Day 115

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So, it’s been a while since my last post… sorry about that.

Magnetic Island was absolutely stunning; the weather was perfect and I made a bunch of new friends to hang out with. The first night, we had a pub quiz and we came a very respectable 5th (out of 20 or so). We agreed to rent a couple of cars the following day and explore the island. The next day, not quite as bright and early as we would have liked, we got into these two small cars, which were “topless” i.e. no roofs. It was a fantastic day, whizzing around the island and stopping to see various things. We went on a walk and saw a wild koala. Koalas sleep for something like 22 hours a day, not a bad life hey? We also saw rock wallabies, and lots of pretty beaches. That evening there was a full moon party. It was really good fun, because I had fantastic company, but the security was extraordinarily tight. There were undercover police officers everywhere, and some friends of mine had a bit of a kerfuffle while trying to get in. Nevertheless, it was good fun.

The days after that on Magnetic were spent sunbathing. I’ve finally got rid of the shorts tan I developed in NZ, you’ll all be relieved to know. I got bored of Magnetic because all my friends left, and the beach can be pretty repetitive. I went back to Townsville for a night. Unfortunately, I forgot it was a bank holiday. Everything was shut and all I managed to do was go for a walk and do laundry. It looked really nice though, which surprised me because every Australian travel agent I’ve ever mentioned it to said it was rubbish. The Lonely Planet calls it a hidden gem, and I’m inclined to agree with them.

So now I’m in Mission Beach. There’s thick rainforest here, and a lovely beach. The day I arrived I went for a wander with a Swiss girl, and we found tons of coconuts. We took one back, and cracked it (after a lot of hard work) then tried to eat it (even though neither of us like coconut). It was nice, didn’t taste much like the coconut I’m used to back home. The coconut milk was funny too, in a good way I guess. If you ever get stuck on a desert island with me though, I’ve conquered the art of the coconut, so you’ll be absolutely fine and won’t starve. Yesterday was cloudy, but I went on a free tour of the rainforest. We heard all about the different plants (I was unsurprised by the number of plants that can cause you intense pain/kill you… just like the rest of Australia) and animals. We saw some ENORMOUS spiders, and these birds called Cassowaries, which are similar to ostriches and emus… They’re big, flightless, and can get quite angry at times and disembowel you. We went to a banana farm as well, which was deeply exciting for the city girl. My mouth was literally hanging open. Isn’t that a little embarrassing?

Today I head to Cairns, YAYAYYYYYYYY!!!! I have 10 days in Cairns (well, 2 of them are spent heading up north, and another 3 are on a boat). Then I go to Sydney for a few days then I come home! I’m really looking forward to my dive course which starts on Monday.

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