Magnetic Island is the
bomb
Fresh out of exams, we
woke up at 4:30am last Thursday morning to jump in the vans and head
to Cairns for the
7:30am bus to
Townsville. I slept for most of the 6 hour bus ride that took us
through rolling pastures and sugar cane fields with mountainous
rainforests in the background. In Townsville, we rushed to a grocery
store to stock up on 4 days worth of food for 16 people. We packed
up our backpacks and carried the rest down to the docks where we
hopped a ferry across the bay to our final destination: Magnetic
Island.
When the island bus
finally dropped 16 weary travelers off in front of the house we had
rented, it was pure relief and chaos as people scrambled for beds,
unpacked food, rushed into the hot tub and collapsed from
exhaustion. Every day on that island was amazing, and I made sure I
thoroughly enjoyed every second. It can sometimes be weird to
realize you will never see some places ever again in your life, so
you just snap yourself back to the present moment to enjoy the time
you do have in the place you are.
Our first day, Kaitlin,
Jason and I headed down to
Horseshoe Bay where we collected shells off the beach and walked the
esplanade shops. The rest of the crew joined up with us for a swim
in the stinger nets. It’s jellyfish season and should you be unlucky
enough to be stung by a box jellyfish, it will be the last thing you
ever do. Only 2 beaches on the island had stinger nets and those who
snorkeled had to wear a full-body stinger suit. We grabbed trail
maps from a local store and found one that led right off Horseshoe
Bay to a secluded beach called Balding Bay. The hike was
breath-taking, and the beach was absolutely beautiful - picture
giant boulders creeping up on a long white-sand beach with crystal
blue water gently crashing onto the shore. I climbed up one of the
boulders and scared a rock wallaby, which basically looks like a
miniature kangaroo. I just smiled in wonder as I watched the little
joey hop away through the brush. Unfortunately, I was not careful
about the sun and proceeded to burn my back to the point of almost
sleeplessness that night. It has now thankfully turned into a dark
tan.
Day two was even
better. Bellies full of delicious pancakes, we took the island bus
down to Nelly Bay and rented scooters. It was the most exhilarating
thing I have done in a while (maybe minus white water rafting). We
scooted around Nelly Bay, stopping at souvenir and dress shops with
my girl friends. Then we continued on our scooters, zooming along
the coastline – my breath was literally taken away as the wind
whipped over my face and the beautiful rocky coastline whizzed by
me. We met the rest of the crew at Picnic Bay for some lunch and a
quick swim in the stinger nets. Only stopping for a delicious
vanilla ice cream cone, we were too excited to get back onto our
scooters to stay in one place for long. The rest of the afternoon
was “beach hopping” with our scooters. We headed back to the house
for some dinner and a dip in the pool. The sunset from our house was
fantastic - basically a melted orange-strawberry creamsicle painted
across the sky. We jumped back on our scooters and headed to the
beach for some margaritas and a beach stroll. All 16 of us lay down
on the beach, quietly murmuring or listening to the waves crash as
the stars shown brightly above us. The night held us snug and warm
with refreshing breezes coming off shore, leaving a lingering smell
of coconut trees. Before heading off the bed, the scooter gang
decided to make one more loop around the island – amazing. Being on
that scooter cruising along the coast was something spectacular as
worries lost to the cool air rushing by were replaced with a
reckless feeling of abandon. Nothing else existed but the feeling of
deep breaths filling my lungs and the pure tingle of aliveness. I
highly recommend renting a scooter. Haha.
Day three we sadly and
regrettably had to return our scooters and hop the island bus back
to Horseshoe Bay. We headed to Bungalow Bay Koala Park where we were
able to handle animals like baby crocodiles, dragons, blue-tongued
lizards, echidnas, cockatoos and most importantly – koalas. We were
able to hold and take our picture with a 4-year old koala named
Dexter. Although he was so cute, he smelled rank. Apparently their
poor diet and mating habits have evolved them to stink that bad.
Needless to say, I had to wash my shirt afterwards. We spent the
rest of the night cleaning up the house and repacking all of our
stuff to leave the next morning at 8:30am. We arrived in Cairns by
7:30pm to be picked up by our SAM (student affairs manager) and
other interns.
Classes started bright
and early this morning (Tuesday) with no real transition from our
vacation. We had lectures on conservation of fragments on the
Atherton Tablelands and after lunch, we headed to a progressive
dairy farm for a field excursion. We also got our exams back, and I
did extremely well. This entire past week has been nothing but one
good experience after another. I am seriously on a roll. The rest of
the week looks good as we head into our Directed Research projects.
I have decided to focus on food kilometers on the Tablelands, which
means lots of supermarket and farmer interviews about the economics
of food transport. It should be interesting, and I am pumped to get
started.
P.S. Do not call an
Aussie a bloody wanker at a bar. It’s bad news bears.
