This is my 2nd time visiting Australia since 5 years ago and it has truly been a surprising journey. Perhaps its relative to my low expectations for this vacation. It's been more than a year since I have embarked on a holiday by myself. Seems like life never fails to surprise me.
For one, I have never expected to make friends from my short stay in backpacker hostel. On the journey to Cairns, I was rather apprehensive of staying in hostel. A bad taste in Bali (i.e. "authorised money changer" dropping off the monopoly-like Rupiah notes to short-change me) prior to Aussie trip caused me to be very cynical and wary of human beings. Wild thoughts of hostel life and the pre-conceived notion that I am likely to be the most timid girl given its my first time sharing room with 5 other strangers plagued me.
Amazingly, fate has introduced a few interesting souls to my little boring life. An Italian man who boarded the same bus, sitting on the same row and alighted at the same stop (i.e. checking into same hostel) as me. One thing to note, I've booked my hostel in advance whereas he is a true blue backpacker who decided on the same hostel only at the moment his flight landed.
Met 2 other lone-ranger souls in the room. A German girl and a Taiwanese girl. Realised that all of us were apprehensive of dorm life. They were both more shy than me and I was the one who connected us all. Feels good to be the bridge bringing people together and in a sense, introduce warmth and comfort for those in a foreign land. The feeling is kinda odd as it seems I've just recovered an original part of me that was lost/hidden for so long.
One other note, the Taiwanese girl has the same surname as me and our birthday falls on the same day! Our age differs only slightly.
All these coincidences and pleasant surprises can't help but to make me think that the Northern Greenhouse is like a magical place.
**pictures to follow shortly**
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