers have the worst reputation. A quick Google will lead you to results like this or this. And there are so many more.
An unfortunate case which makes homeowners scared and not realize that those few bad apples are not all of us. Anyway, it leads to these ridiculous rules and in general a pretty disrespectful nature towards the travelers. An example of those rules would be ‘no friends over after 5pm’ or ‘no sleepovers’. I even heard one home owner tell me that he will not pay for electricity so I can get laid (sorry kids). Well, that was the end of that house visit.
Crystal Cascades, only 20 minutes from the town center
I’ve also acquired a new job at one of the hottest bars in town, Pier Bar, which treats its staff like a family. Life is looking good so far, now all that is left is checking those boxes of places left to see (which are dwindling fast) and fishing out a plan for the rest of the year.
Lots of love from a blogging backpacker,
Marijs
Nandroya falls
