b r a v e c r e a t u r e s

Originally, Dingo and I were going to Harbor Party in Sydney last weekend. Wee had planned to go as a bit of an adventure and to let our hair down. Then Dingo decided that he didn’t want to spend the money and so I was going on my own.

Then came Midsumma T dance, at which I had a very nice time thank you very much, and I felt like I had enough of the disco for the time being. As much as I do enjoy a boogie, there are just so many other things I also want to do.

So I cancelled Sydney. Just in time to find out that my fabulous French friend, Jerome, was going to have to head back to London early and wasn’t going to be making it back to Melbourne.

Given my current employer, it’s not actually surprising that my boss suggested that I “work from home”, i.e. the flights, Friday afternoon and Monday morning so that I would have time to get up to Cairns to join Jerome on the last leg of his trip. Have I mentioned recently how great my job is?

So some diary juggling, a cheap flight booking and a call to a now very excited Frenchman later and I was on my way to Cairns for the weekend.

I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I haven’t done much traveling in Australia, so this was my first time in Far North Queensland so this trip was pretty exciting. On top of which it felt like the sort of spontaneous thing I used to do all the time and haven’t done for a few years. It’s nice to feel like I am getting back to THAT person.

Jerome was kind of embarrassed about the place we were staying, a small gay guesthouse called Skinny Dips, because it was not 5 star but to be honest it was absolutely fine. The beds were comfortable, the air con worked without freezing us, there was plenty of hot water and the toilets flushed. Don’t need much more.

I actually suspect that he was bunging the embarrassment on a little to tease me for being shy about my apartment which is small and clean and suits me fine, but isn’t Clarendon Ave. Well perhaps “clean” is stretching things. I suspect I need to attack the tub this weekend.

Anyhow, Skinny Dips was fine and were not confronted by too many people exercising their clothing “options”. We actually ate at their restaurant a couple of times and the food was pretty good.

Next morning we were picked up to go diving at the reef. I haven’t been since I got my PADI certification in 1998 and Jerome has only been on a resort dive so we were both pretty excited to see the reef. Since the intro dive group was full, Jerome decided to stick to snorkeling while I joined the certified divers.

Everyone goes on about how amazing the reef is, so I will avoid doing so here, but what I will say is that I had forgotten how peaceful diving is. It’s the closest I get to a meditative state. With nothing to occupy my mind but the sound of my breath and the slow moving, graceful blue around me I slip into a calm that has few parallels.

There were three dives that day, and I went on the first and the last snorkeling with Jerome on the middle one. You get pretty much the same view snorkeling from the surface without the enveloping calm, but I didn’t want Jerome to feel like he was missing out too much.

The rest of the cruise was fun and interesting with a youngish and dynamic crowd, although I will say everyone largely kept to their groups. The only folks who seemed interested in mingling were some rowdy American dykes, one of whom was vowed and determined to use my prehistoric Mardi Gras contacts to promote her Indy band. Unsurprisingly she was from LA. Her friends however were great.

There were even a couple of queens from Melbourne showing a New Yorker galpal of theirs the reef. In typical Melbourne fashion, they pretty much stuck in their clique with little, although not no, attempt at interaction. Given I actually knew one of them, it was a little disappointing, but to be honest I am getting past wondering or worrying about this sort of behavior.

There were more interesting things on the boat to think about, specifically in the shape of an attractive, late 20 something, “strait” American couple. They were fairly friendly, but any time she wandered off the very well groomed male became VERY friendly. On a number of occasions he all but followed Jerome into the change room. I suspected

After a wonderful day out, Jerome and I had dinner in the Cairns restaurant district at a very average Italian place. As average as the food was, the conversation and the company were great.

Next post….

The Daintree, septuagenarian Canucks and the attack of the tree frog .