Diary 1st - 9th December 2000 & Images
from my time in Cairns, Australia.

Friday 1^st December
I fell asleep soon after takeoff and woke up only to eat the lunch that was served during the flight. When next I opened my eyes Brisbane could be seen from the window and we landed 15 minutes later. The weather here is much warmer and the temperature is 39° today. I have a two and a half-hour wait in the airport lounge for my connecting flight to Cairns.

On arrival at the Rhiga Colonial Club Resort I found that as usual the hotel is not used to coping with modern Internet users like myself and I experienced some hassle over getting an ISP. After unpacking I took the hotel courtesy bus and went to town. At the supermarket I bought some breakfast cereal and a few other essentials before visiting an Internet Café. They were helpful and friendly but didn't know any local ISP so as back up by negotiated a deal whereby I could bring my laptop and logon to their server for 15 cents per minute. I told the salesman that I would return next day with my laptop if I wanted to avail myself of this service. It seemed quite expensive but was the best I could do under the circumstances.

Having finished my business in Cairns I took a taxi to Hotel and made farther inquiries from the Yellow Pages to try to find a better deal for uploading my web pages. Perseverance paid off and I soon found a provider who was prepared to let me have an hourly rate of $1.65 with a local telephone number. Normally local calls would cost 25 cents for unlimited duration but the hotel surcharge brings the price to 70 cents per call. This of course is much better than the Internet Café deal which works out at $1.65 for 11 minutes.

The rooms in this resort haqve small windows and are not very bright	but are well appointed with a full range of facilities.	The resort is vast and getting lost if very easy
The swimming pool is beautifully landscaped and relaxing	The Rhiga Colonial Club Resort courtesy bus in town	The harbour has many sailing boats on its waters

Feeling satisfied with my achievements I went back into town and called in at the Gay bar at James St. Here I was made very welcome by the barman and he gave me some information on the local scene. Here too they advised me that there would be a party at Nu Trix, the main gay disco in the town. Since the bar was not very busy and it was early in the evening I went into the city where I found a good selection of eateries and settled for a serve yourself as much as you want Chinese at the Foodhall. This was very reasonable at $13.80 including a glass of excellent Chardonnay wine.

With hunger gone from the belly and curiosity stimulating the mind I went to Nu Trix Disco at 2245 where there was a World Aids Day show taking place. The entrance charge of $15.00 was being donated to the local aids charity. They had many drag acts doing cabaret all of which were pretty amateur, all of which mined and few of which were better than the average amateur drag night in a London bar. Hopefully they made some good funds from the entrance fees but for my money, particularly since I gave a lot of time and effort when I was the volunteer editor for a local HIV and AIDS centre newsletter in London, I felt it was not a good deal. I stayed till 0200 but was never chatted up at all and I saw no one of interest that I felt inclined to initiate any kind of conversation with. I find the Australian gay scene is not very useful to me at all so far. At 0230 I took a taxi back to hotel and feeling a little peckish I had a couple of beef rolls and coffee before gone to sleep at 0320.

After waiting 20 minutes in the office, Chris Melick, the supervisor turned out to be very helpful and a well-informed adviser. I booked a hot air balloon flight, a trip up the mountains on the skytrain and a day's Whitewater rafting. On leaving Trailfinders I went to confirm my diving course that commences on Tuesday. I met an assistant, Kevin, who was very friendly, he booked me in for my course, gave me the necessary documentation to have the required medical and issued me with a diving manual, instructing me to read it and absorb as much as possible before I came to the first days tuition.

In the afternoon I went to Turtle Beach which is a gay owned resort about a 50 minutes coach trip north of Cairns. By the time I got there at 1630 the skies where grey and the sea had heavy breakers with a strong current. I didn't actually do much swimming but played about in the surf for a quarter of an hour with a couple of other chaps who were also enjoying the rough waves. It had been my intention to lie on the beach and read the diving manual, have a few drinks and then dining in the restaurant there. Due to the wind coming in on the beach and having to catch a bus back to Cairns at 1935 I had to revise my plans and spent the afternoon chatting to a couple of guys who were on holiday from Sydney and later a British lawyer named Mark who was very interesting fellow and like myself was travelling alone.

Back at my hotel I dined in the restaurant and had a superb Barracundi fish and a bottle of local white wine before retiring for an early night as I am leaving for the hot air balloon expedition at 0425. The early night did not commence until 0100 in the end as I used my laptop and got carried away as usual.

The journey into the mountains took about an hour during which time the sun rose though the pale-orange skies which were nothing particularly spectacular. Minibuses arrived depositing their cargo of people who then milled around, many with cameras taking photographs of the balloons as they filled up.

The pilot of our balloon was a very skilled young man who had built his own basket and balloon in the past. I learned from another member of the of the Hot Air Cairns company that in their search for the best they'd advertised internationally six months ago and Johan from South Africa had beaten both a Brit and a Canadian to get the job. His family were shipped out to Australia at the companies expense and they are impressed and very satisfied with their choice.

We climbed into the basket of the balloon, 14 of us altogether. The view below of the tableland surrounded on all sides by mountains gave me a feeling of blissful tranquillity and peacefulness. The absolute silence as everyone on board was captivated by the experience was only interrupted periodically by Johann firing the propane cylinders to increase our altitude. We drifted along on the thermal currents at speeds varying from 2 to 22 km per hour and rose to 4.500 feet.

The balloon flights are sold as 30 minute trips with each balloon making a maximum of two trips each morning. A hot air balloon has no steering mechanism of any kind and one has to rely on the understanding of air currents and the directions of prevailing wind if any to control the height and direction of flight. Johan explained that balloon races were not about the speed but about the ability to control where the balloon would land and the pilot landing closest to the spot would be the winner.

There is a camera suspended from the balloon and the pilot takes a couple of photographs of everyone on the trip with a view to selling them later. They are not available for viewing but are sold for $25 which includes postage to the buyers home, from a sample showing a photograph of the balloon and one from each of the two shots that would have been taken in flight.

On arrival at the launch site we found the balloons were already being prepared	Once filled the balloons are loaded and ready for lift-off	Johan fired the burners the balloon slowly lifted us of the ground at six in the morning in such a gentle manner that it was hardly noticeable. The heat from the propane burners was intense as they filled the balloon with hot air.
there was a great atmosphere of excitement and anticipation in the early morning light	Soon we to were airborne and looking down at the final balloon rising up behind us	Here you can see the camera suspended from the balloon. During the flight pilot Johan jokes and asks everyone to look at the camera, then using his remote control he takes a couple of photographs of everyone on the trip
We passed over a quarry	and continued floating effortlessly above the tableland looking down on those following	and looking up we saw a balloon rising ahead of us
Fortunately we had a morning with clear skies and could see every detail of the land beneath	One of the passengers asked Johan to pose for a photograph and this is what be got	He'd already given me his best portrait shot so now I caught him concentrating intensely on his job looking after his passengers safety.
There is little sense of height because there is nothingto make a comparison with, even the balloons falling behind us seem like toys.	As we drifted high and so far away we could see the vehicles following along always keeping in radio contact with a pilot so that when we landed the next party would be there ready to board. The coaches have to follow the balloons as best they can and as we near the end of the first flight	we descend over a farmstead and scrap car merchant's.
On our descent we were able to watch with interest as another balloon touches down briefly to reload for its second flight	All too quickly the first 30 minutes were over and we came down very smoothly and accurately with long and short blasts of hot air as Johan controlled the rate of descent alongside the road some 40 m from where the coach had parked.	There were many Japanese on this trip. The good-looking Japanese chap is called, Asia although he probably spells it differently to this, he wasn't going up again so I took his photograph at the first touchdown.
Of the 14 people on our balloon four alighted and were replaced by 4 others for the second 30 minute flight. Within minutes we were again airborne and left the trailers to follow on. Unlike looking over the edge of a tall building there is no point of reference so I never felt any sense of fear or phobia from the height.	One lady who had been on the first trip and was doing a second round had been pestering me for ages suggesting that I should let her take a photograph of me in the balloon. In the end, to get her off my back I gave her my camera.	It was much brighter by the time the second fight lifted off and the earth below the showed more detail and colour
for the four first timers there was the excitement we others had experienced half an hour earlier	and for us 'seasoned veterans' there was the enjoyment of experiencing it all again	All too soon the flight was coming to an end
We watched as one balloon put down accurately	gliding effortlessly over the farmers tending the crop below	The passengers remained in the basket to give weight and stability whilst the balloon was deflated
After the second and final landing both passengers and crew deflated the balloon,	when all the air had been squeezed out then it was tied	rolled into a ball and put into a canvas bag the balloon was then loaded onto the transporter followed by the basket.
We boarded the coach for a 40 minute journey back toward Cairns where we stopped at this Wool Farm for a champagne breakfast.	Those with video cameras were determined to capture as much as possible of the days event	Finally with breakfast over, photo orders taken and everyone feeling pretty knackered we boarded the coach for the journey back to our respective hotels in Cairns.

All in all an exhilarating morning a unique and enjoyable experience and I arrived back at the Colonial Club before 10 o'clock.

In the afternoon I went into Cairns on the hotel bus. There I passed my medical examination that is required for me to go on the scuba diving course, asked the doctor to give me a prescription for amoxycillin in case I should need it in the future. He wrote it for me without any hassle and I went to the pharmacy to get the prescription. The doctor prescribed four pills per day for a seven day course. I paid for them then opened the box to check that it was the correct ingredient and discovered the pharmacist had given me only 20 tablets. When I queried this she told me it was natural. "Are you telling me it's natural for you to change the doctor's prescription without consulting him or me?"
"That is a normal dose that we give." she reiterated what she said before.
"I understand what your saying and I understood it the first time you said it. My question is why are you altering the prescription quantities that I wish to purchase without any consultation?" I persisted.
"Well it's what we normally do." she concluded adding something about government recommended dosages.
"I don't care what your government recommended dose is I want 28 tablets please as per the prescription I gave you."
"That will cost extra as you have only paid for 20 tablets." She returned behind her dispense counter to make up the difference.
"I have no problem in paying for what I want to buy, but as you've seen I do have a problem with pharmacists who arbitrarily alter my prescription without any consultation." I spoke to her disappearing back.
The sales girl who had served me the incorrect box had been standing listening to this conversation. Addressing her now I asked how much extra I would have to pay. After making some calculation she asked me for a further $2.50 bringing the total to $16.90. I bought some tablets that I thought would prevent my nose from constantly running and assist me in good breathing when I go diving then left the chemists.

Next I went to Woolworths supermarket where l bought some bread and Coca-Cola. Finally I made inquiries about hiring a vehicle for next Monday which is the only day I will have free while I'm Cairns. I discovered that it possible to hire a motor scooter so that may be an interesting alternative for my free day. Back at the hotel I went swimming in the pool before taking a well earned siesta.

The coach left at 7 o'clock for what turned out to be a two-hour journey. We stopped at a staging point after 90 minutes on the way, here we were offered a cup of coffee or tea and a filled roll. We were advised to make any final preparations and be ready to go rafting. There were shoes available to hire for those wearing inappropriate footwear. When I went to check it out I was told that my sandals would do me perfectly.

At our point of entry to the Tully river all 90+ people assembled and were issued with lifejackets and protective helmets.	Most of the rafters were oriental, Japanese, Malaysian and some Chinese. Everyone put what baggage they were carrying on the ground and started to undress.
As the mass of youth changed I noticed a wide variety of colourful boxer shorts appearing.	Once everyone was changed into suitable clothing we stored our fresh dry gear in the coach for safekeeping. The lifejackets were checked and we descended a winding, stepped pathway to the rafts moored some 30 m below. We were sorted haphazardly into groups of seven or eight and allocated randomly to a raft.
My group consisted of Evelyn from Dublin, Gayle from the gold coast near Brisbane, Ted from Korea, Jim from England, Lee from China and one other girl who I think was from Japan. Our group was led by an experienced Australian Rafter named Sean and seen here wearing sunshades.	The weather was warm and fortunately the humidity was not high as we started our voyage down the rapids. Due to the constraints of safety the progression was very piecemeal with all boats stopping after each whitewater stretch and the leaders of the boats taking turn to stand on rocks ahead with ropes to throw in case of people falling overboard and getting into difficulties.
There was also a video and camera crew recording our progress with a view to selling the photos and video later. The water was warm as it splashed over us. The girls screamed as the raft buckled and bent following the contours of the rough bubbling surface water.	The sun came out for lengthy periods warming our clothes which were completely soaked after the second rapid and many of us had been in the water swimming as this was encouraged to give us confidence.

At 1230 we stopped for lunch which consisted of barbecued burgers, sausages and salad with fresh fruit, tea and coffee. By 1300 we were ready to set out again for the afternoon ride which turned out to be more continuous and great fun. The day finished at 1600 by which time the party had travelled 14 km on the exhilarating whitewater rapids. Here at the end of the run the tranquil stretch allowed the convoy of 12 rafts to come together enjoy free swimming time and allow the adrenalin levels to lower.

Each team carried the raft from the water to the transport vehicle before changing into dry clothing and catching the coach back to the staging point. Here we were given a snack of potato wedges, shown copies of the pictures that had been taken and the first ten minutes of the video. I ordered five photographs and a copy of the video.

On the two-hour journey back to our respective hotels most of the passengers including myself spent the time sleeping and recovering our energy. I spent the evening in the hotel dining in the restaurant and then working on my computer in order to relax after having had such an energetic day my body was very tired. I went to sleep at 0100.

After lunch we went to the Pro-dive shop where we were shown all the equipment and I purchased a pair of fins, boots, a snorkel and a mask. The total cost about £123. I am hoping that by having my own properly fitting equipment I will feel more confident and it will give me an added incentive when we go on the boat tomorrow. I have lost nearly all my sun tan after spending so much time in the water. In the evening we went to a lecture and sideshow about the barrier Reef but I was very tired and kept falling asleep. Shared a taxi back to the hotel with two of the German lads, Hans and Frank. They are dong the course in German with Mick. We went to the bar and had beer and dinner together before I came to my room. I packed my bags ready for the morning.

It was an early ending social affair and I took a Taxi back with Hans and Frank. At the Colonial Club we took a couple of beers in the pool bar, then gossiped as fellows do before we all called it a day and turned in at 2330 pretty tired but happy, well fed and a little imbibed.

Back in my room exhausted after the intense efforts and concentration of the last five days I fell asleep straight away.