July 9

Friday morning is sleep and laundry. Friday afternoon we drive to south, then up into the fog-laden tablelands to Milla Milla. On the way there is an overlook down into the river gorge; a scenic drive which turns out to be a one lane road through the rain forest; and three waterfalls. The pool of the first is fairly shallow, and the second you can't get at, but the third is deep and there are abougt twenty people swimming. Continuing the drive, we pass signs that warn of tree kangaroo crossings, then wind down a long twisty road down the mountain.

That evening, Josh's scuba group was supposed to be meeting for pizza at the Wool Shed, a bar in downtown Cairns that caters to students and backpackers. Four of Josh's group are there--Gwen, Chris, Dougall, James--and we join them, talking and watching an Australian Rules football game.

A girl and five guys come in and take up the other half of our table. It's happy hour, and the girl (I'll find out later that her name is Heather) asks why I'm not drinking; I mime driving, and she says"Very responsible. But you should have some drinks and get a cab." It's too noisy to explain that we're leaving at 5:30am; I sit back and watch the game and the people around us, hearing snatches of conversation. After a while, Josh and friends go to get ice cream; I offer to hold the table, except the ice cream expedition turns out to be an hour and a half. Heather is trying to talk to me, so I sit next to her; with the music this loud, the only way to have a conversation is to lean in, almost cheek to cheek. She confides that she's had more to drink than usual; she's from a little town north of Toronto; she had a strict Catholic upbringing and her family would be appalled if they saw her now; and that I should loosen up. She's tipsy enough that I don't bother discussing it with her. Shortly her friends finish their drinks, gather her up and depart. The DJ is holding a dance contest; I abandon the table and move to where I can see the dance floor, or more accurately the crowd around the dance floor.
At the booth in front of me are two couples. The two guys sit atop the seat backs, and put their feet at the edge of the table to brace it and one of the girls, a lovely Japanese girl--radiantly happy, and therefore beautiful--in a blue and white striped party dress and white heels, gets up on the table and starts dancing. This is a good deal for the guys, as they get to appreciate her dancing without being obligated to dance themselves. I move on, around the bar, downstairs, outside, eventually concluding that Josh has indeed wandered off and is nowhere to be found. I decide to wait till midnight; Josh shows up at 11:40. He'd gone with the scuba group to their hotel and had to look around a while to locate the bar. We headed back to the hotel, packed, and got a few hours of sleep.