Oct 20 - Cassowary and Cairns

Today we checked out and began the day with a big British brekky - basted eggs, toast, ham, bacon, 1/2 tomato grilled, and baked beans. With a full belly, we took the shuttle to the ferry and the ferry back to Townsville. Hopped on the Greyhound to Cairns and enjoyed 2 stellar in-bus movies (The Proposal and Confession of a Shopaholic). Watched the first movie, then popped in the iPod and ignored the 2nd film. Around the Mission Beach area we saw a cassowary in the ditch and there were lots of cassowary signs, just like our deer signs. Cassowaries are creepy looking tall birds that are the same size as an ostrich, but have a blue neck/face and a red head with a mohawk-shaped bone growth on top of their head.

When we arived into Cairns we took a shuttle over to Gilligan's hostel and checked in. Simply saying checked in is a very big understatement, because this was the longest check-in experience I have ever been privy to, even after working in a hotel for 10 months. A good 25 minute struggle later, we had keys to two different rooms, becaue they couldn't get us into the same room, even though we had booked like a week ago. That point aside, Gilligan's is like a big resort. The place is huge, with a nightclub, restaurant and massive swimming pool (complete with waterfall) in the complex. We went down to eat our free evening meal of spaghetti (paid $3 to upgrade to a "large portion" which looked like a regular sized portion, so I'd hate to see the regular portion). The meal was sufficient, but certainly not overly filling, and then we went for a walk around the area in Cairns. Picked up a new SIM card for our phone, which gets us 5 cents/minute international calling, which is a wee bit better than the $1.80/minute with Vodaphone. Did a couple blocks of walking around the fairly sketchy city (like a larger PA, everywhere you go kind of has a slightly uneasy feel). We headed back to the hostel and checked to see if we could move to the same room, which was possible, because apparently the person had made the booking incorrectly. So we both moved to a 6-bed dorm and set up our stuff, then went to the common area and watched some TV for a couple hours online (getting so far behind in our shows!). When we got back to the room, there were 3 roommates present and the one had stolen my pillow to use between his legs. I dropped a little wtf in my head and grabbed a new pillow off an empty bed. Then enjoyed a hot, humid sleep.