CAIT AROUND THE WORLD

April 8, 2023 — I spent a very nice and quiet morning reading by the ocean. The breeze blew in off the water, the waves lapped at the shore, and the music played lightly on the hostel’s stereo system behind me. I enjoyed some Froot Loops cereal and had an additional glass of milk while enjoying the view.

I finally went inside to curl up and hopefully cool down a little, but the air conditioning still wasn’t working properly. That morning, I’d woken up to a fairly cool room but by the time I went back inside it was very hot again. It was bad enough that I went to reception and had them call maintenance to see if they could fix it.

When lunchtime rolled around, I went to the IGA for Brie and crackers — and because I wanted a few minutes in the relief of some air conditioning! I enjoyed my Brie and crackers (which really became a staple lunch for me while in Australia) and bought an iced chocolate from the vendor outside the ferry terminal while I waited for the bus to come back.

Iced chocolate is a drink that I saw on lots of menus in Australia and until now I hadn’t tried it. Here was the perfect opportunity! It’s basically a chocolate milk on ice, but very refreshing. I also loved the kiosk, which had bills from all around the world pasted on the overhang. It took some doing, but I finally found a Canadian $5 bill!

After the bus dropped me back at the hostel, I continued reading outside while the air conditioning tried really hard to work. By this time, I was figuring that the issue was that it kept turning itself off at certain intervals and not coming back on.

When I finally finished my book at almost 6:30 that evening, I went for my welcome drink at the hostel’s bar. It was some kind of pink fruit cocktail that tasted really good. And, even better, it was free! I actually met back up with and sat with a couple of people that I’d met earlier in my travels. One was from where I’d stayed in Noosa and the other was from all the way back on my Great Ocean Road tour! It’s incredible how travelling can bring you together, pull you apart, and then put you back together again. Such a small world after all.

After my drink, I figured I’d better have dinner since I hadn’t eaten anything since lunch and it was now 7:30pm. I got the hot cross chicken special, which was fried chicken on a hot cross bun. It was very interesting, both sweet and savoury, and definitely did hit the spot. I also got another cocktail since it was happy hour and their cocktails were $8 — a far cry from the one I’d had in Airlie Beach a few days before!

After everyone had eaten, we played a few hands of Go Fish and then several others wandered off and I decided to turn in for the night.

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