Adventures in Queensland

---

There's been a bit of a delay here as my camera was stolen whilst I was out on Tuesday night. Nevertheless I had a fantastic day trip on Wednesday into the Atherton Tablelands, a fun guided tour mostly spent swimming in cold rivers and pools, but also involving a walk through the rainforest, and some platypus spotting. The last place we swam was the unreal Lake Eacham, a warm volcanic crater lake in a national park. It was raining, and the water was about 26 degrees - a great relief after all of the cold mountain streams. I saw turtles, pelicans and cormorants there. I should hopefully be receiving some photos from friends I met on the trip.

I left Cairns the next morning on the Greyhound bus for Mission Beach. I ended up staying at a hostel in South Mission Beach. There are some great beaches there, and it's right in middle of the rainforest, but as there wasn't much to do besides walking long distances on foot, and as the hostel wasn't too nice, or cheap, I decided to move on the next day.

I am now staying at Magnetic Island, off the coast from Townsville. I managed to get myself a new camera from Townsville before I took the ferry. Magnetic Island is a beautiful place - mostly dry, rocky eucalypt forest and quite different from the rainforest vegetation I have become used to. I am staying for two nights at a combined hostel and wildlife sanctuary - more of a petting zoo really - with koalas, tamed cockatoos, snakes and crocodiles. There are strange looking stone curlews everywhere at night here, and possums too - they come and beg at the tables where we eat, and aren't afraid of humans at all. We are woken up at 6 every morning by the harsh calling of Cockatoos and Lorikeets. I spent my full day here with a tour around the wildlife park and a solo kayak trip around the headland from Horseshoe Bay to Radical and Balding Bay. Although the sun is shining again it's still really windy, and the sea was very rough past the headland and I got soaked. A great day out.

---

Photos

Townsville harbour
Departing for Magnetic Island

The Dorms
They were full of wildlife, and ensuite too!

Shadow the black cockatoo
also featuring myself in a white shirt, for those of you who wouldn't believe me.

Possums
just like squirrels, but bigger and scarier.

A bush stone-curlew
These ungainly looking running birds were everywhere at night.

Comments

[max]

White shirt?
Great picture of Big BLACK bird on your arm but with a white shirt? Travel not only broadens the mind but also the wardrobe. Are theose possums ..... or just good friends.