JJ´s and Cairns

The moment I stepped off the plane in Cairns, I knew I made the right decision. The warm wind in my hair was the first proof. Who does not get excited by warm temperatures, the sun and almost 30 degrees, especially as a German who just escaped a cold and cloudy environment? The second proof was the kindness I experience as I was leaving the airport. While I was standing outside, a bit lost and fully overwhelmed by where I was standing, a gentleman asked me where I needed to go and if I wanted to share a cap into the city. I totally know about stranger danger, but somehow a guy in a suit and tie did not look much of a threat to me at this moment. You could have probably asked me to go and cuddle a crocodile at this point, as I was so filled with excitement that I did not care too much. I was on such a travel high that I did the only sensible thing at that moment and agreed. But in all seriousness. Stranger danger is real, and we really should not get into a car with strangers unless we have done the math. I have always listened to my gut feeling and still do. I declined a lot of rides in my years of traveling because I did not feel good about it. Always trust your instincts and make sure you take some measures of safety when traveling. I did even in this situation. But at that moment I had a good feeling and got into my first cap Down Under. Not only did they drop me off near my hostel (never let them know the exact location you want to get off) he would also not let me pay because: "It's on my way anyway and this is my welcome gift to you. Welcome to Australia." What a great way to start my new life.

My absolute enthusiastic self walked the last few meters to the JJ's Backpackers hostel. Filled with confidence, ready to take on the world and absolutely thrive in my new life, when I crashed into the gate. It was locked....

So there I was staring at this locked gate that stopped me in my track, absolutely confused why it was closed. Didn't they know I was coming? I was on a roll, why would they kill my buzz. There was nothing else to do but to call the number that was pinned to the front gate. I did not wait too long and after a few minutes my guardian angel arrived. The legendary driver of JJ's backpackers. King of the shuttle and one of the kindest, funniest and most caring human beings I have had the privilege of meeting and a person I am still occasionally in touch with to this day. He was the first person of an incredible group of people that were introduced to me later that day and week. The only issues I had from the start was that I did not really understand his British accent too well, so who knows what he said to me, sorry mate I really tried.

It did not get any better when the Scottish, Welsh and Irish entered my world. I learned to love them to pieces, but it was a rough start. I wanted to come to Australia to learn English, and now I was surrounded with some of the world's most difficult accents. My first week was filled with nodding, smiling and trying not to make a fool out of myself and to get the kind of sarcasm and jokes they made. How do you know if you have mastered a language? By understanding your first joke. Which in my case took a few months.

Our hostel community grew really dear to my heart. I loved spending time with them after work. The nights we spend outside the hostel, playing guitar, learning and singing the 4 Chord song and "Wonderwall", learning the Italian way of cooking, spending hours and hours at the Lagoon, strolling through the bars at night, hiding from gunshots outside the hostel or simply turning our pool into a whirlpool (which creates currents so strong, they can really take out a grown man) are now important memories that I will never forget and cherish for the rest of my life.

I had saved a bit of money prior to flying to Australia, but I knew right from the get-go that I would soon need to get a job to stay on top of things. I wanted to stay a year, maybe even two, and that meant earning and saving some money. So I did the only reasonable thing you did back in those days. I printed a handful of resumes, walked around the area and handed them out, trying to find someone who was interested in hiring somebody who spoke broken English. I managed to get a cleaning job at the hostel to work for free accommodation and soon after managed to get a job with the kitchen at the Oasis Kebab shop right on the Esplanade opposite the lagoon, where I learned how to make Kebabs, do the breakfast and coffee service and bake pizzas in the afternoon. It really was an all around service and helped me immensely to practice my language skills. It was a great job and as we had a lot of different nationalities come through our place. This was also the moment I was introduced to the tomato lady. There is a really rare bread of people in this world who make it their lifes mission to frustrate people who are just starting to learn a new language. When she ordered her breakfast, she suddenly got really frustrated with me and did not want me to add tomatoes (təˈmɑː.təʊ) to her breakfast but add tomatoes (təˈmeɪ.t̬oʊ) instead. She refused any other form of pronunciation on her plate and got louder and louder while trying to get her order across. It took me a really long time to understand what exactly she wanted from me, and that she apparently believes that her pronunciation of tomatoes (təˈmeɪ.t̬oʊ) taste better. It is however a perfect example of how one experience can shape your entire world. To this day, I refused to call tomatoes the way she wanted it back then.

Starting my adventure in Cairns did feel like jumping out of an airplane. It was the most nerve wracking start to my adventure. I really jumped into the unknown. Learning about the culture, getting to know some awesome local and fellow international travelers, and getting my toes wet for the first time in a whole new world. A world that had just seemed to open up. I was free to choose where I wanted to go and what I wanted to see and how long I wanted to stay. And so I sat down and rolled out my Australia map and made a plan. A plan to travel down the entire east coast with nothing to stop me.