Australia – quite a rough start, mate!

After a 12h flight marathon (with a delicious 4:00 2-hour stop-over in Darwin), I arrived in Cairns just to find me confronted with freezing fingers and a heart-attack in my wallet: Australia really IS expensive. I can’t believe it! One meal here could make me live for days in Asia. But it’s not Asia, and that’s what counts. After a rather groggy first day and 13 hours of sleep, I finally managed to put myself back together from the bits and pieces that were left of me after the last strenuous days. Although it’s nice to wake up across from the beach, I lack the comfort of the past – free wifi is a no-no here, nobody is excited to see me just because I’m a westerner, people are friendly yet I saw quite some annoying beggars on the streets – the ones that grab your guitar or wanna steel your money. Speaking of it, I bumped into a young Swedish guitarist yesterday who performed on the streets, great skills. I joined him for some hours and found out that he made his money with street music. I will join him tonight again, this time with my guitar…

This morning I spoke to some fellow backpackers and learned that the working situation in Cairns is quite horrible. They spend days already trying to figure out a way to make money – not really the thing you want to hear trying to find a job. Right now I’m chilling at Peterpan’s. I really have no idea where to start. Living expenses are so high here that I can’t really afford to relax, so I need to get going with a job immediately. On the other hand, there is not really any fruit picking left, I would have to leave town right away to find something in the south, but I don’t know whether it’s a viable option. Maybe I should directly head over to Brisbane, but my fellow Backpacker told me that one of the biggest mistakes is to leave town too early…

I keep telling myself that every beginning is difficult, but this beginning is especially difficult. No job, no money, no idea. I really start from scratch. Again.