What a difference a year makes?

That’s the biggest understatement of my 2010.

More so than any other year of my life, this one has been the most changing and unexpected.

I came to Australia in a drought and leave it in floods. I arrived with one friend on the continent and depart with heaps all over. All I wanted to see last January was a koala, now I won’t settle for anything less than a cassowary. I expected to head directly out west and spend most of my year there, but found my heart in tropical Queensland.

My wardrobe to consisted of J. Crew, Old Navy and Anthropology. My wardrobe from contains Cotton On, Witchery and Country Road. I didn’t know of another Bobbi this time last year. Now I know three, one of which is one of my greatest friends-that’s going to be confusing. I came thinking I KNEW good coffee, but leave Melbourne realizing I had NO IDEA!

I thought I’d meet and make friends with tons of Aussies, but the majority of mine came from the UK. A year ago the thought of Manchester, England wouldn’t have even crossed my mind, now I’ve adopted a family of “Mancs.”

I arrived single, selfish and uninterested in anything other than business and travel and leave committed, in love and counting the days till I see him again.

It’s definitely been a year of surprises, but best of my life thus far.

I’ve thought of how I would write this post a million times throughout my trip. The first draft explained it as just a nice, impacting visit filled with a few good people and great photos. The next was written as just a one year anniversary, rather than a good bye. The following was a letter to the government, begging them to let me stay just a little bit long. But the last, this one, is a huge thank you and can’t wait to see you again.

This year and this country has made me a happier person.

Through a lot of great times and even some bad, I can honestly say that I love this country for better or worse. It’s home to some of the most beautiful places on earth. The culture changes over and over from top to bottom. The only thing its people are serious about is being proud of their homeland, and sport. They never miss an opportunity to celebrate life and they’ll take the piss out of just about anyone, including themselves.

It’s just a care free and easy place to live- and I got a whole year here.

Those who have followed me through this trip know what I’ve taken from it. But besides a few comments, I’m not sure what they’ve taken. So on my last day here, I’ll say what I hope it is.

Possibility.

I spent a lot of my last year in college on the computer, trying to figure out what to do next. After 22 years of following what in America people are just suppose to do, I finally had a chance to make my own decision. I wanted so badly to travel, but was scared and lost hope quite a few times. Whether because of money, work or circumstance, I didn’t think it was possible for me at that moment.

I followed “the American dream” a bit more and landed a sweet job. I was happy, but it wasn’t what I wanted. So I revisited my dream, this time with determination. It started with putting a bit money aside, continued with a passport application and finished with a plane ticket.

I’ve received so many emails from people saying they wish they could do what I’m doing. My response will always be, “You can.” It may not always be easy, but anything is possible.

Maybe travel isn’t your passion. That’s fine. Follow whatever makes you happy. But for those with who dream of life abroad like I did, stop reading about it and do it. Stop Googling to make sure it’s okay and just see for yourself. Stop limiting yourself to one place and realize the possibilities available to you all over the world.

Never have I felt as many possibilities as I did during this past year in this country.

For that, thanks Australia. You’ve made more opportunities possible for this little American than you’ll ever know.

Both my trip to Brisbane and the city itself only gets better and better with each day.

I visited Brisbane for a few days back in April and knew I loved it then. Much smaller in population than Sydney and Melbourne, the major Australian city doesn’t get much attention out of its country.

It should.

On top of an exciting CBD, it has heaps of suburbs, each one completely different from the next.

Check out vintage stores while peering into authentic Queenslander homes in Paddington. Hang out at unique, hip cafes like The Three Monkeys Coffee and Tea House in the West End. Even go to the beach at South Bank.

Three Monkey Coffee and Tea House in Brisbane doesn't serve mugs of chai. It serves bowls. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

The city has fantastic art, food, music and technology scene. They’ve managed to make public art out of every space available and are extremely courteous to wireless junkies, even placing power points outdoor of the State Library, which offers free wireless 24/7.

I came at a perfect time without even knowing it. A transition period from Winter into Spring, August to September in Brisbane is beautiful, but abrupt in change of weather. It was chilly the last few weeks of August, then September 1st happened and it became hot.

The first week in September marks the start of the Brisbane Festival, which includes Riverfire, a fireworks show on the Brisbane River, and several other events in the arts. Brisbane Writers Festival and the Russian Film Festival also kicked off in the first week of September.

Beyond coming here at a happening time, the trip still would have been perfect for the place I got to stay and people I got to meet.

Staying at Yoga in Daily Life was better than what I thought it would be. I got in touch with my spiritual side, which I tend to neglect when traveling, and really looked after my physical side. I was so fortunate to be able to live there, take a ton of classes (25 in three weeks), learn more about yoga and eat fantastic food. My hosts were very kind and trusted me with a lot of freedom.

The centre is honestly the formula to my dream house: take a random building and refurbish it to be a home, add dark hardwood floors, lots of pillows, a kitchen full of spices, heaps of bay windows and light some incense.

Plus the location wasn’t too shabby. Located on Doggett Street in Fortitude Valley, the street was far enough away from the city central and Valley central to be quiet and safe, but close enough to be just walking distance away. My street was on a hill, which reminded me of San Francisco. While I never met any neighbors, the tattoo artists who lived and worked in the house across the street sure seemed interesting (I creeped on him every morning after breakfast and afternoon after lunch as he gave tattoos from a graffiti-decorated living room).

Palace Centro was located only a five-minute walk from my house, so I spent a few of my nights catching some indie-flicks like “I am Love.”

Planning, but failing to, run the Bridge to Brisbane last Sunday, I did a lot of running all over the city. My runs to New Farm, which is only a short distance from where I stayed, were by far my favorite. New Farm is the quintessential small town with corky houses, a serious butcher and adorable library, yet it’s located in the city.

I visited the the Jan Power’s Market in New Farm with a Canadian girl named Jen who WWOOFed with me at Yoga in Daily Life. Jen made me realize why people love Canadians so much over here. She was laid-back, hilarious and fun to be around.

She was one of several great people I met on this trip. One night we met up with Sean, who I originally met in Port Douglas and his friend Nick, who also goes by Muesli Man. We had a great dinner at the Tibetan Kitchen on Brunswick Street. After Sean gave us a tour of his sweet shared living space, which was in this old building that has been several things over the years, including a whore house. It reminded me of the house in Practical Magic. We even walked away from the night with some free muesli!

We ran into Nick, aka Muesli Man, at the market in New Farm. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

I met old friends, new friends and even some friends I had never officially met. Brisbane might be the Tweet Up capital of Australia. It was definitely the one of my trip. Somehow Brooke of Why Go Australia, Heather of There’s No Place Like Oz, and I (all constant travelers) managed to be in the same city at the same time. We met with resident ex-pats Kristin of A Pair of Boots and a Backpack and tech mercenary Adri as well as real live Aussie Jack of A Blog About Nothing…Much at Jimmy’s on the Mall one night.

I also got to meet Anthony of The Travel Tart at Jamie’s Espresso Bar in the Valley. I learned so much from our chat. It’s pretty ironic that at the time he was working only a block away from where I was living.

It was great to meet them all, talk travel and learn more about them personally. People may knock others meeting through social networking, but I’ll just say I wouldn’t have had half the people I had to hang out with in this city if it weren’t for Twitter.

While Brooke and Heather headed back to Sydney, the rest of us Tweeters got to hang out again. This time at an in-home Mexican restaurant outside the city. It’s my first time going to one of those somewhat illegal restaurant operations people hosts out of their homes. I won’t say much about it cause I want to keep it going, but let me just say, it was a breath of fresh air for someone who loves Mexican food and doesn’t believe tomato paste is a good substitute for salsa on nachos.

Showing some Mexican pride at the illegal operation outside Brisbane. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

I was a bit sad to leave all my friends in Port Douglas, but this was a great vacation. That may sound weird, considering my life is a vacation, but that’s what this felt like.

As it comes to a close I’m feeling pretty sad about leaving here. I’m not sure when, more like if, I’ll ever be able to return to Brisbane. I feel like this is the perfect city for me and I’m hoping to get some extra time in Australia to figure that out. In case I don’t, I’ve packed my weekend with a lot of great things to do, a poetry slam at the State Library, a community night at Yoga in Daily Life and going to opening night of Cantina, a performance that’s part of the Brisbane Festival.

I’m sad to leave, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to get over it considering I’m leaving here to go to Fiji. That last statement seems to be a trend of this trip. In fact, I believe I wrote it in a past post with different places.

Writing things like that makes me realize once again how good life is and how good my life in Australia is.

*So that was a fun way to end this piece, but let’s try this one on for size cause my love for this city multiplied in the midst of trying to post it.

I wrote up to this point of this post while eating dinner at Three Monkeys in the West End, which is a place I mentioned earlier. I arrived there starving, so I ate while texting Sean and Nick, both of which are mentioned above. I texted to tell them about community night at Yoga in Daily Life. It was actually the first time I’ve texted Nick. He responded first and said he didn’t know about tomorrow, but if I wasn’t busy tonight to come check out his performance at the Poetry Slam at the State Library, which was part of Brisbane Writers Festival.

My response was, “You’re a poet?” Emphasis on the question mark.

I was at that exact library all day and planned on returning to post this after I tried some of the cafe’s scrumptious looking mint chocolate cake. With my new plans I thought I’d post this piece, check out the slam for a bit, seeing as to how I had never been to one, and be in bed by 10 p.m. at the latest.

I ate my cake, met up with Nick while he was waiting to enter and worked on posting this in the mean time. I went in and sat with him and some of his friends when the MC of the event came over and asked Nick’s friend to be a judge, he hesitated and I jumped at saying, “I’ll do it!”

Ya gotta be quick.

She gave me a lei and while I was there I figured I’d take some photos. I thought this was all for fun. Still I wanted my judging to be good, so I listened really well and thought about it. Good thing, cause the winner of this event would go on to compete for the Queensland title, the winner of that event will go on to compete for the Australian title and the winner of that event will go on to compete for the world title. There’s money, travel and work at stake in all these steps, so it’s pretty important for serious poets.

The night included some fantastic participants and some that were just alright, but everything about it was fun. Professional slammers Emily XYZ and Myers Bartlett, both Americans, made a special appearance. They were absolutely incredible. I can say so much about their performance, but it’s really something people must just see to understand.

Emily XYZ and Myers Bartlett performing at the Brisbane Writers Festival Poetry Slam 4 September 2010. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

Nick, who I must reiterate that I didn’t even know he was a poet until hours before, didn’t go until second to last. Since I didn’t know he was a poet, so I definitely didn’t know he was a great poet. He ended up tying with another bloke for first. They went head to head at the end just to draw a winner, but both will go on to compete in the next slam for the Queensland title.

To celebrate, Nick, his friend Linda and I returned to Three Monkeys for cake. Nick won again for best cake pick as well, which is usually my best event. We talked about a lot of things and somehow the fact that Linda was a circus performer popped up. There I was, at a moment I thought I would be fast asleep in bed, sitting at a table eating cake with a poet and a circus performer.

Really?

Linda and Nick during our celebratory cake feast at Three Monkeys, quite possibly one of the coolest tables I've ever sat at. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

Nick gave us both a ride home. On the way he stopped at a park on South Bank and performed one of his poems about the father daughter relationship. We stopped again at the top of Kangaroo Point cause we saw for public toilets and decided to check out the park up there, which I must say is awesome.

Nick remembered that Riverfire was the next night and the toilets were probably from that. I’m still not sure if I’ll make it to Riverfire, but if I don’t I can at least say I did see the river on fire, cause the way the lights hit the trees up there looked like a fire in the photos I took.

It was one of those nights when next thing you know it’s 2 a.m. Me a few years back and it would’ve been, next thing you know it’s sunrise. Everyone knows those nights, the ones with someone you barely know, where the end just isn’t a thought, until it is, which is when you realize how good the night was. On the ride after I mentioned that I can’t remember the last time I had a night like that, but it was probably in high school cause we never had anywhere to go.

Sitting here now, I remember. It was actually on my last long term trip abroad in Amsterdam 2007. It took three years to have this type of exquisitely random night again.

I don’t think there’s a more fitting way to “end” this post than by saying this. I mentioned above that I didn’t know when or even if I’d ever return to Brisbane. After tonight that’s no longer true. With a grain of salt (cause every declaration in travel needs one) I’ll be returning to Brisbane October 22 to watch the Queensland Poetry Slam.

To be continued…

The mental image I had of myself walking through the rainforest included these bad boys. So when I finally visited Cape Tribulation I couldn’t get enough of them. Shading life below as they tower high above in the forest, these trees can reach up to 6 meters (30 feet). No trip to Cape Tribulation is complete, or possible for that matter, without checking out these plants.

Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

I’m a firm believer that no matter how thrifty or cheap a person wants to keep his or her travels, every once in awhile that person must treat herself or himself.

While it may be important to watch the cash flow, so the trip can last longer, it’s also important to remember that this is a trip abroad and should be lived to the fullest. So travelers should spend on themselves or something they really want to do on the road, because they can do nothing at home for a lot less money.

I’m a pretty good judge of when I’ve reached my limit and after two months of living in a six-bed dorm, I can say without a doubt that limit was reached. Between disagreements over the air-con, people coming in late at night every night (including myself) and sleeping in bunk beds, I was getting between two and four hours of sleep a night for a good few weeks and had to escape.

So I did what any smart woman would do. I checked into a hotel room. My own room, with no guests and nothing to do all day but lay around and pamper myself.

I booked the room on Orbitz after a really rough night where I achieved zero hours of sleep. The website offered a wide range of rooms costing $100 and up in the Port Douglas area. I selected Rydges on Davidson St., which was $115 for the night. A small price to pay for my sanity.

At that point anything would have been nice, but my room at Rydges was extra nice. It wasn’t just a room. It was a suite, with a kitchen, living area and bathtub with jets. Yea, jets!

Freaking out like a dog after someone mentions the word walk, I arrived an hour before check in. The room wasn’t ready so I spent that hour at the pool and laying around on couches in the common area. I already felt cleansed of all the germs I had picked up over my months living in a hostel.

Once I checked in, I discovered the place also had a washer and dryer, so I headed back to my hostel, where I was still checked in, grabbed all my laundry. Then it was straight to the bathroom where I exfoliated and masked my face then laid in the tub for a good hour. I did my nails, treated my hair even washed my feet.

Afterwards it was straight to bed, which was covered in pillows. There I watched a few episodes of my favorite two TV series at the moment, True Blood and Mad Men. I had saved a few planning to watch them all in bed, but I only made it through half an episode of True Blood before knocking out.

I slept the entire night through and even slept in, something I hadn’t done since I’ve been to Australia I believe.

My night at the hotel was so good I did it again the following week with a girl friend, which was just as relaxing, but a bit more fun and less money.

No matter what tickles your fancy, it’s important to invest in that every once in awhile. I think a hotel room is a great option because it can be cheaper than some spa services and lasts much longer.

Some tips to finding the cheapest rate:

• check deals on travel booking sites like Orbitz and Kayak
• call the hotel on the day of your planned stay for last minute deals
• ask around people at the place your living, someone may work a nice hotel
• if you work in the area, check if the hotel does industry rates

I had been looking forward to WWOOFing at Yoga in Daily Life in Brisbane since I left the organization’s retreat in Dungog, NSW over five months ago. Something shook me on that retreat, something I can’t quite explain, but I wanted to explore more.

I was gripping onto that something as my travels took me on a whirlwind journey around Australia. I did some incredible things in the past few months and wouldn’t change any of it, but all the while, returning to the organization to explore a yoga lifestyle stuck in the back of my head.

It’s a lifestyle that’s not the easiest to maintain in society I’ve lived in (I don’t want to say western or modern, because it may be different for everyone). One that requires a bit more discipline than I would say most people are accustomed to, but one where the health and spiritual benefits are incredible.

Living a yoga lifestyle is much more than what I was used to at home. My experience with yoga at home mainly consisted of classes at the gym or small centre near me. But the practice of yoga in class is just scratching the surface.

My duties at Yoga in Daily Life in Brisbane include preparing the studio for daily classes (cleaning, setting up mats, etc.), cooking lunch for volunteers at the centre and helping with some office work.

My favorite part of daily duties is cooking. Only vegetarian food is to be prepared at the centre. It’s great to learn about vegetarian cooking as well as all the herbs, nuts and other food sources that are used a lot in Indian and vegetarian recipes. I’m learning a lot about the benefits of certain herbs and other food sources as well as learning how yummy cooking healthy can be.

Black bean Soup and baked stuffed capsicums is a delicious veggie lunch option. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

Daily duties only take up about five hours of my day, the rest is spent in class or exploring the city. I’ve taken advantage of all the classes the centre offers, ranging from level one to level five of the Yoga in Daily Life System. After just a few days of classes, I felt great, but as I’ve continued I’ve noticed a difference in muscles and body parts I never really thought about.

It’s amazing how forgiving the body is. I arrived at Yoga in Daily Life Brisbane about two weeks ago mentally and physically exhausted. Two months of working a lot, not eating well and not maintaining my usual healthy living habits seemed to have caught up with me.

The day I arrived, I hadn’t slept in two days, mainly because my flight was so early that morning I didn’t  want to waste money on a room the night before, so opted to stay awake instead. Plus I was coming off a pretty high bakery high. I hit up the 24-hour alley way shop one last time before leaving Port Douglas to savor my favorite veggie pizzas. I arrived at the centre around 10 a.m., jumped right into a class and spent the rest of the day trying to stay awake. I didn’t make it to the second class of the day, falling asleep at 6 p.m. and waking up the next day at 6:45 a.m. to an alarm, which means I could have gone longer.

Ana, another WWOOFer there at the time, said to me a few day after my arrival, “You have a new face from the day you got here.” I can’t think of a better way to put it.

I usually keep a healthy existence between food, exercise and mental rest, but every now and then I slip out of it and sometimes veer pretty far off the best route for me. Never anything extreme, but little things that I know will add to a healthier and happier me that I’m just too lazy to do.

I get annoyed when I fall out of good habits, but remember that I’m only human and I can always fall back into them with a bit of focus.

However, my next step in yoga is requiring a lot more than a bit of focus to learn and practice.

Meditation.

It always seemed so simple and easy. For the longest time I never even considered trying it. Looking back, I don’t think it was that I didn’t consider trying it, but I couldn’t imagine trying it. It was not until Dungog that I actually started to think about meditating, but I couldn’t bring myself to try there or anywhere else since visiting there.

I decided I would try at Brisbane though and luckily the centre started a 4-week meditation course a weeks after I arrived. In classes before the course started I put  a lot more effort into meditating at the end of my yoga classes.

Classes at Yoga in Daily Life in Brisbane are held in a massive room that looks like it was once a basketball or netball court. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

Once I started to try to meditate in class I noticed when my thoughts started drifting and tried to bring them back to focus. One of the teachers at the centre said this is one of the the first steps in meditation and a big one. Still, I can’t stop it and it’s really frustrating. I don’t know what triggers the distraction, but a minute after losing focus I’ll notice that I’m thinking about something extremely random like what groceries I need to buy or a memory that doesn’t even mean anything. I’ve found that it’s easy for me to sit still, but impossible to think still.

The best I’ve felt meditating at the centre yet was when a teacher led the class through a meditation advising us to focus on a time when we felt most loved. I started to think of memories of friends and boyfriends, then finally found the right one. It was me at about four years old swinging from the arms of my mom and dad as we walked to the Friendly’s near my house.

The teacher went deeper into it, but advising us to think about every little thing about the moment, from the color of our clothing to the feelings we felt.

The goal of yoga is self-relization, but I’m still unsure what the goal is with each meditation practice. I don’t know exactly what people are suppose to see or feel. Some people have told me they’ve seen colors or felt warmth.

I don’t know about any of that, but I know after that one meditation, I came back to the room and felt like I had just arrived from somewhere else. I felt a bit groggy and like my body was falling asleep but my mind was still awake.

It felt like I had reached something I never had before in my meditation attempts and I thought I could build on that in the following practices. No luck. Even during the course, where my only focus for an hour was meditation, I couldn’t do it.

It’s hard and it makes me hungry after each attempt, but I’m glad I have the chance to do it in such a peaceful environment.

I only have another week left at Yoga in Daily Life in Brisbane, so I plan to make the most of all the great things offered there. It would be great to stay longer, but my upcoming plans are too exciting to be upset about leaving. In a week I get to see my absolute favorite person in the world, my daddy, as well as my Uncle Paul, Aunt Peggy and my dad’s girlfriend Mary, all in Fiji. It will be my first trip to Asia and the first time I’ve seen my dad in eight months.

I’ve been pretty good at not getting homesick this whole trip, but for some reason whenever I say that statement, “the first time I’ve seen him in eight months,” I get choked up. Needless to say, there will be tears shed at the Nadi airport.

Have I mentioned how much I love Port Douglas yet? Something about the tropical village just takes hold of you and causes you to act in ways you wouldn’t normally act. Love, or something like it, is an often occurrence and sporadic is a way of life. Everyday I woke up there I didn’t know what my day would entail and planning just never seemed like a good idea.

One random day, my good friend Dorcey and I turned a trip to Jai Gallery into a proper photo shoot. Amongst countless photos of her and I posing to look like Kate Moss and Anna Wintour, this one just happened by accident. Nico, an artist working in the shop at the time, had left out flowers that sat perfectly around the word “Love” written in black marker on a table in the porch out back.

Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

To see more photos, check out the gallery “Chai at Jai” on my facebook page.

With all the tours offered of the Daintree and Cape Tribulation, it’s surprisingly hard to find one that allows people enough time to actually be in the rainforest. A large area to cover, a lot of day trips to the area don’t give people enough personal time to actually get out of the car and walk about the rainforest.

Daintree Discovery Tours full day tour ($165 per adult and $145 per children 10-14) offers patrons plenty of time outdoors while also hitting most of the crucial spots on any Cape Tribulation tour. The creme de la creme of tours, Daintree Discovery offers patrons door-to-door service in a smooth-riding Mercedes bus at from the tour’s start, around 7:45 a.m., to its finish, around 5:30 p.m.

From the last pick up, the tour begins with the usual route through Mossman, on the ferry across the Daintree River and to the famous Alexadra Lookout near the rainforest entrance. Adding a little comfort and privacy to their tour, Daintree Discovery guides take their guests on a private 45-minute tour of the rainforest with an option to swim at Cooper Creek Wilderness.

Rainforest seeds from trees such as the rubber tree and Looking Glass Mangrove.-Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

After a walk through the rainforest, it’s off to the beach, where patrons will munch on lunch, learn a bit of history about the rainforest and James Cook’s arrival in the area and maybe even spot a crocodile outside of the Daintree River. At the beach patrons have the option to kayak for an additional $30 per person. From there, the tour starts its departure back with stops at the famous Daintree Ice Cream Company and the Daintree River for a cruise with Solar Whisper. During the cruise, patrons are bound to spot at least one crocodile as well as some tree snakes and interesting birds.

The privacy and small size (6 passengers) of the tour made it a lot more comfortable and sociable than other tours. This is a tour for folks who want to see the Daintree in peace, without backpackers or noisy kids (the website advises that the tour is not suitable for children under 10 years old).

The size of the tour makes it easier to have a conversation with one’s guide rather than just listen to him or her, and these are definitely guides that people will want to converse with.

Adrian Hall, Daintree Discovery Tours guide, rubs ochre, which aboriginals use for paint, on a rock. After he painted the arm of one of the tour patrons.-Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

My guide Adrian Hall was fascinating and fun. A Cape Tribulation resident, Hall is knowledgeable about the area, especially all the plant and wildlife within it. He pointed out things like Idiot Fruit, or Idiospermum australiense, with is one of, if not the oldest flowering plant on earth. The soft-spoken Hall seemed to really care about the area and informing his tour of all its amazing features.

Hall was even diligent at setting up a morning tea and afternoon lunch, both included on the tour. Like most tours in Australia, the meals were freshly prepared, locally produced and delicious. Morning tea consisted of tea and lamingtons. Lunch included roasted chicken, salad and fresh bread rolls. The portions are generous, so be sure to save room for four flavors of fruit ice cream sold at Daintree Ice Cream Company ($5).

I can’t think of one complaint about anything on the tour. However, this tour does not travel as deep into the forest as others do, missing stops like the large Fig Tree and Cape Tribulation Beach. But that’s the cost of not having to spend the day in a van snapping shots through the window.

All of Cape Tribulation is too much to cover in one day. Daintree Discovery Tours offers the most a rainforest day tour should comfortably fit, filled with useful information, great food and relaxing walks through the forest and on the beach. The small size of the tour and smooth ride is an added bonus to an already spectacular tour. All that is included is offered at only a fraction more than the going-rate of most Cape Tribulation tours.

It’s not very often one can find a painting or photo at a market that is located actually on the real thing. By far one of the most scenic spots to set up sales stalls, Port Douglas Markets feature an array of arts, crafts, local produce, clothing and so much more every Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Anzac Park.

Walk along the ocean while mingling with locals in the stalls as well as on the other side of the counter. People come from all over Far North Queensland to sell their goods at the markets every week. Visitors can taste a pineapple from Mossman, receive a Thai massage while looking out to the sea and even catch a show watching coconut Phil.

The Port Douglas tradition offers visitors the chance to purchase authentic goods from the Daintree area and feel apart of the community.

7/11/2010-A young shopper takes a bite of Jacqueline Fraser's decorative and delicious cupcakes sold at her Cute as a Cupcake stall near St. Mary's Church.

7/11/2010-At the entrance a stall boasts local produce.

7/11/2010-Bruno Scomazzon pours a cup of icy cold sugar cane juice, which comes with lime and/or ginger.

7/11/2010-Located amongst the world's oldest rainforest, the markets feature some interesting fruits and vegetables such as black sapote.

7/11/2010-The sun shines on a box of tomatoes sold at one of the opening stalls.

7/11/2010-Allan "the broach man" handcrafts name plates with a unique twist.

7/11/2010-Sample a sweet Mossman pineapple.

7/11/2010-Receive a lesson in herbs and spices, such as the tumeric and galangal featured, and see them in their raw form at Kate Michell and Peter McNeill's Julatten Earth Food stall.

7/11/2010-Mitchell and McNeill also sell heaps of naturally grown fresh vegetables at their stall.

7/11/2010-Coconut Phil prepares one of his handpicked coconuts to be drank by one of his many spectators.

7/11/2010-Carrots grown in Mareeba point out at customers.

7/11/2010-A box of avocados from Mareeba sold in various shades of purple and green.

After three months, I’ve finally left Port Douglas.

I’ve had to say goodbye to a lot of great people and places during my travels in Australia, but this was by far the hardest, because it wasn’t just a person or place.

It was home.

My time in the tropical village definitely had it’s ups and downs, but included more laughter than tears and sun than rain.

With Alex and big brother Joe at a secret beach we found on a road trip to Mossman Gorge.

As with most things in my life, it was a “sign” that brought me to Port Douglas. I ran into an acquaintance on the street in Cairns who offered me work. Short on cash and at the end of my two-month blogging journey up the east coast with The Word, I took up the opportunity without hesitation.

It was extremely hard saying goodbye to my other half, Bobbi-Jo, but at that point we were both kind of clueless as to what we should do next and sitting in a desolate Cairns became more and more unappealing by the minute.

There were some opportunities for me elsewhere, but I decided to follow what seemed to be the easiest place to make quick cash. I came to the town looking to do only that. After two months of dealing with, “what’s your name” and “where are you from” on the reg, I was a bit tired of introductions and just wanted to not be new or meet anyone new for awhile.

This mentality led to a disastrous first month in my new home in regards to both work and relationships. By the end of June I was starting to doubt my belief in “signs,” which has pretty much guided me through most of my life. I regretted following my pockets instead of my heart and I was even thinking of packing my things and leaving.

An easy thought when you’re on the road, I laid in bed a few nights planning out the logistics of where would be easiest place to escape to next. Determined not to leave the town uttering the word “mistake,” I decided to stick it out until my originally planned departure date, which was August 16.

Things got better, then they got worse. I couldn’t figure out how to make everything right  again and go back to being my normal happy self.

During a conversation with a friend on the couch at Iron Bar, he said, “Bobbi, you have to simplify things.”

I started to think about everything on my shoulders at that point. The unusual dramas of my new life magnified by the fact that I was miles and miles away from the place where I feel safest and most at ease. Then I took things apart.

The major issue in my unhappiness there was the thing that led me there to begin with, a job. A job I didn’t even care about, nor was right for. Once that was out of the picture it was as if everything was right in the world again. I found new work, waitressing at restaurant on Macrossan Street and freelancing at the local newspaper.

Throughout all my struggles, it was strangers that came to my aid without hesitation or complaint. Strangers that became friends and friends that became family.

My Dorcey horey and James acting tough.

After all the drama dissipated, I saw Port Douglas for what it was, paradise, and the people in it for what they were, perfect. It’s hard to believe that 20-somethings could manage to live in such a spectacular place, but we did. Leaving it for a big city, something I was eager to do a month in, was not easy.

In a modern art class I took in college I learned about Ernst Kirchner’s painting “Street, Dresden.” The colorful painting depicts a busy city street, full of action and people. Yet there’s something unsettling and cold about it. According to the MOMA website, Kirchner painted the people’s faces to look like masks with vacant eyes to show the alienation and loneliness of modernization in the city at that time.

When I first learned about the painting, I understood his thought behind it, but I couldn’t relate. Living only 20 minutes from Philadelphia, in the busy suburbs of also New York City and Washington D.C., I always felt at home in the city and at ease surrounded by people.

After leaving Port Douglas and arriving in Brisbane earlier this week, I finally understand Kirchner’s feelings about Dresden.

To say Port Douglas is a small town is an understatement. There is one main street (Macrossan) where I could find not everything I wanted, but everything I needed (Tim Tams, pizza and chai), I couldn’t walk down the street without bumping into someone I knew and I had a coffee shop where the owners knew me by name and drink. The town is safe enough to leave a purse on the counter and run to the toilets and clean enough to never have to wear shoes.

Brisbane isn’t the biggest city by any standards, yet I feel completely lost here. Seeing me the first day here, people would never guess I came from the northeast America. It took me three times circling the same block to find the street I’m staying on. I almost got hit by at least four cars. I even got lost in a mall, which is shocking considering I’ve spent the majority of the last 20 years of my life in various malls.

I can’t think of Port Douglas as a place anymore, but rather a time. One that is definitely in the top greatest of my life and one that I’ll never be able to recreate. Everyone in the town is so friendly and welcoming. Everyone in my hostel was so caring and open. We shared some wonderful moments together and while I know I’ll share more with those people individually, it will never be everyone and it will never be like what I just left. That’s one of the worst aspects of living abroad. The groups that form include people from all parts of the world, making it hard to reunite that same group again.

Life in Port Douglas was like a crazy camp where there were no wake up calls, booze was encouraged and people could get away with sneaking into the opposite sex’s tent.

I complained about it being too small. I complained about it being too loud. I complained about being sick of Iron Bar. But sitting in my own room, in a large city with tons of different bars filled with tons of different people, I miss home.

In fact, I’m feeling really homesick for the first time in about three years and for the first time ever about a place other than my normal home.

My love for the town and the people in it has led me to book a return flight in September. It won’t be as long a stay and it won’t be the same Port Douglas as a lot of people are scheduled to leave before then, but a lot of the reasons that made the town special to me will still be there.

And I know that will make me feel like I’m coming home for the first time in a long time.

It started at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary near Brisbane about three months ago.

I was just walking around the grounds, checking out the kangaroos with hopes of holding my first koala when I saw this strange bird I thought was a variation of an emu.

My friend and I stared at it for quite a long time in amazement.

It was huge, had fur-like black feathers on its mid section and was colored red and blue on its head. The sign next to its cage said cassowary.

I tried to remember the name, but stumbled over the word and its pronunciation whenever I talked about it to others in the following months. I mentioned it to a few Aussies and they knew right off the bat what it was. So how had I never heard of the world heaviest bird.

All my life I only saw photos of kangaroos and koalas when it came to Australia. But they’re a dime a dozen. This thing is so much better.

My cassowary knowledge only expanded when I arrived in Mission Beach to find funny cassowary crossing signs. The signs were cute, but the facts were not.

A comical cassowary warning sign in Mission Beach, QLD. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

It’s estimated between 1,000-1,500 of the endangered species are left in Australia. To make matters worse, a mass amount of plant life in the Wet Tropics depend on cassowaries for livelihood.

“These huge birds are the only animals capable of distributing the seeds of more than 70 species of trees whose fruit is too large for any other forest dwelling animal to eat and relocate.” -Wetropics. gov.au

“The smell from the dung keeps seed predators, such as the white tailed rat, away from the seeds and the fertiliser helps to keep the seed moist and feed the germinating seedling. The seed remains in the cassowary’s gut for approximately 10 hours, ensuring they are deposited some distance away from the parent tree.”-RainforestRescue.org.au

Since these facts were discovered Australians have gone above and beyond to protect the species. The cassowary’s main threats are dogs and drivers. Drivers who hit cassowaries are heavily fined and even more heavily hated. Even if it’s not their fault, someone who hits a cassowary in Mission Beach might as well just leave town for good.

Hugging a to-size cassowary statue while waiting for the ferry across the Daintree to Cape Tribulation.-Photo by Bobbi-Jo O'Gilvie

Dogs are a threat to cassowaries, but mainly their eggs and mainly when dogs are in packs. A single dog most likely could not take on a cassowary. This is one feisty bird.

Not overtly aggressive, but territorial, especially over their young, the cassowary will stab predators in the stomach with its sharp claw.

Unlike a lot of species, it’s not the ladies protecting their spawn. After mating with a male, the female moves on to other partners. Basically, the female cassowary is pimp!

This bird is feirce.-Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

So many interesting facts surround this flightless bird and so much is yet to be discovered. In Queensland there is almost a complete culture surrounding these birds.

A towering giant cassowary statue stands tall in Mission Beach and a world famous cassowary road sign makes for an opportune photo op in Cape Tribulation.

The BIG cassowary in Mission Beach.-Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

The latter started as a regular “warning cassowary crossing” sign, but turned into a phenomenon when a local fisherman drew in comical before and after images on the sign. Now it’s hard to get through Cape Tribulation without stopping to take a photo of the sign.

The famous cassowary crossing sign before and after sign in Cape Tribulation.-Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

Cape Tribulation takes its cassowary precautions extremely serious. Drivers can barely go 50 meters without seeing  a sign or hitting a speed bump. And this isn’t just any speed bump. It’s a speed bump with rocks in it.

Calling the World-Heritage listed Wet Tropics their home, it’s possible to see a cassowary almost anywhere around the rainforest in Far North Queensland, but highly unlikely. As mentioned before, not many are left. You’re best chances of spotting a cassowary would be in Mission Beach and Cape Tribulation.

I’ve been lucky enough to see two cassowaries in the wild, one in Mission Beach and another in Cape Tribulation. Just to prove that it is possible.

My first cassowary spotting in Mission Beach, QLD.-Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

So keep you’re eyes open. Not only to catch a peak of the massive bird in the wild, but also to keep the endangered species protected.