Back to Work

Cairns is the kind of place you go to in order to get somewhere else. The sole reason for it being such a popular tourist destination is its proximity to more interesting places. Apparently this is enough however; it's a town based on tourism with the infrastructure to match and it's crawling with backpackers of all shapes and sizes.

It's Rob's last weekend away and he decides he's had enough of being a backpacker. We check ourselves into the luxury of the Rydges Hotel. We sleep in real beds with clean sheets and soft pillows. The ensuite has soft white towels, fast flowing hot water and those quaint little soap and shampoo bottles. I find the whole experience a little unsettling.

We spend a few uneventful nights in the crowded bars of Cairns, and then Rob heads home and back to work. By this stage, I'm definitely ready to leave the bars and the cities behind and to get back to my tranquil life in the car, sleeping under the stars with just the bush around me. This brief side-trip in backpacker-living was fun but it's time to get back to the real business of this odyssey: to get up close and personal with the natural beauty of this rugged land.

It's been over a month since I set off and I decide it’s about time for my first stint of conservation work. A quick email has me signed up as a volunteer at the Mareeba Wetlands, an hour out of Cairns. It's primarily a bird sanctuary and at first glance, volunteer work looks slightly unexciting.

Appearances can be misleading however. In my experience you can never tell where a current is going to take you just by looking at it. The only way to find out is to push your boat out into the stream and see where you end up. It's a good idea to keep your eyes open and be prepared to paddle though, just in case there's a waterfall up ahead.