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Published: August 30th 2011
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Noodies, on the beachBlog Day 1013
We woke up to another fine and warm Queensland morning, in fact from what I remember, every time we are in Queensland the weather has been lovely, that’s why the possibly call it the sunshine state.
I was up first and did a bit of blog, I feel reinvigorated with the blog as we have something meaningful to write about, not just got up, went to work, got home blah, blah, blah.
Caroline made a cup of tea and we just sat and talked, which was great, the both of us are starting to get that re charged feeling that we were both after.
Today we had booked a car for three days to go and explore the Island, as we did not want to just rely on public transport.
We had read somewhere that Magnetic Island has the largest group/gaggle/herd bunch of Koala’s anywhere in Queensland and we were keen to see these little fat fella’s and their ladies.
Sadly we had also heard that due to the terrible Cyclone Yasi and fire that ensued, a lot of these beautiful creatures had perished and their numbers had taken a big hit,
so we would do our best to see what we could.
The thing I like about Caroline and I is that we try to understand the wildlife, where they live, how they feed and as we know most animals are driven by their food instinct and at least it gives you a better chance of success when you are out trying to spot them.
I will never forget back in December 2008 when we had probably been in Australia about 6 weeks and we were in Port Stephens, which had a good population of Koala’s. We walked up and down all day with our heads craned towards the sky looking for these adorable creatures, looking in every fork of every tree to see their little fats bums perched in gum tree’s but to no avail.
At the end of a very tiring day, without success, a lady walking her dog saw us looking in the tree’s and asked, “are you looking for Koala’s?” to which we replied that we were, well there has been one sitting in that tree all day and pointed, to a tree just next to us, where one of our favourite marsupials was
sitting, eating its eucalyptus dinner, looking right at us.
Since that day we made a point of trying to understand nature more and take the guess work out of it.
We have been quite successful with Koala’s and had got some pretty good pictures, especially when we were on the Great Ocean Road, around Apollo bay and Cape Otway, and the most memorable event was when we were on Kangaroo Island, where we had our own resident Koala and Caroline shrieked with joy when It scampered down from its tree and momentarily sat down beside her, this was the one we named Dennis.
And as a foot note, for our failing memories this was when me met Sue and Cliff from Perth.
Well today was no different, we had our car delivered to the hotel, it was a beast of a Suzuki 1.3 Litre, (No power steering and windie up windows, god how uncivilised!) but it was a set of wheels, and as soon as we had loaded water, snacks, cameras, we headed off in search of “plump little furry bottoms”.
,We had been told of a “Suburban Koala” who was in a tree at a
private house in Arcadia, so we drove down to where we had been told and sure enough, perched high up in the crook of a gum tree fast asleep in the sun, was a Koala, just as we had been told.
We were delighted and went past it a couple of times today to check on it, but as time went on it only seemed to climb higher in to the tree, I think he was onto us.
Koalas are very fussy creatures and only eat a certain type of Eucalyptus leaf, it’s a misconception that they are in all types of eucalyptus trees,.
A koala’s digestive system is so poor they need to eat virtually constantly so will never stray too far from the source of food, bit like Caroline really.
We decided not to continue annoying this Koala, so we thought we should head off for some more exploring, due to our newly rented set of wheels, we ended up in Horseshoe bay, which can only be described as outstanding, we parked the ”Beast” and walked off to find a coffee. Well, we are on holiday and decided not to overdo things!
The
weather was a “knock out”, verging on the baking hot really, a few people were in and out of the sea, and fortunately at this time of year, it is not stinger season, so it’s quite safe.
We found a great place called “Noodies on the beach” we sat in the shade and watched the world go by, it was fantastic. We started talking to our next door neighbours who introduced themselves and asked us what we thought of where we were staying, we thought it was OK, a little dated but not too shabby and the people were nice.
They didn’t think too much of it, and compared it to another island, which was more commercialised and upmarket, it was probably a bit unrealistic, but each to their own.
These people did confess they were Black top travellers, and would never dare venture “Off Road” into the outback, that was way too hard core for them.
They asked us what travels we had undertaken and their jaws nearly hit the floor, when we told them of Kangaroojacks travels, this fella said they we deserved to be Australian, “More than he did” due to the sheer amount
of travelling we had done and the places we had been to.
They went their way and we stayed to finish our coffee, I was talking to a bloke who worked in Noodies who asked me where I came from. I explained we had lived in Southampton for 23 years and amazingly he told me they had lived in Hythe, before they left the UK in 1988, and had never been back.
We decided to eat at “Noodies”, for our evening meal, so booked a table for 6.00pm , we thought it would be fun, so we finished our coffee, then walked along in the sunshine taking some pictures.
I really think Magnetic Island is a little Jewel in Australia’s crown, but It is so pretty unspoilt and feels a little undiscovered, it’s just lovely.
We left Horseshoe bay, and travelled back to Florence bay and parked the beast and had a walk, some Red Tailed Black Cockatoo’s where making their presence known and we hadn’t seen these birds since Undara, in far Northern Queensland, in 2009.
I remember being at Undara for our wedding anniversary when we stayed in the railway carriage, which was
Caroline
Looking Very well, its a look I like! pretty cool, blog day 285, “Chasing Snakes”.
I believe the Red tailed Black Cockatoo is quite a rare-ish bird, but there were quite a lot of them making a din.
The one thing that makes me chuckle about wildlife is this, you may see a Unicycling Koala or a Wombat on Roller-skates, but as soon as the camera lens comes out, the wildlife disappears.
Today was no different, the Cockatoos where everywhere on the ground, picking up berries and bits and pieces with their claws and feeding themselves, we walked amongst them, sort of, and they were not bothered, but as soon as the camera lens came out they all headed for the tree’s and refused to even look in our direction.
We have been advised that there has been a boom in the number of Death Adders on Magnetic Island, but as yet have not seen one, we must look harder.
Back to the camera for a minute, Since being a fantastic Husband, no I’ll write that in a more appropriate fashion, as I am a fantastic Husband, I have always purchased Caroline’s Camera gear and when we were in Sydney , back in
Chubby little bum
A Koala sleeping in its tree January I purchased Caroline a new Canon 7D.
I was lucky enough to inherit her “Cast Off” Canon 400D, and as Caroline has quite a selection of lenses, between the two bodies, we had enough lenses to be prepared for most photographic eventualities. So its baby steps for me learning how to use the 400D to the best of my ability.
The other reason that I am enthusiastic on using the 400D camera is whilst on Christmas Island recently, my Sony Cybershot was in my pocket with my Car keys, and must have sat down, the rear viewing screen is broken.
It’s fair to say, that there has been much mickey taking on my behalf with Caroline, she has a whole rucksack full of gear and me with my Sony Cybershot, always able to capture that “Kodak moment” whilst Caroline was still trying to unpack her Camera bag, only to miss that illusive shot.
We had a good mooch around the bush, hoping for a snake, or even a Wombat on Roller skates, but decided to drive back to our Hotel for a Siesta.
The afternoon went in a blink on an eye, and soon
it was time to hop back in the Car and go and see the feeding of the Rock Wallabies down at Jefferies point.
A local guy, is famous for feeding the little Rock Wallabies and when we got there, there were quite a few people just enjoying watching this guy who was sitting on the floor feeding these adorable little creatures and talking to the small audience that had gathered.
At a best guess there must have been 30-40 Rock Wallabies who were wise to the fact that if they made an appearance then they would be fed.
Though a very skittish creature, they had such delicate dexterous hands and they moved at the speed of lightning.
I think these people are amazing, the guy, possibly retired, gives his time and no doubt pays for the food, selflessly comes down each day to feed these animals, I think it’s great, the world needs more people like this.
We watched for possibly an hour or so, as people arrive,the Wallabies dart back into the safety of the Rocks and re-emerge when they know it is safe to do so.
Back in the car we carry
on to Horseshoe bay where we had a table booked at Noodies on the beach for dinner. Noodies does Mexican food, so we order a plate of Nacho’s to share, and after a short while, they turn up it’s just like a cheese puzzle, trying to get a Nacho out, without taking a great slab of cheese that had been galvanised to it. It was a huge plate and already we had the impression that we had bitten off more than we could chew.
We sat overlooking the bay and ate our dinner (Not all of it, we ordered way too much!), washed down with a couple of drinks, what a magic way to finish our day on this great little island.
We walked back to the car and headed home and for an early night, both exhausted after a tiring day!
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andy
non-member comment
i was that guy from hythe
i am the guy you spoke to that worked at noodies (born in hythe but lived on the iow) glad you enjoyed the island!