Koala holding and seeing snakes...
Trip Start
Nov 11, 2007
1
5
26
Trip End
Feb 11, 2007
Magnetic Island,
Australia
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Hope you're not all too cold in lovely england! Even though we keep getting a bit of rain every now and again, it's still so hot! Go in the shower and half an hour later you wnat another one!! Seriously.
Anyway we had a lovely BBQ the other night with sausages and chicken burgers, plus a few bevvies we decided to go to the shops and buy for the occasion - well it was a friday night. Had some lovely bottle of dry strongbow from Liquor King and the hit the spot perfectly! We then had to pack as on saturday we got up to head for Magnetic Island on the ferry which is where I am now. We got here yesterday after piling 11 people and all our bags into our townsville hostel minibus (it was so hot u wouldn't believe) and getting onto the ferry. A lovely aussie lady started chatting to me and jen and told us we must wear suncream, particularly on the cloudy days as you get burnt more then. That's what I like about this country, people are genuinely concerned about tourists and often ask you where you're off to next and how much fun you'll have! So lovely.
Anyway we got to magnetic island after a 20 min ferry crossing - any longer and I think melly might have puked lol! She's not good at sea travel. And hopped on a bus to take us to horseshoe bay which is round the other side of the island to the ferry port. This trip was nothing if not nailbiting as the roads wound up and down with sheer drops down to the sea! I didn't look lol! We finally arrived and got checked into our little bunglows. Me and melly are together in a mixed 8 people dorm as jen and catherine chose the 2 places in the girl only dorm that was available. I figured I'm not on the pull do don't care if boys are in there and melly obviously thought the exact opposite (You should have seen her face light up when 2 lads walked in - although she has since lablled them irritating knobheads lol)! After dumping our stuff we went for a walk down to horseshoe bay for a look at the beach front and some lunch. Had a sandwich in a cafe and mel made friends with a kookaburra that kept trying to land on our table and steal her food, much to her frustration and fear. It caused a fair bit of screaming and moving around as you can probably guess, from all of us. I didn't put any cream on though as the beach is only a 3 min walk from our resort - oooops. I got a little burnt but not severely and I have now purchased a new hat too.
We decided to head back and sit by the pool - I went straight in as I was boiling hot! Had a little swim and got out to dry off in a hammock which was very peaceful and relaxing. There were lots of massive green ants around though and a suspiciously luminous yellow spider lurking nearby. This, however, was not the only wildlife to visit us by the pool. YES I SAW A SNAKE!! Arrrrrggggghhhhh is the noise I made, but as quick as it appeared, it went again back into the bushes. It was a smallish thin brown one which I have since been told are brown tree snakes. These things live in trees?!? Fantastic! They are harmless though but just amazingly fast as I witnessed! I spent the rest of the day worrying about them falling on me from trees and couldn't completely relax again at all. There is lots of wildlife here. Saw a guinea pig by the side of the road munching grass and there are birds everywhere! Very colourful ones!!
Today (sunday) I've had an absolutely amazing day. Startes off with a champagne bush tucker breakfast which consisted of lamb chops in bush herbs/spices, lemon reef fish, pancakes and french toast, fruit, yoghurt and juice, bacon, eggs, sauasages and tomatoes, real honey (still in the comb) and toast we cooked ourselves over an open campfire. Plus some yummy guava champagne! During this the rangers brought round a small saltwater croc to stroke and (eeeek) a python! I was sooooo petrified but managed to very quickly stroke it. Big step for me although I was nearly crying! There was also parrots around and an enclosure with a very cute koala called barney sat in it. We then went on a tour where we would be able to hold the animals and have photos with them. First was the snake which i opted out of. I'm taking getting over my fear step by step so I just touched him again. I took some photos of the girls instead. The ranger did let it go on the floor on it's own and I panicked a little but didn't run away and it didn't come towards me which was good!
The next thing was the best! We all got to hold and have our photo taken with a koala called dexter. He was surprisingly big and heavy and still not fully grown. He had very sharp claws too but very soft frizzy fur. Such a cute little thing. Next up was the parrots and I held the black one on my arm who took a liking to my bracelets lol! Didn't hurt me though and then it was croc time. There were some big ones in the park but we got to hold a small one called Barbie who had her mouth taped up and she was very soft and squidgy which I was surprised about. After all this fun, we went on a short bush walk and found a massive spider called a golden orb which can't kill you, but can hurt! Won't be going near them then. I was scared the whole time of tree snakes dropping on me and death adders which apparently like to strike from under leaves, of which there were lots on the floor! Great!
All in all an eventful day. Anyway we have also now also sorted our next few trips through a very helpful receptionist here called Jo and we've got a package booked for sailing the whitsunday islands and touring fraser island too all included. We're gonna be sailing on a trimaran (like a catamaran but with 3 long bits lol) called Avatar. It's gonna be muchos fun I feel.
Just been to the beach for lunch and to buy stuff to cook for tea. For those of you without facebook you can look at the photos with this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13616&l=046bb&id=510031269
O and my mobile number when I'm here is +447924431080
Keep in touch everyone - I'm having a fab time by the way as you may be able to tell! Lots of love to everyone and in particular to that one special person!! ;o)
Love smiffy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
