Magnetic Island, Australia, Australia

Today was a very nice relaxing day, after we got out of Civic Guest House. We got out of that place as quickly as humanly possible! We got into the car and headed over to Billabong Sanctuary which is just south of Townsville. It is a really nice wildlife park that I went to with my mom about 10 years ago. We drove the 10 miles down there only to find out that it was closed down due to Cyclone Yasi. So we were disappointed, but got back in the car and decided to head to the airport to drop off our rental car. We took the shuttle from the airport to the ferry terminal, and then caught the ferry (with one minute to spare) over to Magnetic Island.

I didn’t really have high hopes for the hostel considering the last few places we’d been had all been flawed. We got the local bus from the ferry terminal to the YHA Bungalow Bay Koala Village and I was very pleasantly surprised. There was a nice open air reception and bar area overlooking the pool as you walk in. I was placed into a 6 person mixed dorm and got settled in to my top bunk. None of my roommates were around so I just went back out to the pool and relaxed for a bit. Lisa and I took a walk to Horseshoe Bay, just a few minutes down the road, for some lunch, but the beach had been destroyed by Yasi. There were no stinger nets up at the beach so we weren’t allowed to swim at all, and there was debris all over the beach. We realized that there wasn’t much point in sticking around the beach area, so we just made our way back to the hostel to relax by the pool. I ended up there for the rest of the day.

I think I was still really tired from all the driving yesterday, that I was very happy to just sit in the pool and not move. The only thing I got out of the pool for was to see (and participate in) the feeding of the Rainbow Lorikeets. Every day at about 4:30pm, tons of these bright beautiful birds come to the hostel to get fed by the wildlife sanctuary on premises. I picked up some food, which I think was just wet bread, and held my hand out and the birds flocked. Within seconds I had three birds on my arms and one on my head. They are very load and have very sharp claws, but they are beautiful so I didn’t mind being stabbed for a few minutes.

I left the birds alone after getting a couple of pictures and got back in the pool to cool off again. I had met a mother (Linda) and son (Patrick) who were over in Townsville checking out James Cook University for Patrick to attend in July. It was easy to start a conversation considering he was going to the same school that Nikki attended 10 years ago. Lisa and I got quite friendly with the two of them and we all went to dinner in town at the only place that was open. It was perfect timing because Thursday nights was half-price-dinner night, so I was thrilled to get my first kangaroo burger for half price! By the way, it just tastes like a tough steak, nothing special. We went back to the hostel, had a few drinks and I called it a night around 9:30pm. I was so exhausted, I just wanted to get some sleep.

I got back to my bungalow to meet my German roommate who I hadn’t yet seen. He was a very friendly guy who was very interested in America, so we ended up talking until 11:30pm anyway. So much for catching up on sleep! Ah well, he’s getting up at 5am to catch a bus so he’s asleep now and I’m on my way too. Good night!