In L-O-V-E

Que?? You might be saying. Just thought I needed to practice a bit of spanish, but it is pretty appalling. Anyways the more thorough understandable blog entry for today:

I spent about four days in Cairns at a really nice hostel on the outskirts of the city, just a short walk from the centre. My first night was a pretty early one and I managed to catch up with my sleep.

The next day, I woke up late and had a fairly day lazing around the hostel. I went for a run and explored the city. I went out to a bar that is popular with the backpackers in the area that night. I met a couple of swiss guys who are at the end of their six week Australia trip and ended up hanging out with them most of that night.

Saturday I went on 3 dives on the great barrier reef. It was absolutely amazing! It was breathtaking. Not quite as amazing at the Galapagos, but not too far off. There was all sorts of wildlife, but the coral is what was really spectacular. I am still absolutely blown away by it all. I really wanted to do one the next day, but unfortunately didn't have hte money or the time. I saw turtles and 3 metre sharks! As well as sorts of fish. I saw a cuttle fish for the first time which was pretty interesting.

When I booked my dive, I got a free trip to Green Island the next day. It's a little island 50 minutes from Cairns. It was definitely beautiful and I got to do some snorkeling. It was pretty good as well and I saw a turtle.

On sunday night, I went out to dinner with the two Swiss guys. Christian caught a 3kg coral trout which was apparently worth over $100. They took it to a local restaurant along with another fish and the chef cooked it up four different ways. They were all pretty pleased - it was definitely quite amazing. The chef then got to keep the rest. I almost broke my vegetarianism for it, since I knew who caught it, but in the end didn't. The smell was enough to satisfy me though :).

I am on the flight now to Singapore. Am thinking of a change in plans. I am supposed to fly to Bangkok on wednesday but with everything that is going on there now, I am thinking of just making my way through Malaysia into Thailand and then onwards, possibly getting my divemaster in Malaysia. There is a place called Palau Perhentian which is well known for diving. Elvira gave me the name of her exboyfriend who is a free diving instrucor there so I have sent him an email seeing if he can recommend anyone there. If not there is a well known dive school that has been recommended to me.

As for some other news - I managed to apply for a job kind of on a whim. I was with Marco (the other swiss guy), we were chatting and he asked me what my dream was. I said that it was to visit every continent by the time I am 20. That just leaves Antarctica. Not exactly easy to get to, adn I don't know how much time I would really want to spend there. I am neither good with the cold nor any use to anything going on there, but he gave me the idea to find a job on a cruise ship that goes there. I did alittle research and asked around a bit. Somebody put me in touch with a company running out of the southern most point in Argentina. I sent in my CV and an application and have an interview next week. It's in spanish though, which makes it even more nerve wracking. They need people who speak spanish and english. I figure it's a long shot, but still worth one. I would be doing pretty menial tasks, but it would be a fantastic oppurtunity plus a great way to save money. Earning almost a couple grand a month while having no expenses. Am very excited about this idea, and will see what happens. But it never hurts to give it a shot, right?