Darwin - Cairns - Magnetic Island!

---

So we arrived in Darwin hoping to escape the heat of outback Katherine...except it was just as hot and humid as well! You just had to step outside and the sweat would be dripping off you, so on days off there wasn't a lot to do!!

I'll start with a story just to explain to my mum why i had to throw away the bag that she bought me!! So on monday morning we had to go to work, but both kevin and aafje were off, and me, frederique and christy can't drive, so we had to get the bus. In order to get to work for 9am, we had to set off at 7, and get 2 different buses. When we got to the bus station to catch our second bus, we found that we had just missed it, so we asked one bus driver what to do. He told us that there was a point where his bus, and the one we had just missed crossed paths, so he told us to get on and he would race against the other bus to the point so we could get on!! very helpful! however, it was over 35 degree heat already, and when the bus driver stopped he was motioning frantically telling us to run around the other side of the petrol station and we might just make it!! We did not have a clue where we were meant to be going to, so were sprinting aimlessly in all directions, couldn't find a bus stop anywhere, and when i turned around fred and christy were running down the motorway!! 'are they just running to work?!' i wondered, and sprinted after them, not seeing a big ditch filled with mud and water from the cyclone type rainfall we had the night before! So obviously i fell into it, covered over the ankles in mud and general dirt and wetting myself laughing i pulled myself out of the hole. I was drenched and stank, so i tried to damage control as i had to work a full day in this state! I took my socks off and put them in the pocket in my bag. BIG MISTAKE!! i forgot about them until i opened my bag one day and it smelt like someone had died in there!! so, sorry mum, the bag had to go! it's been replaced with a really nice billabong one though!! Oh, and we had missed the bus!!

The rest of Darwin was fairly uneventful. We had some bbq and wine nights by the pool which were fun, one night me and frederique decided to go out into town at about midnight, so we got ready, found the yellow pages (or equivalent!) and i rang up. The woman was so rude and patronising to me that i eventually told her that she really shouldn't be so rude to customers and rung up on her. I went to the phone book and looked for the next taxi rank.....there was only one, and i'd just shouted at her!! So i had to ring up in a different accent and ask for a taxi to pick us up down the road!! For Kevin's birthday we went to the casino after we had his birthday meal of choice... a whole chicken and fries from mcdonalds!! So we put candles in his chicken and he blew them out..all a bit strange really! Then came the time when i had to leave Darwin and fly back to Cairns to start travelling again! Kevin and Aafje were leaving on the same day to fly to Asia, so we went for a meal at a thai restaurant on the waterfront which was really nice. We had all secretly got little presents for each other, so exchanged gifts and it was all a bit sad, these guys had been my family in Australia for 2 months, and Kevin and Aafje had looked after me lots, especially when i had swine flu.

My flight to Cairns was at 5 am, but was classed as an international flight as it had come through from Singapore, so i had to be there 3 hours early. I got myself a taxi to the airport, and in a daze, couldn't find where to check in(!) so i asked the nearest person, who happened to be a really nice german boy! so we got each other throught the horrible flight and went for drinks in cairns as well! When i arrived back into Cairns i went straight to the lagoon! It was like a home away from home!!! However much i love cairns though i knew i had to move on pretty quickly, as it was the 1st december and i have to be in sydney for the 20th, which left me 3 weeks to do the east coast, which i thought was pretty impossible!! Turns out it is possible however, thanks to a lady at peter pans travel agents!! But it did mean that i had to leave cairns the following day!

So as sad as i was to leave, i did discover that there is more to Australia than Cairns!!!! I got the greyhound bus down to townsville and the ferry over to magnetic island. It was all running quite smoothly until i had to get the bus from the ferry terminal to my hostel!! There was about 1,500 people (minor exageration!) with backpacks trying to fit onto a mini bus with no storage facilities!! Everyone was tripping over everyones things, there was no room to breathe, and then there were the locals who got on the bus later on, looking around at all the travelleres exclaiming 'my goodness!'

So after the bus ride from hell (luckily the island is tiny so it lasted about 5 minutes!) i checked into my room, which didn't come with a pillow or sheets, which was a bit bizarre! you have to pay for these luxury items! Anyway, i met 2 english girls, Katherine and Lauren. As soon as i got into the room they asked me if i wanted to go with them to feed some wallabys! So i dumped my stuff and left with them. It was a short walk away, and it turns out there was just a strange man who crushed horse flies with his bare hands, sitting in a car park throwing feed in the general direction of the wallabys!! It was really nice to watch though, and there was one wallaby with a baby in its pouch, sticking its head out! After a while, crazy man told us to try and feed them from our hands, and after some patience, it worked! After this, crazy got a bit bored and asked us if we wanted to feed the fish, so we sat on the edge of a rock and he gave us a piece of bread to throw into the water!! The fish were really big and i'm sure there was a tiny shark in there as well! After a few more minutes we made our excuses and left!!

The next day, we decided to hire a moke, which is like a car/buggy hybrid, and drive around the island! I got us a deal for a topless car, and over the phone he said he had a special car for us! So he came to pick us up, and when we saw the car we burst out laughing! it looked like Barbie's car! It was open top, different shades of pink and was made of plastic! I'm sure i had a barbie campervan when i was little which was exactly the same!! So we drove around the island to all the different beaches and bays and did a little walk when you can spot koalas. didn't spot any koalas, i just got eaten by 10,000 horse flies instead!! That evening we had a barbeque before retiring to my muxury bed! There was a panel missing in the middle, and i was using my jumper as a pillow, but i slept surprisingly well!
The day after that, the girls left to sail the whitsundays, and i had the dorm room to myself. Tonight was the night of the full moon party on the beach. not sure whether or not to go alone, i started talking to some guys i had met on the ferry over to the island and they told me to go with them. There were 5 of them, 4 german and one dutch! So i went to get ready later on, just as 2 English lads checked into my room. I've never experienced such vain, metrosexual boys in my life!!! They took 2 hours to get ready, leaving me to sit on my bed waiting for the bathroom!! They asked to borrow my hairdryer - i actually asked them why because their hair was so short i thought they surely couldn't mean to use it for that reason!! They was straightening their hair, which struck me as even more bizarre and i would have actually like to have watched what he was actually straightening since his hair was SO short! Anyway, a few hours later, i was ready to go. In the end there were 10 of us that went together which was nice, and it was a good night- got a bit wind swept though!!

We got back home about half 5, and i had to check out at 10, also needed to pack before then at some point! so after very little sleep, i managed to get myself on the ferry back to Townsville to catch my Greyhound bus to Airlie beach where i will sail the whitsunday islands tomorrow for three days. Hope i don't get sea sick!!!!

---

Photos

DSCF0371
one of our crazy bbq/wine/pool nights!!

DSCF0382
waiting for the bus with a 100%pure blood aboriginal! (he told me to say that!)

DSCF0440
Kevin blowing out his birthday chicken candles!!

DSCF7039
burning our clothes on the day we finished work!

DSCF7047
having a meal at the thai restaurant!

DSCF7107
hand feeding the wallabys!

DSCF7113
me, katherine and lauren in our barbie moke!!

DSCF7133
one of the beaches on magnetic island.

DSCF7147
with some of the german guys at the full moon party!

Comments

[Aunty Bren]

Aren't you missing the rain and cold winds from home just a tiny bit?