I got back from Melbourne on August 31st and I was back on a plane to Townsville on the September 3rd to visit my friend Ken from Wantagh (it's ok, he didn't go to Wantagh High School, he went to Chaminade.) He is also in the Study Australia program but goes to James Cook Uni. My flight was at 6am and my roommates were very surprised that I made it. Those who have lived with me know I hate mornings, especially when the night before ended not long before I had to wake up (sorry Mom). But the flight was about 3 hours so I got to sleep a little. Ken's friends had to pick up a rental car at the airport at the same time my flight was getting in so it was really convenient for me. However, as soon as I got to the airport I dropped my phone in the toilet leaving it incapacitated. This was extremely inconvenient because I had no idea where I was supposed to meet up with Ken and his friends. After roaming around for a little I found them and we were on our merry way back to campus. It was very interesting being in a car with someone who was driving on the left side of the road for the first time, and it was even more interesting hearing a GPS with an Aussie accent. I want one, even though I don't drive.
Anyway, we got back to campus in time for lunch (can I admit to almost missing the dining hall?) and then we played Wii until Ken had to go to class. Not surprisingly, I still suck at Wii. Ken went to class and instead of spending my time perfecting my Wii table tennis moves I decided to take a nap because I was still sleep deprived. One of Ken's roommates had quite the booming voice so when he came back to the apartment I was quickly awoken, which probably wasn't a bad thing. So I decided to be social and hang out with Ken's roommates and friends before he got back from class. While talking to them I realized one thing that I am definitely missing living in Bondi Junction with a bunch of Americans--I feel like I have a very limited Australian connection. I simply don't know many Aussies. It's unfortunate but I don't really know how to remedy that. So moving on, we watched some footie and then got some dinner and just hung out some more before going to Uni Club for the night's festivities. They had $2 rails so I ordered cranberry vodka, pretty foolproof I think, and they didn't have any cranberry juice. Seriously? Ok, not that big of a deal but I was still surprised. I got to see my friend Megan at the Uni Club too which was pretty cool. She is in the Study Australia program also and all three of us did the pre-semester trip to Hamilton Island and Cairns.
On Friday we got up pretty early, had brekky, and then got on the ferry to Magnetic Island (Maggie Island). I had my first outdoorsy experience; I actually went camping for the first time. I set up my own tent and everything (ok, with a little help). We were both pretty hungry so we decided to venture out and find someplace to get lunch. We stumbled upon the Fat Possum Cafe which was just a homey little short-order restaurant. After lunch we walked back to the hostel but instead of walking on the main street we decided to walk down the Esplanade. I saw a sign that completely summed up the feeling in the area:
The sand was so white and the water was so clear. When we got back to the hostel we just hung out on the beach before the Full Moon Party--basically the reason why we went to Maggie Island. I'm sure completely sure of the history behind the Full Moon Party but apparently it started in Thailand and a bunch of places have adopted it. Maggie Island is one of those places. It was a lot of fun, but it was just like any other club/bar. And then this random came up to us with neon green paint and brushed paint on my legs and arms. I was too confused to actually do anything about it. Ultimately the paint got on my Rainbows and it is still there even almost a month later. I guess it's not too big of a deal, my Rainbows are completely shot. So I ended up being pretty lame and falling asleep not long after midnight and had one of the worst sleeps in my life. Hard ground, no padding, no blanket... not so fun. It was so cold at night and then I woke up before 6am because it got so hot. I definitely didn't want to sleep late though so I wasn't upset about that.
On Saturday we started our day once again with the Fat Possum Cafe. I got awesome pancakes that were smothered in maple syrup and it made me miss pancake nights at the Hank residence (can we bring that back?) We were planning on doing the Forts walk--basically a nature hike through an old fort but we missed the bus and we would have had to wait another 45-ish minutes for the next one so we just decided to hang out on the beach. No too shabby of a concession. There was this random dog on the beach that grew very fond of Ken. He would follow Ken into the water and whine when no one would play. The dog, who we named Buddy for lack of anything else, developed the most interesting game. He would get a piece of wood and put it right between himself and Ken. Then it was like quickdraw to grab the stick. Buddy would lift his front paw in like a strike pose. But, he did not do fetch well. Quite an interesting dog. There were a bunch of dead-looking people on the beach probably from the craziness that was the night before and we were slightly concerned for a while but they did eventually wake up. After spending a significant amount of time in the sun we decided to go hang out at the pool at the hostel and stake out two of the hammocks. I got one but Ken wasn't quick enough. He saw some people that he knew from JCU (his school) so he was talking to them while I fell asleep. I woke up about 2 hours later (oops...) and we decided to just eat dinner at the hostel bar instead of walking over to the Fat Possum again. We had a few drinks and hung out on the beach for the rest of the night.
We were planning on leaving Maggie Island at 3:30ish so we decided to get up early (though it wasn't much of a decision because the insane heat woke me up) and try to do the Forts walk. We got brekky at the hostel then got on a bus and headed up to the trail. The walk was amazing. Apparently it is a wild koala habitat but we didn't see any during our walk. We took a bunch of the side trails and climbed up a bunch of boulders that gave us incredible views of the island. Each time we got climbed higher and higher on the island and I felt more accomplished. It was one of the most fun things I've done here. We stayed at the top lookout point for a while just to relax because it was so hot. The walk back was a lot quicker than the walk up but when we were almost at the street we saw the bus pull away. Buzzkill. So we had to wait about 30 minutes for the next bus. I guess it could be worse. It was so beautiful up there I really couldn't complain. So we took the bus back to the hostel, got our bags, and walked back to the ferry to go back to Townsville. After a long ferry ride and bus ride back to campus I was very happy just to finally shower and relax. We hung out with his roommates and his friends and decided to watch Dexter (my new obsession) and some weird movie that I could not even pay attention to. Conveniently, the same people who picked me up at the airport needed to drop the rental car off at the airport before my flight. Pretty sweet that I never had to pay for a taxi. I got to the airport pretty early to I got to make a few phone calls to some friends from home which was like the cherry on top of an awesome trip. However, once I sat down on the plane I was so lucky to have an infant next to me. The dad just said to me "So, have you ever flown next to a baby before?" and laughed. Jackass. The baby didn't cry too much though so I guess that's good. Seriously, why do you need to travel when you have 1 year olds?
Anyway, that was my trip to Townsville and Maggie Island. Sorry it has taken me almost a month to share it. At the moment I am working on a Snapfish account so I can share pictures with those non-facebook folk (aka my parents and everyone they want to show). I'll post the site later.
I'm starting another post right after I publish this one so get excited!
No comments:
Post a Comment