Oz – My First Few Days

Having arrived in Australia 3 days ago, I’ve had a chance to have a quick look around. First of all, my jet lag is non-existent! But I slept for pretty much the whole journey which made it easy! My first stop was (still is) Cairns, in Queensland. I came here because of the weather mainly, it’s colder everywhere else at this time of year (July) as it’s the winter season now!

I thought I’d lightly point out negatives before I point out all the amazing positives (so far… in only 3 days!!!)

Hostel Issues
I stayed at Gilligans Backpacker Hostel & Resort for my first few nights. I had booked and paid for a weeks stay, however, due to these reasons, it was cut short, and I left to stay somewhere else.

• Cockroaches! – Yup! Lots of them. In the kitchen mainly, in the cupboards and definitely on the floor.
• Dampness in the room! My bed was so damp, that it got the point where I kept waking up thinking I was wet! Then this spread unfortunately to my suitcase and my clothes began to get damp.

Luckily, this was the only downside to the Hostel for me. It’s very loud! As there is a club attached, but this is all expected.

I just spent the past few days exploring Cairns and the little quirky things it has to offer. (These are free things, as I am being careful with money until I have a job)

The beach of course is just dreamy! No one can complain about the beach. Just 30 minutes on the bus to Holloway’s beach and you’re in for a real treat!

There is also a pier about a 5 minute walk from this hostel, which has some gorgeous landscape views, and attracts the sun and cranks up the heat if you want a good sunbathing session!

The Lagoon!! I found this by accident, and I am so glad that I did. I recognised it immediately as it is on all the posters or pictures of Cairns. But it’s a great place to hang out, as it has an artificial beach, some greenery and a huge swimming pool to cool off in.

There’s a big shopping centre (like a mall) about 5 minutes walking distance from Gilligans hostel too. Which made food shopping and other “essential” shopping very convenient.

So far I have set up an Australian bank account! And got an Australian sim card in my phone. This is great as it means when I find a job, I already have somewhere for my hard earned money to be paid into! And I have an Aus phone so I can use 4G when I’m out and about! Perfect.

I do have a huge list of things I want to do in Cairns. But that’ll probably be another blog post!!

This is short but sweet, just a “settling in” post really. Trying to get back into the swing of blogging as it’s been so long.

How did you like this post? What do you think of Cairns so far from reading this? Let me know by commenting below!

Jame,