Showing posts with label Magnetic Island. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Magnetic Island. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Australia Day

This can be a continuation of my Maggy Island Day 2 post.  At the time I wrote it, I was not expecting such a legendary night.

Anyhow I got back from my intense Bush walk and Australian Day festivities at the hostel were in full effect.  I don't know the meaning of Australia Day but it like all Aussie Holidays, it is just another excuse to drink, throw a shrimp on the barbi and have a party.  Anyhow, the island bar at the hostel was pumping.  People had been drinking all day long and just hanging out.  I took advantage of the Aussie BBQ special, a bbq and a free schooner of Tooheys New Beer.




A little thing about the aussie bird Cookaburras, I hate them. As I was delving into my great Aussie BBQ a cookaburra came out of nowhere and ran into my beer and plate, knocking over my full schooner of beer.  Little did I know this was all his little plan. In disbelief of what just happened I gave the cookaburra a death stare as he was perched on the fence next to me.  I then continued eating, beerless.  Well less than 30 seconds later after I was looking the other way, the little bastard came and took my entire sausage and flew off with it.  It was not mistake he knocked into my beer in the first place.  That really irked me.  I just accepted that my beer just got knocked over, but the fact I just lost my whole hot dog really made me hate that damn bird.  I had the people all around me laughing at what just happened.  Yea it was a bit funny but if you were the one that just lost your beer and suasage it would not be as funny.

Anyhow, it was around 8 oclock and the rain was back in full swing.  Happy hour had started so it was time for a few drinks and celebrate Aussie Day, whatever it might be. Anyhow, the party was in full swing, literally every girl in the bar was up on the tables dancing, it was great.  Being only 8 oclock I knew the night was going to be a good one.

About an hour later, still pouring rain some people got the idea of starting to dance in the rain, well not more than 20 minutes later, the entire crowd from inside the bar migrated outside and had a huge dance party in the rain.  Oh man was it great.  It was not drizzling, sprinking, raining.....it was POURING.  I was in my boardies and my tank so not really an issue.  The dance party continued in the rain until the bar closed around 12.  The 3 hour rain dance was epic. During it, my new aussie mate Travis from my room had a bottle of jager stashed back in the room, I had about 20 dollars worth of his jager, saved heaps on my bar tab.  I had only bought 2 beers on the night..it was great. Also at one part of the night I saw 2 chicks at the bar go at it, throwing aggresive slaps at each other..turns out they were good friends from home.classic. Also at one point in the night, I took one of the biggest spills of my life down the stairs.  Not due to too many drinks but because of the extreme slippery conditions and the lack of traction on my thongs.  I fell down 3 stairs on my butt and lower back. In some pretty bad pain and reckon Ill have a pretty bad bruise on the lower back.

Anyhow words do not give the party in the rain justice, it was a had to be there moment.  I'de immagine it was almost a woodstock sort of scene without the mud and drugs.

Anyhow, the fun didnt end after the bar closed.  Nearby there was a slip n slide tarp from the days festivities.  It was some great fun, had not been on one for years.  There was about a line of 20 people that you slid in between.  About 15 minutes into the fun, the hostel staff came and took away the tarp, ruining the party but understandable as it posed a pretty big safety concern.

Great night that will never be forgotten

AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE! OI! OI! OI!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island, or Maggie Island as the locals call it, is just 8km of the coast of Townsville.  Townsville is about 6 hours south of Cairns.  Maggie is a great getaway for locals and is a common backpacker destination along the coast.  I read that it has great weather for 340 days of the year on Maggie.  Well, I am in one of those 25 days with bad weather, just my luck but something to be expected since it is right in the middle of monsoon season. The bus driver told me today it is the first time it has rained since March.

Day 1

I departed Airlie Beach at 7am and arrived in Townsville around 1030.  I then took a quick 20 minute ferry ride to Magnetic Island.  It may have been quick but it was not pleasant.  This ferry ride put what I experiences just a day earlier on the whitsundays to shame.  It is a speed ferry and it sure didn't slow down with these massive waves coming towards us. It was a roller coaster with some huge drops, some that may rival the big dipper drops towards the end of the ride. It was quite fun actually, it was like an amusement ride and had the customers cheering.  I did not get too sick thankfully, but definitely felt it a bit.



Anyhow it was raining all day long and did not do much. My hostel was Base Backpackers, right on the beach.  Met some people from my dorm and had a chat with them.  I then took a bit of a nap as I still was not fully recovered from the sailing trip the day before and the recent bumpy ferry ride.

Later in the day I did a bit more trip planning for NZ before a simple self cooked dinner of soup and salad.  In the night I had a drink at the island bar and called it a night.  The rain seems to make everyone pretty lazy and its tough to do much when it is constantly pouring.

Day 2

This day had originally been planned way back when as the day I would rent a scooter(vespa) and traverse the island on it.  Maggie is ideal for scooters as it just has 9km of roads and plenty of bays and walking tracks along the way to stop off at.

Anyhow I woke up to some hard hitting rain in the morning, the scooter rental was unfortunately out of the picture.  I took advantage of my free breakfast at the cafe in the hostel, it was great.  Ham, bacon, 2 eggs, toast and baked beans, a traditional aussie brekky.

Anyhow with the heaps of great walking tracks along the island I did not want to completely waste the 2 days I had on Maggie.  Having a scooter and doing every walking track and visiting every part of the island would have been ideal, but I made the most of it.

I headed out in the rain to supposedly the best bushwalk on the island, The Forts Walk.  Maggie is home to the highest population of wild koalas, around 200.  The walk was supposed to be a great place to spot one.  Also, as the name suggests, showcases old world war forts, that were used to protect Townsville on the mainland, a big military base back then.

The walk started out nice and quiet, and then all of a sudden the rain hit, pouring non stop for around 30 minutes.  It was a true bush walk, I was have a gay old time going thru the wilderness.

Had some pretty stellar views on the hike up, I'de immagine better in clear skys but Ill take what I can get.


Found this little guy on the walk up







Gun emplacement


Drenched


At the top, embracing the rain


Anyhow is was a great walk, glad I did it and wished I had time to do the 3 or 4 other bushwalks around the island.

Anyhow, here is a sneak peak of the filming of my adventure video of my trip. This clip is from the Maggie Island Forts Walk pictured above, enjoy cuz there's heaps more of footage