And then there was one…

I’m all alone again. Well, not exactly. Rachel and Greg have indeed left me, but as luck would find it (in an instance otherwise very much lacking in luck), we met a girl from NYC at the bus station at 4am when we got stuck, and after R&G departed, I still had her company. Time has been utterly confusing this week, and it’s only going to get worse—I leave for Asia, Singapore to be exact, tonight at 12:55am, although only yesterday was I reminded that it in fact left SUNDAY night not MONDAY night as I was anticipating! Yikes. But first, let me rewind:

After departing Fraser Island, we boarded a Greyhound bus to take us north to Airlie Beach, the departure point for our Whitsunday 2 day/2 night sailing trip. Due to the (lack of) coordination of the bus schedule, we had an afternoon stop in the town of Hervey Bay to wander around and get something to eat (mostly Subway again), and then carry on on an overnight bus to our final destination where we arrived at 9am. We went and checked in for our boat, the Habibi (meaning darling), and boarded it early that afternoon after making the requisite booze run. The weather left much to be desired unfortunately. It was overcast and on and of rain, and we were warned by our crew, Skipper Greg, first mate Shane, and helper Katie that the ferocious winds were kicking up some rough seas. And they weren’t kidding. The endlessly rocking boat was hit by some major swells that had some in our group (20 girls, 5 guys—seriously) feeling quite unwell. I just tried to pretend I was a baby being rocked to sleep, which worked better some times than others. We motored to a “calmer” bay (too rough to put up the sails) sheltered by one of the 74 islands that make up the Whitsundays, and anchored there for the night.

We were shown our sleeping quarters which were tight to say the least. If I hadn’t gotten to know Rach and Greg so well on our trip so far, this would be the time. After a delicious (and all you can eat) BBQ cooked up by the gregarious crew (Greg was the last man standing of course, I was second to last), we turned in for an early night to recover from our precious night’s sleep on a bus. Next morning, we were awakening to the boat seriously a-rockin’ as Captain Greg had turned on the motor at 6am to brave the rough seas as try and make sure we reached Whitehaven Beach, the 3rd most beautiful beach in the world according to some travel magazine somewhere and featured beach of the island group. We were the only boat to reach it that early. There was a brief parting in the clouds, at least some shadowy sunlight so we were shuttled to shore and climbed to the lookout point over the beach for a nice view. Then we donned our “sexy stinger suits” (life threatening jellyfish abound during the wet season in Queensland—note to self: next time don’t come during the wet season!) and enjoyed the warm clear waters despite the windy day.

Next stop was snorkeling in one of the many bays, where the sun highlighted the spectacular coral and incredibly brilliant tropic fish. We met the largest residents, Elvis and George, two monster groupers that were at least 3 feet long! Lunch, another snorkel, and another delicious dinner rounded out the day, so even though it was still raining from time to time, we didn’t have too much to complain about! The next morning, after one last snorkel and swim off the boat, we headed back to Airlie—it was even calm enough to hoist a sail! We headed for our last Greyhound bus trip—a long trek up to our final destination, Cairns, where R&G were catching a flight not even two days later, and myself the day after that—or so we thought. And here’s where one of those lovely “travel stories” commences—one that is so painful at the time, but in retrospect is just another absurd story to tell.

We boarded our bus at 2pm and it was due to arrive at 1am in Cairns. However, due to days of heavy rains up and around Cairns thanks to our Wet Season timing, the roads were in bad condition. As we reached the midway point of Townsville around 7pm, our driver told us that the roads and especially the bridge over the Tully River were in a precarious position and did we want to try anyways to make it up to Cairns, and of course the whole bus voted to press on. This is where I went to sleep for what apparently were 7 hours. (I’m like a baby—stick me in a moving vehicle and I’m out like a light!) I woke up around 4am to what looked like the bus station of Townsville, and that’s because it was—we had driven over 3 hours up to the Tully Bridge and unable to pass (and Greyhound headquarters would not let us try to wait out the tides) had returned to Townsville. Stellar. With that the bus driver briskly told us he tried his best and Greyhound took no responsibility for our current circumstances, i.e. sitting at an outdoor bus station at 4am with no accommodations to speak of. All I can say is at least it wasn’t raining. We sat on a bench and I called the hostel in Cairns to let them know that we were not going to make it obviously, while R&G fretted about their flight—which they had to check in for in 24 hours! However, in the silver lining category, that is when we met the American girl, Libby, who I’ve been travelling with since—nothing like horrendous situations to bring people together with plenty to talk (complain) about.

Plan B: We waited until the bus office opened two hours later and then booked ourselves for an 11:30am bus. Rach and Greg hung out in Townsville while Libby and I took a ferry to Magnetic Island (just 8km off the coast) for a couple hours to relax by a beach). When we got back at 10:30, Libby overheard a Greyhound worker say all buses were cancelled for the day. Um, when were they going to make that announcement?! Time for Plan C: panic. Rach and Greg were clearly not making their flight out of Cairns, but as luck would have it (all relative here!) they found a fairly reasonable flight from Townsville to Sydney for their connecting flight home. Myself and Libby booked ourselves for a bus for the following day and crossed out fingers that the roads would be open by then, and then we all (along with two Norwegian girls from our boat in the same predicament) went to check into a hostel for the night. Mainly so we could shower—I don’t even want to tell you how long it had been—okay, 5 days. Boy did that shower feel good!

That evening Rach, Greg, and I had a final dinner together and treated ourselves to an all you can eat pancake special/challenge, reminisced about our trip, and had one last Frisbee catch in the town gardens, and a few sing-a-longs (Les Mis of course). They departed early the next day and I just barely held back my tears. I was sorry to see my two fantastic travel buddies go, but they had Hawaii to look forward to, and well, I still had to get myself up to Cairns!

Unfortunately, that was not going to happen that day: all the Greyhound buses for Thursday were cancelled as well. Now my flight was in trouble. Luckily, after speaking with one unhelpful Jetstar representative who said I’d be charged fees to change my ticket out of Cairns, I spoke with another woman who said due to inclement weather the airline would grant me a free date change. Lesson: always call back! I changed my flight to Sunday, as Libby did for her Friday flight, and we headed back to Magnetic Island to make the most of our “stranded in Townsville” day. A great café lunch, nice hike and some lounging by the pool made the day a perfectly pleasant one, and the best news of all was waiting for us at the Greyhound terminal that night: the buses were likely to run the next day.

It was true! Friday morning we caught our bus up to Cairns (with many other fellow backpackers I had come to recognize from camping out in the bus terminals over the past few days). We arrived in Cairns, booked into a hostel, wandered the town, and booked some diving and snorkeling tours for the next day.

The next day while Libby did a more extensive dive trip, I went on a snorkeling trip to two locations on the Great Barrier Reef which is located off the coast of Cairns. The water was choppy and rough (what’s new) but after braving it, we reached a beautiful coral reef, where after a brief scuba lesson, I opted to snorkel over the brilliant shallow reefs. I could see the many fish below being tossed with the water current just like me. After lunch, we headed to the second location and I actually braved up (I’ll admit, I was scared!) and did a 30 minute scuba dive—my first ever! Not a bad place to try it for the first time. It was mesmerizing and completely surreal to swim through the murky opaque turquoise waters before emerging up-close to coral reefs towering up to the surface. After holding a sea cucumber and touching some starfish and coral, we returned to the surface and I was thrilled with my adventure.

Today, Libby and I headed to the airport and parted ways, as she was off to Melbourne and a few more weeks in Australia before heading to Asia herself. Maybe we’ll meet up in Asia, you never know. On the way we had a truly unpleasant experience with our taxi driver who was clearly having a bad day, week, or life. Upon our exiting of the cab and asking if he had change for a $20 he got very huffy and words were exchanged about us trying to rip him off and then I said, please don’t be rude and leave me with such a negative last impression of Australia to which he reply, “Where you come from, it’s not a very nice place.” Boy, talk about chip on the shoulder. But then a salesclerk in one of the airport shops brightened that sour turn. He inquired where I was from and when I replied NYC, he raved about a trip he had taken there and how friendly people had been to him and how much he liked it. I have certainly experienced a fair share of negativity because I’m American, but such a morning just goes to show how useless those generalizations are and how every country is full of good and bad people, friendly and miserable ones. It is just as important in travel to be a good ambassador to your own country as it is to look at another country and its many diverse people with as much fairness as you can muster—even if you (me)would really rather punch the taxi driver (I reported him instead).

As I finally post this (wireless internet is not easy to come by even in the Oz), I’m sitting in a hotel lobby in Darwin in the northern territory, and heading back to the airport in an hour to catch an “overnight” flight (3 hours plus a time change) to Singapore and begin my adventures in Southeast Asia. I am beyond excited! NZ and the Oz have been a great experience but I’ve had my fill of fish n’ chips and I’m ready for some cheap and delicious noodles. I am quite nervous about re-entering a world of sights, sounds, and smells that are utterly foreign, but also very much looking forward to exploring a part of the world that has always seemed so fascinating from afar, that combined with the fact that I could eat Thai and Vietnamese everyday! I don’t have a set plan, just a hazy layout of desired destinations: Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, along the border of Southern China, and Hong Kong. Here’s to figuring it out as I go—did I mention I’m all alone? Yikes and Cheers!