Cairns, Australia (March 8-11)

Cairns

Day 1:
First day in Cairns. I took a flight up in the morning, landed and took a bus to Paradise on the Beach, a comfortable hotel in Palm Cove, a higher end area. I read more of Journey of Awakening, ate lunch, fell into a great nap for three hours, then got up and went South to the city. A true backpacker town, the clubs could be on any Greek Island, or I am sure Phuket. Nothing much happening out in town. Went to a few bars, met a few people, but nothing exciting.

I went to dinner at Spicy Bites, a great little Indian restaurant. I ate outside and read. I ordered a delicious vegetarian spicy dish with Garlic Naan and struck up a conversation with the two guys next to me. They were nice, from Brisbane and here on business. Nick and Pete.

Day 2:
Cairns would just be another small town in the middle of a desert country if it wasn’t for that little Reef that sites to the east. It’s one of the closest locations to the reef, and in addition to hikes and other nature around, it’s grown into quite a ramshackle party town. The bus picks me up at 7:00 Am and takes me to the Quicksilver boat, a large 100 footer that can go up to 35 miles an hour. Armed with Bonine, the rocky waves pass by. A bunch of people on the dive are from a Contiki tour. The last time I dove, in Miami, two years ago, I freaked out on my first descent and had to come to the surface. So I spent the morning meditating and trying to relax. I love to dive and have been on 35 dives, but for some reason, age brings a greater clinging to mortality – or whatever. Anyways, sure enough, on my first dive down, I keep telling my self to relax, but all that happens is the swelling feeling of panic. After fighting it for a bit, I swim up and surface. The dive master, obviously not wanting me within 100 miles of his dive now, says to go back to the boat. I ask for one more chance and reluctantly agrees. I calm down for a minute and then make another go of it and all is well. The little ditty would have had a happy ending if the first dive had actually been worthwhile. It wasn’t. The first dive was to the Tracey’s section of Flynn Reef, and it was pretty boring – boring coral and pretty average fish.

The dive master did hand us some squishy coral (which I am sure he hands every one of the million tourists he takes out to this overly dived place). Halfway through mediocre dive, my mask starts leaking like crazy. Now that I have a mustache, it breaks the seal of the mask and let’s water in. Not interested in the dive too much, I surface, ending early an unrewarding dive.

The second dive is at the Links. Having heard that people who went snorkeling on the first dive actually saw more cool stuff, I switch it up a bit and don snorkeling gear. And yes, I see much more interesting stuff - a four foot shark, a sting-ray, and some very cool coral. Near the surface, the colors are astounding. The myriad of fish are colorful and huge schools of them swim by and part around me. It’s psychedelic at times.

The third dive, at Milln Reef – South Milln, is extraordinary, redeeming my diving experience. The boat stops very near the reef and we dive in a smallest group yet. We descend to 12 meters but the great stuff is up at 8 meters. Here, the multi-layered coral allow to swim up and down, diving down into almost cave-like places to see brightly-colored formations and hiding fish. We see a huge Potato fish. No problems with fear or equipment lead to a very enjoyable end of the day.

On the boat, I meet Jeanette from Toronto and Benjamin from Germany, friendly people who were part of the Contiki Tour. Jeannette, at 29, complained a bit about the trip being a bit young, and that their accommodations were at times a bit dodgy, but said she was having a blast. Benjamin was a computer consultant from Berlin who quit his job as well and was traveling for a months.

So, in preparation for Friday night in the young, hip, backpacker city, I spent some time looking at people and seeing how they dressed. Nobody was wearing $400 Gucci’s hear. They were all wearing Rip Curl/Billabong from top to bottom, with thong sandles. I hate thongs, but figured, “when in Rome”. I’m 35, what do I know about this stuff. So, out on Thursday night I take note of what everybody’s wearing at the bars – thongs, billabong short sleave shirts, etc. I go on Friday, before going home, to one of the myriad of stores in the Cairns that carry these uniforms and I buy a “Elwood” shirt, which I found out later is “the” hip place in Melbourne for those in the know, and a pair of thongs. I go home, and am deciding do I wear these thongs that seem so cheap? How do people dance in these? What about beer spillage? But I say, OK, I saw everybody out in Cairns last night with them, so it must be the thing to do. I put them on, hop on the 45 minute bus (yes, it was like I was living in the upscale “Boca” of the Cairns) and headed down the “South Beach” – downtown Cairns. I get there, pretty excited, and walk to my first bar, the Mad Cow, which some of the backpackers I had met had said was a good place to start the night. However, as I am walking over there, I notice that everybody tonight has shoes on, not sandles. Hmmmm, I think to myself, this is not good. I go up to the door and the guy looks at me, and is about to let me in when he glances at my shoes. “Oh, sorry, no open toed shoes allowed. Nobody in Cairns will let you in with those.” I simply say, “you have no idea how ironic that is”. On Thursday, nobody was going into clubs, so they all wore the sandals. There is a deep and spiritual lesson in there somewhere.

Personal growth
Personal growth. I have known for some time now about the importance of inner peace, tranquility. It’s hard to remember back just a few years to what I was thinking, when my mind was a million different ways, and I did not even know I should be wrestling for control. In that way, I was probably less developed than most people half my age. A year ago, in Costa Rica, I somehow knew the importance of separation, not allowing myself to get attached to anyone or anything. I didn’t learn this directly in my psychological counseling, but I think it hinted at it.
Now, I am beginning a real quest for it. Somehow, I picked up the book Happiness, and it said the strangest but truest reality, one that I am not sure how I have avoided in my life – your happiness has nothing to do with external factors, it’s all about how you choose to view your life. Quieting of one’s mind, control over negative thoughts, simplifying ones life, all lead to truer happiness. Intuitive material I have known all along.

My big problem with the Journey of Awakening and the spiritual life it suggests is how to connect it to the deep feeling that I want to do something significant for the world. I might be able to end my attachment to feelings and thoughts and external influences, but once that happens (a long process, but I am skipping to the end) how can I join that freedom to other goals. Obviously, the answer might be that these things are not really compatible and when I have obtained freedom, I won’t want the first things, but is that really how I want to live? Long way off, for now, I am focusing on calming the mind, focusing it on a simpler, more productive and happy life.