January 28, 2007 Cairns – Cardwell, Australia

January 28, 2007
Cairns – Cardwell, Australia

Everyone is a hospital seems to wake up early. Thus, I was awake at about 7:30. I was surprised to find that my breakfast was waiting for me as I sat up in bed. Not knowing what else to do, I ate my porridge and watched some TV.

At around 9:00 Spizz wandered into my room. He told me how they slept in Diversity and it was as miserable as ever, way to hot and very cramped. A short while later B came by and we all hung out in the hospital and waited for the doctor to come check on me.

Unfortunately, the doctor never came. I was expecting to be looked at and then checked out but nothing of the sort happened. At around 11:30 B got the nurse for me and I talked her into letting me out of the hospital (a day or two early) so we could continue our journey. Everything seemed quite unorganized and I left feeling as though I may not have been given all of the necessary information…

After leaving the hospital we found a street café and discussed the future of our trip. Spizz spoke of how miserable the van was. I told the boys how I didn’t know what to do because everything I wanted to do in Australia involved the ocean (which I am not supposed to go in for a while). We had no idea what to do…

Unsure of our future we decided to look up some stuff on the internet. I have never wanted to go home so badly. I was in pain, hungry, and desperately wanted someone to take care of me. Still, in the end I decided (after several calls home) that I would continue on for a few days and see how things go.

At around 14:00 we got back in the van and began heading south. I fell asleep almost immediately. When I woke up we were at our destination for the day, Mission Beach. The beach was incredibly beautiful. The rainforest came all the way down to the sand and the beach was long and empty (much like Thailand). Unfortunately, it was raining unrelentingly. We took a quick walk on the beach, snapped a few photos, and then got back in the van and decided to continue heading south.

After driving for about 25 minutes the oil light came on and the car started making a buzzing sound. B (who was driving) immediately pulled over and we immediately noticed that the engine (located in the back of the vehicle) was creating a cloud of smoke. We quickly got out of the vehicle and waited for things to cool down. None of us know much about cars so we felt somewhat helpless.

We waited 45 minutes and then drove 2 kilometers to the nearest rest stop and asked for help. Fortunately, there was a nice couple that let us use their cell phone and call roadside assistance. After making the call there was not much to do except sit and wait (and try to avoid being eaten alive by mossies).

About an hour later a rickety old truck pulled up and informed us that he was sent to help us out. He took one look at the engine and declared that it was “cooked”, that the vehicle would not be driving again. He gave us a tow (which consisted of a rope tying the two vehicles together) into the nearest town, Caldwell (pop. 1,420). We dropped the van off at his shop and then he gave us a ride to a nearby motel.

The motel was surprisingly nice. We had a large room with three beds, a kitchen, TV, AC, and hot water. It was well worth $25 ASD each. To top it all off, there was a spectacular tree-frog just outside our room.

Once we finished checking in the lady working the front desk gave us a ride into town so we could grab a quick dinner. We quickly consumed some hamburgers and walked back to the motel. We settled into our room, took showers, and then watched some Deadwood.

We all fell asleep a few minutes before 23:00.

NOTE: It seems that nothing can go right here in Australia. After 5 months with almost no problems I guess luck is catching up with the trip. As we sat sitting on the side of the road for most of the day, I wished that I had stayed in my hospital bed. Speaking of which, most people were surprised to hear that I was released from the hospital so quickly and everyone has been quite friendly regarding the matter.