Reflections On Travelling

Creeping up on me is the last month of my 5 month quasi-backpacker holiday. Time really does fly when you’re having fun – everyone’s least favourite phenomenon.

Travel is the best way to make time (and money) fly. I have seen things I still can’t process as real – yes, I’m talking about Whitehaven Beach – managed to enjoy sushi, met people from corners of the world I didn’t know existed and swam in pools in amazing locations, like a rainforest. All this spanned over a series of months and yet, I’ve still fallen victim to time’s cruelest side-effect.

Holidays always speed past us in a blur of good food, UV rays and adventure. Before we know it, it’s the end and we’re thinking, ‘where did all those days go?’ That’s me right now. Science theorises that the wiring of our brains causes these feelings; it emphasise the short and long-term recollection of joyful memories while shrinking memories of life’s monotony. Our brains sun dry monotony until it is raisin small, while joy is watered until it is watermelon big.

I write this as I sit on a Monday morning plane to Fiji. Fiji, a destination I’ve been organising to visit for months, has abruptly turned up to the party and it feels way too early. I wasn’t expecting the early arrival so I haven’t even had time to lay out some nibbles.

Sat here now, I wish I could learn to recollect holidays and the exciting planning period that precedes them through a slo-mo lens. I wonder if I can ever retrain the way my brain recollects memories. But science tells me this isn’t likely.

Perhaps somewhere in its harsh truths, science is telling me the only way to ease the travel-induced pain of time flying is to never stop.

What To Do In Cairns: Eating, Shopping, Relaxing & Viewing

Cairns is more than a coastal city that gateways the Great Barrier Reef. It’s a tropical micro-city that fuses cosmopolitan living with a unique ecology. Cairns’ size gives it a laid-back town vibe that’s big on water adventures, with promotions of Coral Sea snorkelling, diving and cruising from open-air shops on every block.

If you’re staying in Cairns, you’re probably staying around its waterfront centre. And whether you’re treating your visit as a relaxed holiday or backpacking adventure stop, here are my picks of the best things to eat, buy, enjoy and view in Cairns. P. S. you can thank me later that all of them are budget friendly.

Eating & Shopping

2 words, open 7 evenings a week: Night Market. Located in the heart of The Esplanade, Cairns Night Market has your late night hunger and entertainment covered. Vibrant and multicultural, here you can shop for boomerangs and didgereedos after a Chinese pressure point massage or fishy foot treatment. The market supports and promotes local businesses and creatives, giving it a community vibe of artists and business-minded people passionate about what they create and sell.

The Night Market’s food court attempts to transport you to a South-East Asian street market. Dominated by self-serve chinese food counters and Thai curry shops, hit the spot for your sticky rice craving with whatever stall you choose.

Relaxing

Cairns is famous for its lagoon, which mimics a white sand and crystal clear water beach – just in the centre of a city. It’s location means that it’s permanently abuzz with tourists and locals alike. The lagoon’s grassy knolls are the perfect place to sunbathe and chill, while the cold water is perfect for a hot day dip. There’s nothing quite like bringing a tropical beach setting to this city’s gentle hustle and bustle.

Viewing

Cast your eyes upon the city’s weirdest and wonderfulest art at the local gallery. The Cairns Art Gallery describes itself as ‘an elegant fusion of contemporary and heritage, offering international museum standard lighting, security and climate controls’ – and it serves just that. The paintings downstairs were telling of cross cultural dialogues and rural Australian history, while upstairs, Patricia Piccinini’s ‘Life Clings Closest’ exhibition taps into ideas about evolution, environmemt, technology and relationships. Warning: Piccinini’s sculptures are both highly disturbing and highly fascinating – I haven’t stopped having nightmares since.

Staying the night? Here’s some options.

I stayed at Global Backpackers hostel, which is conveniently located opposite the lagoon and next to the Cairns Night Market. The facilities were modern and clean, and the staff super friendly. The hostel had a chill vibe, though, so if you’re feeling fun, Gilligans might be the place for you. A mixture of dorm and hotel accommodation, Gilligans is talk of the city due to its bouncing night club and party-promising outdoor pool.

4 Reasons To Cut Your Hair Short

I used to cry when the hairdresser would cut my hair shorter than I wanted. Asking for ‘all my split ends off’ at 12 years old meant asking for most of my hair off.

But now, at the ripe age of 21, I explicitly asked my hairdresser to cut it all off. I wanted to trade in my long hair for a blunt bob. Half inspired by Olivia Pierson’s new bleached look, and half inspired by a fear of Australian humidity when I travel there in September, it felt the right time in my life to get The Chop.

And there was no tears this time round. Naturally, I was apprehensive when the time came. I knew that the rats tails I had been sporting for a good few months had to go, but cutting off inches of hair that I had spent years growing was daunting.

I don’t regret The Chop. It’s helped me appreciate change and the philosophy that cut hair always grows back. Which is why I’m now here, writing this blog post dedicated to reasons why you should maybe cut your hair, too.

Reason 1.

Your hair looks instantly healthier. Trimming off those dead ends leaves room for only healthy locks – the half of your locks that is closer to your scalp, that is.

Reason 2.

It stays in shape after styling. Admittedly, short hair takes longer to style because you’re styling from the root (something I found avoidable when quickly running the straighteners through my long hair), but curls and straight styles hold for longer.

Reason 3.

It will help you overcome any childhood trauma you have with asking for a big change at the hairdressers.

Reason 4.

One colour hair looks so good in a bob. And going one hue means that colouring is easier to do, easier to manage. I stayed loyal to jet black, but silver, bleach blonde and bright red are always good bob colour choices.