‘No Worries’ in Australia
Nestled on the northeastern coast of Australia, Cairns stands as a tropical town brimming with fascinating history and cultural heritage. The region's roots date back over 40,000 years with the Aboriginal peoples. However, in 1876 Cairns was officially established as a port town, named after Sir William Wellington Cairns, the then-governor of Queensland. The discovery of gold and the establishment of a railway line in the late 19th century fueled its growth, turning it into a bustling hub for miners and settlers alike. Over the years, Cairns continued to evolve, particularly with the advent of international air travel, making it the gateway to the world-renowned Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest.
Now for a random question: If someone thanks you for something, do you ever find yourself saying, “no problem?” It’s almost the same Down Under, but an Aussie would say “no worries.” Why? It turns out the phrase has been around since 1965 but was popularized by none other than Crocodile Dundee. It’s a bit unclear whether Crocodile Dundee influenced Australians or the reverse, but nevertheless I must have heard “no worries” 20 times a day while in Australia. The hotel desk attendant, the train ticket salesperson, our dive instructor, our new friend from Melbourne, the koalas and the kangaroos, it didn’t matter. If they were Australian, they said “no worries” at some point during our interaction.
It’s such a simple thing but it blew my mind more than their liberal use of c**t. And that’s just one reason I love to travel. Everyone all around the earth is so different. We eat different food, we drink different beers, we have different local pests. Different governments, different leaders, different beliefs, different seasons. But at the end of the day, none of us are that different.
It’s never apparent to me more than when I travel. We all have the same basic needs, the same desires to have a good life and support your friends and family. The same need to have some sort of leader or almighty teacher (or multiple). The details are all slightly different but the motivation and reasons are always the same. In Australia, in the three countries I went to afterward, and in every country I’ve been to before. We just want to be humans, and that is beautiful.
Cairns had a ton to see and even though it isn’t terribly large, I still only caught a small portion of it. And an even smaller portion of Australia. But I still squeezed in the Kuranda Scenic Train, eating Aussie cuisine, seeing local wildlife, failing to throw a boomerang, and diving the largest reef system in the world. There’s so much more to see in the land Down Under, but I’m using “no worries” in a different way. I have no worries because I will come back to this amazing country. There’s so much more to do, and plenty of animals that haven’t tried to kill me. Yet.
So thank you for reading another brain dump blog post (this is where you say “no worries”). You can find the full Cairns photo collection here at journeywithryan.com, most of the highlights on my instagram @journeywithryan, and a full video of my time here at youtube.com/@journeywithryan.
