My trip to Cairns has left me on this incredible high. The past several days have been some of the most awesome days of my life. I returned to Brisbane yesterday afternoon and my mind has been reeling, trying to figure out how to use words to make you feel the way I’m feeling, but I don’t think it’s possible. Here is my best shot (warning: this is a very long post, but I hope you’ll stick with me!)…

I arrived in Cairns in northern tropical Queensland on Tuesday night with my friends Kelsey and Jordan. The city itself is not much to look at, but I had heard so many wonderful things about Cairns because of its proximity to the reef, waterfalls, and rainforests. Before we even got there, we had booked tours to explore all of the above.

When the bus dropped us off at our hostel downtown, we were already in awe. Gilligan’s was the biggest, nicest “hostel” I’ve ever stayed at. We had access to an outdoor bar and salt-water pool with a miniature beach and waterfall. At night, the “restaurant” area transformed into a nightclub. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), our room was directly above the club… we checked into our room, exhausted from traveling, and attempted to hit the sack early so we could be up for our 7am tour the next morning, but the room was bumping from the music downstairs. Luckily, free ear plugs at reception ensured we wouldn’t be too groggy to hit the reef in the morning.

Day 1: Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef

On Wednesday morning, we threw on our togs, sunnies, and thongs, said goodbye to our hostel roommates (two very cute, blonde boys from Sweden) and headed down to the dock to board our catamaran to the reef. Our tour took us to two different snorkeling spots, Michealmas Cay and Paradise Reef. The trip there took about an hour and a half, but we had no problem lying out on the boat deck, soaking up the sunshine. While we chilled out with the salty air blowing in our faces, we overheard a couple girls chatting next to us and recognized their familiar accents. They were all American, and one of the girls was from New Jersey, only a half hour away from my hometown. I can’t remember her name, let’s call her… Sheila. Well, Sheila is almost thirty, a travel agent, and her job allows her to travel all around the world. It was so much fun talking to her about her experiences around the globe. She’s traveled the States, Europe, South America, Asia, and now she’s backpacking around Australia. She hasn’t been “home” in years, and she loves her life on the road. I love meeting Americans who are wanderers because it’s so refreshing to see others breaking away from that common mindset that travel is “unusual.” Something Sheila said really stuck with me – you only have one life, and the world is a huge, amazing, beautiful place. Go and see it! Explore! Unless you are thousands of dollars in debt, you have no excuse not to. It’s so incredibly easy to buy a plane ticket and go. You aren’t missing out on anything back home. We looked around at ourselves, tanning in our bikinis on a catamaran on the Great Barrier Reef… “This is winning.”

American wanderers

Besides making friends with strangers, the snorkeling was amazing, too. The water at the reef is warm, crystal clear and turquois blue. There were fish everywhere I looked, and once I swam far enough off the beach, brightly colored coral, clams, starfish, and anemones covered the ocean floor. I found myself floating on the top of the water, staring down at everything below in absolute awe. From above, I probably looked like a floating dead body, but it was necessary to be still and take it all in. We rented an underwater camera for the day and took some pictures swimming with the fish. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any sea turtles which I was really sad about, but on the boat ride back to Cairns, a pod of eight dolphins began swimming alongside our catamaran, and watching them play around us made me forget a little about those missing turtles.

Snorkeling at Michaelmas Cay

Day 2: Uncle Brian and the Waterfalls

We had another early day on Thursday for Uncle Brian’s Tablelands and Waterfalls tour. We were to board a bus at 7:30am that would take us to the Atherton tablelands west of Cairns. We were greeted by our tour guide “Cousin Brad,” a tall, gangly guy with shaggy long hair, a missing tooth, and the thickest Aussie accent. “I’m Cousin Brad, the family you never knew you had, and probably wish you never would have met by the end of the day,” he greeted us as we boarded the bus. He introduced us to each other, our “family” for the day, and to the bus who he had named Gus. Gus the bus was old, beaten up, on the verge of a breakdown at any moment. Cousin Brad told us when Gus sputtered or stalled, we had to pet the windows, the seats, the ceiling to make Gus feel better. Obviously, Cousin Brad was crazy. Once Gus was on the road, we were trapped for the rest of the day, and I’m not going to lie, I wanted to pull my hair out or punch Cousin Brad in the face or both because the guy did not shut up. He told us ridiculous stories. He made us play ridiculous games. But ultimately, Cousin Brad was the most awesome tour guide because he actually treated us like a family (and referred to us as “family” all day), which in turn made us become close friends. His ridiculousness made us have so much fun.

I'm missing Gus already

Our first stop on the tour was Josephine Falls, where we slid down natural rock slides into a pool of ice cold water. We slid down the slippery rocks – sitting, spinning, feet first, face first, holding hands, hanging onto each other in chains. The only rule was that the boys couldn’t try to surf down the rocks to impress the girls because after all, that’s how Cousin Brad lost his tooth. At one point, Cousin came up to me and said, “So Liz, have you ever ridden a horse?” And next thing I knew, I was riding Cousin down the rock slide. We all had a blast. On our way back to Gus, Kelsey and I ventured off the beaten path with a few of the guys we met – James from England, Jens from Germany, and Chris from Sweden – to the waterfall area where we cliff jumped into the falls.

Mega chain down the rock slide

After all the slipping and sliding, we had definitely worked up an appetite and headed to lunch. We stuffed our faces with the feast that “Mr. Lunch” provided and then continued on directly to the next waterfall. We all probably grew up with lectures from our parents on the dangers of swimming after eating – you know, the whole wait-an-hour rule – but Cousin Brad reminded us that in Australia, EVERYTHING is backwards. So swimming right after eating was a good thing. No cramps. In fact, all those calories would just immediately disappear, so hitting the water sooner rather than later was a must. We headed to Milla Milla Falls. At Milla Milla Falls, we could swim under the 18 meter waterfall, get a free little massage as the water beat down on our backs, and sit on the rocks behind the falls. Before leaving, Cousin Brad required all of us to do a photo shoot for him, mimicking the Herbal Essences “hair flip” in the water. In his eyes, we were all models.

Perfecting the hair flip

The last stop on the list was Lake Eachman, a lake filling a dormant volcano. The water was warm and we climbed trees and jumped into the lake. The day essentially consisted of eating and jumping off of things into large bodies of water. By the time we headed back to Gus, the sun was setting, and Cousin set up a nice picnic with hot chocolate and marshmallows to warm us up. Even though we were all wiped out as we drove back to Cairns, Cousin Brad did not let us sleep. He blasted music, he told us more stories, he challenged us to dance competitions, and we even did the Harlem Shake at a traffic light and put on a show for a group of construction workers. When we finally made it back to Gilligan’s, the party wasn’t even close to over. We got several rounds of free beers with dinner and everybody continued the party long into the night. And once we stepped off of Gus, we were no longer family – we were friends – so it was okay for things to get a little rowdy.

Jordan and I at the Lake

Day 3: Swinging from elastic

Kelsey and I had this idea in the back of our heads that we wanted to do something a little more daring while in Cairns. We mentioned bungy jumping to a few of the boys from Uncle Brian’s, and we made a plan the night before to meet for breakfast in the morning and sign up to jump later on in the day. After a late night, we didn’t expect any of them to show, but we were extremely surprised to find our new friend Jens waiting in the lobby, locking us into this crazy stunt. To be honest, I always told myself bungy jumping was one thing I would never try… I love the rush of adrenaline, but bungy jumping has always scared me. Hey, I still don’t even know how to dive into a pool of water because going face first freaks me out. But facing my fear was the coolest thing I’ve ever done. Jens, Kelsey and I bungied from a 50 meter platform in the middle of the rainforest. My palms started to sweat just walking up the stairs to the platform, and standing on the edge almost gave me a heart attack. I stood shaking, looking out at the beach all those kilometers away, and thinking there was no way I was going to be able to jump. But I didn’t even have a choice because when they counted 3, 2, 1… it ended with a push and I was falling. Falling into nothingness. It was disorienting but exhilarating, and every time I close my eyes I imagine that fall and feel like I’m flying.

Day 4: Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation

After three amazing days in Cairns, we ended with a more relaxing day: a tour of the oldest living rainforest on the planet. We drove three hours north of Cairns to the Daintree rainforest, cruised down a river infested with crocodiles, went on a short bushwalk, and saw heaps of lizards and giant insects. We entered sacred aboriginal ground and experienced a cleansing ceremony, which consisted of us walking through a stream of smoke. We ate lunch at Cape Tribulation and saw the place where Steve Irwin died, and we went swimming at Mossman Gorge. We saw a lot of beautiful places, but to be honest, I was so wiped out from the past three days that I fell asleep every time I sat on the bus – and there was a lot of driving involved that day.

Cape Tribulation

When we got back to Gilligan’s that night, I had my own little adventure with Jens. I guess the week was filled with trying new things, and with the little bit of energy I had left, I let him teach me how to skateboard. I’m maybe the least athletic person I know, so it took some guts for me to go and make a fool of myself with someone I had just met. We walked down to the lagoon and he dragged me along the boardwalk while I caught my balance. I have to admit he was a great teacher and by the end of the night I looked like a pro. But mostly my favorite part was just goofing around and talking to him, hearing his story and getting to know him on a personal level. It is amazing how throwing yourself into a new place with new people and sharing experiences with them can change you.

A friend once told me to look at life as if it were a puzzle. Each experience we have is a piece to our puzzle, something that will make the big picture clearer and show us something about who we are and why we are here. We grow and learn from every single one of these experiences, but it is impossible to have every experience that exists, leaving empty spaces in the puzzle. That’s where other people come in. Each person who happens into our lives is there for a reason – to give us another puzzle piece. They share experiences with us through their stories, giving us something we don’t have, and may never have without them. Not only does travel bring us new experiences, but it also brings us new people. Cairns taught me a lot about myself. It brought out my adventurous side, and it also introduced me to people and their stories. Meeting people who are traveling on their own, making their way around the world, seeing and experiencing as much as possible, has left me inspired. I feel like I have been bitten by the travel bug and am filled with this overwhelming desire to go and see the world. I owe it to myself to fill my life with everything that is wonderful.

On that last night in Cairns, clouds filled the sky. You could barely make out the moon, let alone the stars. But before heading back to Gilligan's, we looked up just in time to see the clouds part and a shooting star passed over our heads. We just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and I like to think it was sending us on our ways to our next adventures.