Cairns, Australia

Unfortunately for Singapore, my lasting impression of it will be the Mitsubishi hand dryer I used there, which looked like a sandwich toaster glued vertically to the wall and definitely as if it would be a very bad idea to put your hands in it.

Cairns also left an impression of leaving no impression... it was nice enough but very touristy and basically a jumping off point for the reef and not much else. I got to experience jet lag and culture shock there for the first time though, which was exciting ;-) The jet lag was primarily sleep deficiency (the time difference was just two hours), caused by a 4.5 hour flight that stopped in Darwin at 3am, then a 40-minute wait and a 3.5 hour flight to Cairns; all with a couple of screaming kids on board. I hope to become more tolerant of screaming kids with age... there was an elderly lady who came up to one family with screaming boy near me and commented on how good he had been and that she'd hardly heard him at all. Whereas I'd been grinding my teeth throughout the flight! Other than that the journey was okay and going through customs was easy - I left my walking boots at the top of my bag and customs whisked them off to clean off any South-East Asian soil and they were back in seconds and I was thanked for declaring them.
The culture shock (which I think I can claim not to have had anywhere before, not even travelling to SA) is mainly because they treat backpackers differently here compared to Asia - which I expected to a certain extent but it's taking some getting used to. By differently I mean travelling itself is easier and efficient, and the locals are proud to show off their country and want you to confirm that it's wonderful all the time; whereas in Asia some locals are after your money, some are genuinely friendly, but a lot of Asians will acknowledge that their countries are flawed, and sometimes admire your skin and your culture to the point of sycophantism. Instead of being addressed as 'Miss' or 'Ma'm' I've become 'doll' or even 'my dear'. The locals are very nice though, in case I'm giving the wrong impression, and so are the many international backpackers who work in the hostels, internet cafes and restaurants. The cost of a mid-range room in Asia buys you a hostel room in Oz, which is usually decked out in a way reminiscent of Big Brother houses - cheaply but cheerfully. A decent night's sleep is keenly awaited - snoring and partying roommates have prevented this so far. The communal bathrooms have been clean - I don't miss squat toilets or cockroach audiences! There's a good variety of food available but at a price (10$ [5 pounds] for a kebab! Is that normal?). I'm primarily self-catering and when I eat out the cheapest food is all deep-fried/fatty - but maybe that will improve as I try other eateries! What also comes under the category of culture shock is probably how different the backpacker mentality is here - primarily focused on drinking and throwing yourself off cliffs, or other artificial adventures. It makes me think their attitude is that there isn't anything really worth seeing or doing in Oz and feel they have to resort to expensive adrenalin rushes! But maybe Australia just attracts a certain type as it's easy to navigate... luckily I've also met more like-minded travellers and we were bemoaning the party type! I will get used to everything, including the cold. When I say cold I mean ca. 25 degrees... while everyone else strolls aorund in t-shirts, shorts etc. I'm shivering in my hoodie! Port Douglas was a pleasant enough seaside town with lots of families strolling around (it's school holidays until mid-July) and my trip to the Great Barrier Reef was really good. We reached the Outer (Agincourt) Reef within two hours or so on a medium-sized boat (that's less than a hundred people) and I teamed up with two American, one Australian and three French girls (some of whom were in my hostel too). We got to spend five hours on two sites with a lunch break inbetween. In the morning I went scuba diving and was so very glad I'd been before! Even though it was an introductory dive with several first-time divers the briefing was just 20 minutes and mainly revolved around the joking description of how your lungs will burst if you ascend too quickly. There was very little other useful information in it (like how to prevent ascending too quickly)! I went down in a group of four and the last girl to get in the water promptly panicked and got straight out as she couldn't breathe (I heard later that two boys from the other group didn't go either as they had panic attacks and problems equalising). The other two girls in my group did rather well, all things considered, though one of them crashed into me a couple of times...probably because maintaining neutral buoyancy was not in the briefing... I actually enjoyed snorkelling more on this occasion - also because the second site (where I snorkelled) was a bit better and I got to see a turtle, reef shark, and flutenose fish (my favourite). On the boat ride back to Port Douglas I felt really sea sick though, as the sea was choppy and the boat was jumping and slapping against the water all the way. To make up for it, we saw minke whales (or rather their jets of water!). Today was spent on the beach and a nice grassy lookout point with some of the girls I met on the boat, and on the bus on the way back to Cairns I got my first glimpse of wallabies, or kangaroos, which was exciting for me (and only me, as the others on the shuttle were Australians). Tomorrow I'm off to Mission Beach at 7am and have two days there without activites, so hopefully will spend it catching up on sleep and warming myself in the sun! My itinerary is filled and my accommodation booked until the 17th, which makes things easy. I'm aware I have a lot to fit in in 28 days, so I'm not wasting any time!