I am now on Magnetic Island, an island just off the coast of Townsville, in Tropical Queensland. Unfortunately, I made the brutal mistake of booking my trip during the Wet Season, and it is pouring rain, and apparently will be doing so for about a week. So I am stuck at this hostel, which if it was sunny, would be awesome, as it is right on the beach. As it is, I am stuck here for a good 2.5 days with nothing to do but update my blog.
I probably should have booked my travels in this part of the country for later in the year, when its not raining. I feel like I’m wasting my money, paying to go to all these places and just sitting inside each one watching the rain.
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Luckily for me, the rain on Magnetic cleared up the next day, and I was able to go hiking around the island with a brother and sister that I met that worked at the hostel. We did a 5 km walk around the island. As we walked, the landscape was continually changing from lush forest with flowing creeks, to dry, eucalyptus filled terrain, to red earthed clay paths. The end of our walk popped us out at some waterfalls that are well known and frequented by the locals. This was one of my best experiences of the trip!!! Especially due to the frequent rain, the waterfalls were flowing well and pooled into various swimming holes along its course. The main one had a rope swing, (again with the rope swings!) on which a pair of 4 year olds put my swinging abilities and upper body strength to shame. We hiked further up and found a spot where you can duck under the waterfall and sit in a small cave formed by the rock, completely hidden from view from the outside. After our long hike, we took advantage of the fast flowing waterfall to massage our backs and necks as the water fell upon us. It was awesome!!! Definitely a highlight of my trip.
The next stop proved to be another highlight as well. I took the Greyhound up the coast to Mission Beach, a small coastal town renowned for its river rafting, skydiving and proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. It is also home to the cassowary, a large bird with a bright blue head that resembles an emu. We saw two yesterday on our drive up to the Tully River for my first river rafting experience. As much as I have hated all the rain that has been going on, it did my trip a favor in that the water levels were pretty high and we were able to raft the entire river instead of getting out at the low water level stop off. After a brief introductory paddle lesson, we were off. I think some of us in the boat were a bit confused about our rights and lefts, cause we flipped the boat on the very first rapid we encountered!!! It was pretty exhilarating going through the rapids without a boat! Our river guide had a field day yelling expletives at us after that, but I think he was only half serious. Haha. Needless to say we got our act together after that. Which is a good thing, because the river is actually really dangerous to raft because of all the rocks- apparently 5 people have died rafting it, and just in the last months 2 river guides, on separate occasions, dislocated their knees after falling out in the rapids.
Regardless, the trip was absolutely fantastic- the river wraps through World Heritage National park, this lush dense green rainforest with waterfalls cascading down these massive vine covered cliffs. It was a misty day, with common bouts of rainfall, but it was so warm that it didn’t even matter. The water was warm, and we often got in for a “swim” in calm areas- where we just floated down the mild rapid in our vests. All in all, we were on the river 4 hours. There was a diligent camera crew on the banks, and my boat pooled together for a CD of pictures, so I’ll be putting those up on facebook soon enough.
The only downside to this bit of the trip was getting my razors, perfume and most of my makeup stolen out of my toiletry bag after I accidentally left it in the common bathroom for a few hours. Australia thus far has been really safe, and I often have left bags unattended, but I am going to be more diligent from now on!
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