Days 55-60 Yepoon-Mackay-Townsville
Trip Start
Nov 29, 2007
1
44
70
Trip End
Mar 27, 2008
Townsville,
Australia
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
It was a very long drive to Mackay and we weren't impressed when we got there. It's a big town and the caravan park we were looking for, we were told by one of the locals has shut down. We found a motel and stayed for one night. It was nothing to write home about.
Another full day's travelling the next day to get to Townsville. There is an island here called "Magnetic Island" (Maggie Island) which is almost all wilderness and we hope to go there on a tour. After all that driving, Dean wanted to book into a hotel so we booked into a nice one near the river. Townsville looked huge as we were driving into it but it wasn't like Mackay, much more spread out and there are bars and restaurants across the road from our hotel.
We went out that evening to have a look around and a few drinks, it has been a while since we have been out drinking. Most of the places here are eating places , of course you can still have a drink in them but there seems to be a shortage of pubs and bars. I find this a bit weird in Australia as I thought all the Aussie's love their beer. Maybe they all drink in their back gardens or something. I would if I lived here, the evenings are perfect, so lovely and warm. We managed to find a bar that doubles as a bottle shop (off license), albeit a bit of a scruffy one. We immediately attracted attention with our English accents and the locals in the bar all came over to talk to us. We met two guys called Rusty and Wayne who are both working here in Townsville in the construction industry. Rusty tells us he has a big unit overlooking Magnetic Island, all to himself, he says paid for by the company he works for. He offered for us to come and stay with him for free and insisted on giving us his mobile phone number. Wayne apparantly has a mate who owns a unit on Maggie Island and offered for us all to go over there for Australia day which is on the 26th January. He also insisted on giving us his mobile phone number (I didn't give them ours) and we thanked them for their kind offers, telling them we would give them a ring tomorrow.
Later reflection told us that it all sounds a bit too dodgy. Maybe they were genuine and this is just the way the Aussie's are but Dean's suspicious instincts were in overdrive. Rusty did tell us that he has been in jail and we don't know what for, better to leave it we think - we can book our own tour to Maggie Island.
And this is what we did, we booked ourselves onto the 'Tropicana tour' by phone, we had found out about via an information leaflet in the hotel lobby and it sounds amazing.
We had to make our own way to the island but this was easy enough, the ferry is a 20 minute walk from our hotel. It is not far from the mainland and just 15 minutes crossing time on a high speed catamaran. Our tour didn't start until 2.30pm so we had to hang around the ferry port for an hour but that was okay. Our guide was on time and we were surprised to discover we were the only two people on the tour today so we had our pick of seats in the jeep.
Our guide is called Malcolm (Mal) and seems like a typical, fun loving, true Aussie bloke. He lives here on the island and knows it inside out and also knows all the people that live here. He first took us to his friend's house, she has a koala bear living in a tree in her garden. At last, I got to see one and he was absolutely gorgeous, so cute. And he was awake which is unusual as they normally sllep all through the day. Mal was very knowledgable about Koala's and told us that as they have evolved, their brains has shrunk and their stomachs have increased in size. It takes them 7 days to digest their food and is one of only three animals that can digest eucalyptus leaves without being poisoned - the other two animals are a type of possum. There is so little nutrition in their food that they spend most hours of the day sleeping and the rest of the time, eating. He pointed out the claws and hands, they have three fingers and two thumbs to allow them to grip onto the tree and their claws are very sharp. This particular Koala they call Piglet because when the males mate, they make a really loud bellow which apparantly sounds like a stuck pig. He told us that they are solitary creatures and rarely would you find more than one in a tree. They have a scent gland on their necks which marks their territory as they are climbing. Also, they don't necessarilly sleep in the tree that they eat from. Often they will eat and then move to a different tree to sleep, just any that has a secure perch for them. It is brilliant to have such an informative guide and I asked a lot of questions.
We moved on in the jeep and Mal took us to a 'water hole' on the creek. There are dangerous jellyfish in the sea around this island, their sting can be fatal and going in the water is not reccommended unless you are wearing a 'stinger suit'. So he took us to a freshwater creek to have a dip. We had to walk down a fairly steep slope and I found it slippery in my pumps, Mal was barefoot. The water was clear and warm and there were a family already in the pool. They thought it was exciting to meet people from England. Mal was chatting to them, everybody knows everybody else here, it is a small close-knit community and they all look out for each-other. This family were newcomers and have only lived here four months. We got some photos of us together paddling in the water hole and headed back to the jeep. He was taking us to one of the island's lovely beaches next where we would stop for tea and biscuits. We were amused when he got out some water pistols so we could squirt any pedestrians that we might see along the way, today is very hot. We didn't see any but we couldn't resist squirting eachother in the back of the jeep. Along the way, Mal kept stopping to explain various plants and trees and the different types of habitats and ecosystems here. He made it really interesting for us. We stopped at a gorgeous beach, I fail to remember the name of it and Dean and I went for a wander along the sea shore. It is a beautiful, unspoiled beach with very few people. It definitely had a deserted island feel to it. We saw a few dead jellyfsh on the sand and the children in the water were wearing stinger suits so we just dipped our toes in to be safe. When we got back to the jeep, Mal had put a table up, complete with tablecloth and there was tea, coffee and a selection of fruit juices, a selection of biscuits and fresh fruit - it all looked lovely. We both enjoyed a nice pot of tea while getting bit to death by marsh flies. Marsh flies are really big and they administer a painful bite, Mal says the females also eat the flesh but I don't know if he was having me on. He told us the worst thing you can do is squash them as this sends out a scent signal to all the other marsh flies and his mates will all descend on you to go for the same wound (they leave a small hole in your skin). Mal sort of stuns them with his hand and pulls off one of the wings to disable them without squashing them.
After our tea and biscuits we got back in the jeep to go and see another beautiful beach. Along the way, Mal continued to tell us about the different trees and plants that I have no hope of ever remembering the names of (quite impressively, he also told us the latin, scientific name of each one). We tried eating an edible flower, it didn't taste of much - a bit ike a lettuce leaf but without the watery taste. I asked if there was any nutrition in it and he told us not much. We stopped by a tree which he gave us the scientific name of (don't remember it) but is more usually called a noonie tree (I made up the spelling). He showed us the noonie fruit and I do believe it is the same fruit I've seen on a bush tucker trial in 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here'. He explained that the aborigine's commonly ate this fruit as it contains protein, fibre, enzymes, potassium and is jam packed with nutrition. He picked a couple of nearly ripe ones for us, apparantly to fruit (peeled) smells worse than the smelliest blue cheese gone off and tastes ten times more disgusting than it's smell. To clean their palates after eating this foul tasting fruit, the aborigine's ate green tree ants that make their nests in the leaves of this same tree. Dean spotted an active nest in the tree and Mal picked upp some of the ants and ate them to prove his point. He asked if we wanted to try some and Dean did so of course, that was it - I had to, too. The eat them (and I use Mal's exact words) you hold them by the head and bite their bum off. Dean and I were both surprised to find that they were actually quite tasty. They are only small and I suppose if I were to try and describe it I would say fruity, it's hard to describe a taste. We were both so impressed with their taste and our boldness at having a go that we ate some more. Although, I have to admit that I cheated and ate them from Dean's fingers because they bite and who can blame them when they are about to be eaten alive.
We went to a wildlife sanctuary next, to feed the lorikeets, these are colourful birds (look like small parrots) and they make a right racket. We had got there a bit late and I think they were fed up because they wouldn't come down to eat the food we were holding, they just stayed up in the trees, chirping away. We did get to have a good look at them though, they are beautiful little birds, all colours of the rainbow. We had a beer at the bar and there was a bird perched on a railing nearby. One of the park keepers got it to stand on her arm and I went to have a look at it and ask what it was. It was a Kookaburra, a wild one that has started coming to the sanctuary recently. Kookaburra's are birds of pre but very intelligent and will always come back for 'free' food. It has a really large beak, long claws and black and beige feathers. They make a funny sound at night and at dawn, like a laughing sound and we have frequently heard them wherever we have been in Australia. I put my arm beside the keeper's and was delighted when it hopped onto my arm. It stuck around just long enough for someone to take a couple of photo's and then it flew off.
Next, we went to feed the rock wallabies - it was getting dusk now and this is the time of day they all come out. As we drove up and parkked by the rocks, we could see them all hopping about. Mal had brought some pellets for us to feed them and as soon as we had our hands full, we were surrounded - they all hopped out from nowhere. They were so cute, like tiny kangeroo's with little cute faces. Some of them had joey's in their pouches and they looked absolutely adorable, their little tiny faces poking out. They all loved the pellets and ate them straight from our hands but some of them did nibble a bit and the large male hissed at us when our hands were empty. We both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with these absolutely adorable little marsupials, soooo cute. We were parked by the sea and Mal had brought some bread so that we could feed the fish. As soon as we started to throw it in the water, there were loads of fish came to fight over the bread. They were tropical fish, all different colours and similair to the ones we saw in Thailand. There were also a few large fish and we got to have a good look at them.
To be continued....
