Now that I’ve been in Cairns for about a week, the weather is starting to grow on me, just a little . I still sweat really easily and have to be in shorts constantly to avoid overheating. Everything else has been going well. The food here is a bit more expensive than I imagined, but still way cheaper than it was in the U.S. I went out with a couple of buddies after dinner to explore the city, and the Night Market was packed with different vendors and food centers. There were cosmetic stores, art displays, massage parlors, souvenir shops, and more. The most interesting find was a frozen yogurt store where you could fill a cone as high as you want for only 5 AUD. But if you dropped your cone, you’d need a bowl to clean it up, and they would charge you by the gram for your dessert. I went in with Dom, Matt, and Jonah, and we all got cones. My cone ended up being pretty tall, so I stopped the machine once it began to tip a little. Dom, however, did not. I saw his cone fall over in slow motion plop onto the machine. He quickly tried to save it, and we ran out of the store as fast as we could.
This trip has given me the chance to go outside and reconnect with nature a bit more. On Wednesday, we hiked to a lighthouse before having free time to go swimming or take a glass boat trip. The trail started off pretty steep, but it wasn’t too bad. Then we reached a fork in the path: one route would take us to the lighthouse in 500 meters, or we could continue for 800 meters up to the top of the mountain. We opted for the latter and scaled the mountain. It was one of the tougher workouts.I was sweating the entire way, and my heart rate stayed at 160 throughout the climb. There were slippery rocks, mud, and plenty of thorny bushes, but in the end, we made it up and were rewarded with an amazing view. The steep trail was awful, but the view was more than worth it.
The most memorable part of the trip was a last-minute deep-sea fishing excursion. A group of about six of us signed up, and it was definitely costly. The ride to the fishing site took two hours, and I felt sick the whole way; every little movement made my motion sickness worse, and the seawater splashing on me didn’t help. Once we arrived, I began to feel better and was ready to catch some dinner. At 11 AM, I caught two small bait fish—unfortunately, not edible—and then nothing else for the rest of the trip. Some fish would nibble at my bait, but no solid bites. In the last ten minutes, frustrated, I tossed out one more hook to see if I could catch something edible, as everyone else had secured their dinner. Luckily enough, something bit and it was HUGE. I struggled for about 30 seconds, I was full of energy and excitement as this was gonna be something i could/. I finally reeled it in and—I CAUGHT A SHARK. I unfortunately coudlnt take it back with me :(. They let me snap a quick photo with it, but I eventually had to toss it back. That shark was definitely not happy. I ended the day without a bag of fish, but I did get some fish and chips at the Cairns Night Market!
