Cairns - Day one

Sari and me arrived to Cairns early in the morning after over  24 hours of travelling, all the packages arrived and we even were allowed to keep our chewing gums after the customs. Outside the sun was shining and it was +35 celsius degrees and humid - truly hot and ropical weather! Cairns itself was rather small and peaceful at least during the day. Our friend already waiting in our hostel took us around to admire the sea, the lagoon and the esplanade and to find exotic parrots. Thanks to jet lag we had a lazy day strolling in the sun.

However few surprising things happened during the day. We didn't see parrots but we did see something else... Firstly, the very first time I went to bathroom in Cairns during this very first trip of mine to Australia a bat flew out of the toilet. A living black bat. Apparently it was napping under the toilet seat. After this episode I have always flushed the toilets several times before using...

In the evening we went down on the deck by the sea to see the sunset. It was pretty there and such a warm summery night. We pointed out few pelicans and few other groups of flying birds. At least at first we thought they were birds.. But no, they were bats. Big bats. Much bigger than the one in the bathroom. I suppose that with wings extended they were about 50cm wide! And they came right down to the deck and to the city center to fly around and to hang in the trees, hundreds of them. Few friends of mine had told me that "there is that one tree, where there might be some bats" or "people say there's lots of spiders and other bugs in Australia, but it's not really that bad"... Nobody ever mentioned about Hitchcock's bats. But yes, in Cairns there are bats. Lots of them. The sky is full of bats, some of them flying only few meters above your head. You might find them even in your toilet.
Welcome to Australia.

Greetings from Cairns :)
Anni