Cairns- a series of unfortunate events

"I'm sorry but your trip to the Great Barrier Reef has been cancelled due to weather conditions, but we have other tours to offer..." This was a phone conversation I had three years ago when I came to visit Australia. I was so bummed. How do you come to Australia and not see one of the seven natural wonders of the world? Obviously, God had other plans. I did manage to visit Fraser Island instead, which was a great trip and something I wouldn't have done otherwise.

However, I was determined to see the Reef this time, Lord-willing. So I booked a side-trip to Cairns (pronounced kans) and decided to visit for a few days in case one didn't work out. Looking back, I could've gone for at least a week! I didn't realize there are so many places to see around Cairns! Oh well...I'll just have to come again. :) None the less, I actually managed to see and do a lot during my four day stay. 

Now, this blog wouldn't be complete if I didn't miss a train at least once. I can now check that off the list. Since my hosts were in the midst of moving houses, it was easier all around if I took the train to the airport. I had planned out my train route online, including times. But this ended up a futile attempt as I walked up to my train platform only to watch it chug away. The next train left about 15-20 minutes later which meant I would miss my connecting train. I just hoped this wouldn't mean missing my flight as well! If I'd been flying out of LAX, I probably would have. As it turned out, there was a connecting train which gave me enough time to check in, find my gate, and board 20 minutes later. Rather, I would've boarded 20 minutes later but our flight was delayed half an hour. I began to wonder what kind of trip this would be. So far, I was getting sick, I'd missed my train, and now the flight was delayed. I just hoped the flight would work out ok! 

Thank goodness it did and I was actually really pleased that my ears didn't hurt except for take off and landing. Answer to prayer! 

At 11:00pm, after my flight had landed, I experienced not one, but TWO milestones in my life. I hired a car all by myself, then drove a manual car on the wrong side of the road, all by myself. My cute, brand new Hyundai (which I named Koala, or Koa for short) and I began our adventure...and what an adventure. I didn't have a GPS (I should've) but had printed out directions to my new host home. What should've taken me 15 minutes tops, turned into over an hour. The directions were completely fine, but trying to find the non-existent (well, they were there, but not always...and definitely not in prominent places) street signs became my new challenge...WHILE driving on he wrong side with a backwards stick shift. Talk about a mental exercise! I'm happy to report that I managed to stay on the correct side, but missed my street literally every time! And it was hard to know if I'd missed a street because my old-school map-on-a-paper wouldn't tell me "redirecting route." I had to rely on real maps, intuition, and at one point a couple decent looking fellows outside of McDonalds. Shortly after 1am, I arrived. I felt so bad for keeping up my host family! But they were really kind and fortunately had teenagers so they were used to late nights. :) We chatted over a cup of tea to get acquainted and soon went to bed.

Meet Koa: