Week 20: Cairns You Believe It's Almost Over?
Nov 11-18
Part One: Magical Maggy (Townsville/Magnetic Island)
From Townsville I jumped on a ferry to Magnetic Island. Because of a recent storm, the waves were bigger than usual and the captain was apparently an adrenalin junkie because he didn’t slow down whatsoever. I felt more barfy on this than the little sailboat!
Once we were on solid ground, I missed the hostel shuttle because it lamely only took cash, which I had to get from an ATM. I used the hour and a half wait to buy some groceries and chill.
Bungalow Bay is the YHA on Magnetic "Maggy" Island. It was adorable with tiny home-like bungalows. My reservation was messed up so I got a free upgrade from an eight-person to a six-person bungalow. The inside of the bungalows were so cute with an accent wall, teeny vanity area, and bathroom. And they had AC!
I made dinner in the hostel kitchen and then walked about 7 minutes down to Horseshoe Bay for the sunset. I drank my goon and enjoyed the views before heading back to the hopping lounge area and chilling on a bean bag, chatting with others, and listening to trivia night in the background.
I mistakenly got a bit too lit and decided to go back to Horseshoe Bay to look at the stars, which did not disappoint. On my way back to the hostel I encountered a wild wallaby that looked at me before hopping away!
I had booked a two-day two-night koala cuddle package, as Bungalow Bay has its own animal sanctuary onsite! So the next morning I got up and excitedly made my way to the tour. We got to hold Kelly, the freshwater turtle (who peed on me), Kevin, the bearded dragon (I was scared), and several other reptiles. One had a blue tongue! We saw saltwater and freshwater crocs and Shadow, the black cockatoo.
Fun Fact: Did you know saltwater crocs can also be found in freshwater? But freshwater crocs can only be found in fresh water. Which is bad because the saltwater ones are the giant, territorial ones with wide snouts whereas freshwater have long skinny snouts and aren’t aggressive.
Meeting all the other animals was great, but then came the moment we were all waiting for – the koala cuddle! We got to hold Claudia the two-year-old koala and she was the cutest. Queensland is the only state in Australia that allows people to hold koalas, and they have very strict rules. Each koala can only be held for a maximum of 30 minutes a day, so we had to quickly pass her along to the others. I’d say I held her for a solid minute, though, and it was everything I could have dreamed of!
We had to stand very still and the tour guide placed Claudia in our arms. Koalas have very poor eyesight so basically we pretended to be trees. We got our pictures taken and Claudia was super photogenic! We also met Hagrid, a koala born in the wild who was hit by the car and suffered spinal damage so he has trouble climbing the trees and is protected in the reserve.
Fun Fact: Koalas’ gestation period is a mere 35 days! The babies are born the size of a fingernail with no eyes – basically a miniscule pink blob. Their moms lick a path up to their pouches, where the babies crawl up into and develop there. Koalas also have brains the size of a peanut.
After meeting Claudia and Hagrid we got to hold Dawn, a beautiful python. Unfortunately, Harry the wombat had fallen down his ramp a few days prior and essentially stubbed his toe, so he was out of commission at the moment.
It started to pour but we checked out the other koalas and explored the rest of the sanctuary before heading back to the lounge. I went to make lunch and saw a mommy possum and her joey on the roof of the kitchen!
Fun Fact: Baby platypuses and baby echidnas are called puggles. AW!
Not yet done with my animal fix, I got my free bag of rock wallaby food from reception and took a bus down to a bay where the wild rock wallabies live. While FaceTiming my older sister I saw one and it ate right out of my hand! I saw another one and placed food down for it to eat – it was too skittish to eat out of my hand. They have the sweetest eyes!
On my way back to the hostel I did a hike to The Forts, old military areas on the top of a mountain. I saw a wild koala sleeping in a tree and a wild wallaby hopped by me! I ran into a girl from my Whitsundays cruise on the peak of the mountain and enjoyed the sunset before heading back to Bungalow Bay. I met some people with Massachusetts and ASU connections – small world!
The next day I bid adieu to Maggy Island and relaxed on a six-hour bus ride up to Cairns, my final destination in Australia.
Part Two: My Last Stop (Cairns)
The YHA was super cool in Cairns, with a pool, heaps of palm trees, and a funky light display. I ate with an Austrian guy the first night and he shared his Tim Tams with me – I practically fell in love!
I stayed in my room for one night before I had to check out and re-check in to a different room, because of the hostel package I had purchased. That day I explored the pier, walked along the esplanade and lagoon, and got some ice cream. Later on I went to the night market with a kindred spirit I met at the hostel, Corvey, who is from England. We shopped and talked a lot about our crazily similar lives.
The next morning I got some free pancakes from the hostel and walked to the pier with two Brits I had met back on Fraser Island. We were both snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, but on different boats.
I boarded Passions III, a catamaran, and instantly recognized the Pirates of the Caribbean theme music and knew it’d be a fun time! The weather was overcast and even rained a bit as we sailed out to the GBR, but once we got there, it was sunny and hot. I ran into two British guys I had also met on Fraser Island and we hung out and soaked up the sun.
I was slightly terrified to snorkel the GBR and sculled a solid amount of goon before donning my stinger suit, goggles, flippers, and snorkel, and leaping into the clear blue water at Hastings. I quickly got over my fear and oohed and aahed at the beautiful coral, colorful fish, and just the fact that I was in the middle of the ocean. I spotted a stingray and even a shark! There were hundreds of jellyfish and I swam through all of them and boing-ed them on the top and they didn’t harm me, they were quite cute! They weren’t the deadly kind, obviously.
One of the guides dived down to the bottom of the ocean and touched a giant clam (that was the size of a small oven) and it snapped shut, which was so cool to witness!
We snorkeled for over an hour before heading back on the boat and devouring lunch. We then jumped back in at our second snorkeling spot, called 1770. I preferred the first spot as this was much more shallow and I was nervous to damage the delicate (and super sharp) coral.
Exhausted from the swimming, sun, wind, and waves, and proud of myself for getting out of my comfort zone, I chilled with my two British friends on the cruise back to the harbor. It was my last full day in Australia, and definitely one for the books. Er, blog. ☺
Part Three: It's Pronounced Puh-keh-co-ee (Pukekohe)
I woke up before the sun and called an Uber, having already packed the night before. There was no way I could finish my goon, so I donated it to the hostel. The drive to the airport was only 15 minutes and before I knew it I was flying over the GBR, heading back to Auckland. I fell in love with Australia and its scenery and animals. There’s no doubt I’ll be back!
My friend Alex and her mom picked me up from the airport and we had a nice roast dinner. My other University of Waikato friend Olivia dropped by and it was nice to catch up with them! Alex and I made eggs benedict the following morning and relaxed the entire day. It was finally warming up in NZ, so we lounged on her porch in the sun for a while.
The next night we went to Alex’s friend’s 18th birthday party, which ended up being really fun. Her friend lives on a legit farm so of course I pet the dogs, cats, Milo the possum, and attempted to pet the cows and calves but they only ate the food I gave them and were skittish. I met some colorful characters there and had some pretty funny conversations (one in Spanish) about Chevy trucks, freezing lizards to death, and chloroforming cats…Let’s just say the 18-year-old’s grandmother was very interesting!
After a nice stay with Alex and her gracious family I was back at the Auckland airport waiting for three familiar faces!
Up Next: Fam Bam takes New Zealand!!!