"Rocked to sleep" has a whole new meaning....

My three weeks were up and I had to say goodbye to NZ.  Haven and I had a blast but I know her husband missed her and I was ready to see a new country.   I admit that the rest of the trip has a very tough act to follow.

Flights to Cairns would take a little over 6 hours and I had a 3 hour+ layover in Sydney so my whole day was pretty much travel.   The only real drama came when I had a mile panic in the airport b/c I thought I missed my flight.  The conversation with the random Qantas flight attendant went like this:

Me: "I'm on the flight to Cairns which says it leaves from Gate 8"

Qantas: "That is Gate 8 (pointing to the giant 8 right beside us.

Me: "I know but that doesn't say Cairns and there is no plane"

Qantas: "Did you check the Departure board?"

Me: "Yes it says Gate 8 and that is Gate 8 but there is no plane."

Qantas: "What time does it depart?"

Me: "7:20"

Qantas: "It's 5:20"

Me: "Oh"

So turns out there is a little time-change between Australia and NZ.  Oops.

I also realized that I was rolling in Cairns at 10:30pm and had no reservation.  Given that most of the places I was staying didn't have night managers at the desk I thought this might be a problem I should have addressed prior to boarding my plan in NZ.  Luckily, I used my 2 new hours in Sydney figuring out how to use the phone system and found out that the highly recommended hostel had a 24 desk.  Crisis averted.

I got to the hostel about 11:30 and the place was definitely in full Saturday night party mode.  The hostel has a huge club and it was rocking.   It actually looked like fun but I was still nursing a little of the remeants of my Friday night party and working on only a few hours of sleep.  Plus it was 1:30 by NZ standards.

I tell the guy behind the desk that I'm exhausted and looking forward to sleeping.  He was nice I don't think he was the sharpest knife in the drawer.  I think he was trying to do me a favor and he put me in my own room.  Unfortunately he put me in the rooms directly about the crazy club.  The bunk beds were literally shaking whenever a song with heavy bass played.  I could hear the crowd singing along to all the favorites.

The place was pretty nice and had a bathroom in the room so I took advantage of a great shower and having the place to myself.   All I really wanted to know was when the clubs in Cairns closed.  I really hoped they didn't operate on Queenstown's 5am schedule.  Around 1:00 I'd dug out the one pair of earplugs I had brought for emergencies (thank God for good packing).  With the ear plugs is was more like white noise and a massage chair.  Luckily I was exhausted and can sleep through just about anythinig.  I actually slept pretty soundly.

Needless to say I found a new hostel the next day.  I spent my first day in Cairns laid out by the pool and relaxing.  It was lovely.  Tomorrow I leave for my 3 day dive trip out in the Great Barrier Reef so you guys won't hear from me for a while but I hope everyone is doing well and I'll catch up soon!