Where is Kingston?

I woke up this morning at 7am to the ringing of my alarm. It’s a lazy Sunday morning, why is my alarm going off? Well, I forgot I told my friend, Shannon, that I would go on a hike with her on Magnetic Island. Dammit.

I was trying to figure out what excuse to use to get out of this early morning hike when I realized if I didn’t go, I would be obligated to work on my paper. I obviously got dressed pretty quick after that thought crossed my mind. We grabbed breakfast and we were off!

Yay avoiding real life!

Before I get to into this story, Shannon is the world’s friendliest person. No, I mean it. She says hello to everyone and asks how their day is. This tends to lead to some nice and some strange encounters. This is key to the story; keep it in mind.

As we’re sitting on the bus, a mother and her two daughters come on. Shannon loves children. She starts saying hello to them and ends up having a conversation about Australia with the mother. They were going to Maggie Island too. We went to the ferry together and gave them some pointers on what to do. This family is important so remember them.

We got on the bus on Maggie Island and went to the Forts Walk. On this walk you not only get incredible views, but you also get to see forts from World War II. There were signs saying that there were koalas along this trail and also a dangerous snake called the death adder. He sounds like a cuddly fellow to me.

Let’s do this!

There is apparently one koala named Kingston who chills in trees on this path like a boss. I was on the hunt for him. I know I’ve already held a koala, but I would love to see one in the wild! I searched every tree for him and only almost face planted like 10 times. I’m really coordinated.

He also likes cuddling and dining on eucalyptus trees.

The hike was so pretty! I love nature so much. In case you didn’t pick up on that. I pretty much love everything. Except spiders. Spiders can go to hell. But look how pretty it was:

That view!

Hi lizard friend

Champ

I can’t get over it.

We were checking out the first fort that had two really dark rooms in it. I almost went in, almost. Conquering my fear of the dark, why not? Luckily I didn’t because we were later informed that there were a ton of bats in there. I think it actually would’ve been pretty hilarious if I went in there and flashed my camera and had them fly out at me. Then again, I don’t know what horrible Australian disease they’re carrying so it’s all good.

The bat on this sign might have been a hint…

Hanging out with history

Apparently bats are chilling in there

There were so many places to stop and take pictures! I can’t even explain how gorgeous it was. Magnetic Island is magical.

Watching a boat go by.

My bad behavior caught up with me…

Climbing on top of the fort

Weeeeeeeee

We came across other forts and found a perfect viewing spot. I mean it when I say it was glorious. I love this country so damn much. I didn’t think we could find a prettier view, but as usual, Australia surprised me.

We found it!

Jaw dropping

Looky at all the ships

WHAT. You are magic.

Loving the world.

Cupcaking as usual.

Glorious.

I don’t care, I love it

We stumbled upon another fort and stood in awe at the view. We climbed out on rocks to sit down and watch sailboats go by on this beautifully blue water. We screamed “woo!” at the top of our lungs because we couldn’t contain ourselves…and we’re not mature. We must’ve sat there for 20 minutes before Shannon spotted someone to make friends with.

Another identical fort

This..just…this…

Watching sailboats, loving everything.

Sadly, it wasn’t Kingston the koala, instead it was three people from Bond University on the Gold Coast. Shannon beckoned to them to come up and hangout and they did. I need to go out with Shannon more often. They were such nice and fun people! They took pictures of us posing with the beautiful background and convinced me to face my fear of heights yet again by climbing out further on the rocks. Thank god they were there to lend a helping hand because I definitely would’ve fell to my death. This is why I hate heights!

Can’t control my emotions!

Shannon taking a picture with our new hiking buddies

Yup, doesn’t help my fear of heights.

Still such a stunning view.

We continued our hike with our newfound friends and came across more forts. We climbed inside, around, and even on top. This time there was a ladder, thank god. Everything was just so spectacular! Ugh, it was such a good day and I was so excited! Duh.

Bad to the bone.

Hi Shannon!

View from inside the fort.

Jason clearly doesn’t have a soul.

View from the roof.

The other fort seen from the roof.

Horseshoe Bay from the top of the roof.

Woohoo!

We were all on the hunt for Kingston. We were asking random people if they saw any koalas, no one did. I swear they hide from me because they can’t handle my excitement.

WHERE ARE YOU KINGSTON?!

Shannon also found 2 other guys to talk to. I fell in love yet again. Okay, so I don’t know his name, but he was wearing a striped shirt and had a beautifully proper British accent. Seriously, I think I’m back to team British for the accent. I’m sorry Australia, but they just sound so classy and charming. I would’ve proposed, but we were on a time limit. I’ll never forget you striped shirt, it was wonderful while it lasted!

Nature helped numb the pain.

We finished our hike not long after and decided it was time to eat. Luckily, we packed sandwiches. We hopped on a bus and went somewhere to eat. We also ended our Maggie visit with a gelato. That’s how every trip needs to end. I love gelatos.

Passionfruit is my new favorite flavor for everything

While we were waiting for the bus back to the ferry, we ran into the mother with the 2 girls again. This time the younger girl, Lilly, called us over. They told us all about their day like we’re old pals and Shannon was happy to chat. It was pretty funny. Lilly, who is 4 years old, asked if she could sit with Shannon on the bus.

I kid you not, this small Australian child sat on Shannon’s lap on public transportation. What? How did this happen again? Lilly wasn’t satisfied with just the bus ride, she wanted to sit with Shannon on the ferry too. The mom was totally cool with it. The only thing she asked was that Shannon hold onto Lilly while the ferry was moving. Australians are so trusting.

Back to Townsville

My second (and favorite) home.

Lilly asked Shannon to come back to her hotel and swim with her. The Australian accent on a child almost makes me want to have kids. Note: I said almost. That means I would still prefer a puppy. I’m actually starting to worry about my lack of maternal instincts at this point…

Even a demonic puppy

Anyway, we departed the family after the ferry and after Shannon made friends with 3 other people on board. Lilly was sad to see us go. And by us, I mean Shannon because I have no idea how to talk to children.

Unfortunately, Shannon and I missed the bus. So we waited for an hour for another one. In that time, Shannon made friends with the kid working the food place in the ferry terminal. She was telling him he only lives once and he should follow his dreams of traveling. Seriously, I need to go out with this girl more often. She cracks me up.

We got on the bus and maybe had the giggles. It was a long day. Shannon of course made new friends. This time there was one kid who was German. I attempted to charm him with the like 3 phrases of German that I knew. I think I entertained him. He was also impressed that I’m 50/50 Irish and German. Woohoo! Someone appreciates my freckles and lack of tan! It was a very interesting bus ride with many dirty looks directed at Shannon and I. We couldn’t help it! We’re happy, loud people. Oh well.

So many giggles!

Sometimes I forget I’m in Australia. Today definitely reminded me and I’m amazed all over again. I love this place to death. I’ve never been so happy. I JUST LOVE EVERYTHING.

Also my friend John said this to me, so I can finally prove he loves me. YES!  (Needed an excuse to share this).

Oh and we didn’t find Kingston. I called him again and again and he just never showed up. Typical man.

What’s the Theme Song to Jurassic Park?

 

This weekend, my Arcadia group went on a free excursion to Mission Beach. It’s been beautiful weather lately so of course it rained a lot during this trip. This is why we can’t have nice things.

The original plan was to go camping. I’ve never been camping, so I was quite excited. Well, I was excited until I realized we would be snuggling with bugs. Last week I discovered a spider in my room and had to go look for a man to come kill it. I’m not joking. I have severe arachnophobia. It was a blessing in disguise that the camping bit didn’t work out.

Saw this precious guy on a walk back from the river. I named him Freddy Krueger because he’ll haunt my nightmares.

Instead, we stayed at a caravan park. I was really skeptical at first, but it was actually a really nice place. We had 3 “rooms” or whatever you would call them. Bear, Morgan, Emily (Killer), and myself shared one space while the other girls shared another and the boys had one to themselves. It was so cute! We had a kitchen, a TV with cable, a table, a couch, a clean bathroom and beds for everyone. There was a bed pretty much in the kitchen, a bunk bed, and a larger bed. Killer called the oddly placed bed, Bear got the top bunk, and Morgan called the big bed. I attempted to get into the bottom bunk, but they were Bear sized…AKA way too small for me. I ended up snuggling with Morgan in the big bed, so it’s all good.

Morgan trying to figure out the lock

The outside

Kitchen area

Killer’s bed

Bear sized bunks

Our honeymoon suite

Before bed, we all helped make dinner. We had cheeseburgers with fried eggs, lettuce, tomato, and pineapple on it. I know what you’re thinking, but it was absolutely delicious. According to our coordinator, Mazz, it was a real Australian burger. We had regular burgers, veggie burgers, and kangaroo burgers. I opted for a normal burger because though I did try kangaroo before and it was yummy, I couldn’t make myself eat a poor kangaroo again. We also made fruit salad that was way too good. Some people in the group found coconuts and we obviously broke them open and ate them too. It was a fabulous dinner and I’m actually drooling over the thought of it. I want it again.

Cutting up a coconut like a boss

She’s going to make a great house wife, boys!

But I won’t

Ladies, he can grill AND he’s single!

YUM!

Sadly, these could not be turned into pina coladas

How to make an Australian burger

Too good. YUM.

Saturday we woke up early and headed out for a hike through a little bit of rainforest. The drive there felt like Jurassic Park. We spent a majority of the ride trying to remember the theme song to the movie. We kept ending up singing Indiana Jones and getting very frustrated. Ugh.

I know that should’ve been one of the best things ever, but it was actually torture. The air was thick with mosquitoes. I wore my raincoat even though I was roasting in it just so I could keep some of the mosquitoes off. It didn’t work. I couldn’t take many pictures because every time you stopped, they swarmed. One flew up my nose and that’s when excited Arielle died. I also heard one buzzing by my ear and went to smack it and instead hit myself so hard in the temple with my camera that my eyes watered. My problems were nothing compared to Bear’s. She was mauled. Her mosquito bites were so bad and red that she had to take an allergy pill to get the swelling down. It was an experience.

Dun na nuh, da nuh na. Wait, that’s still Inidana Jones…

Don’t go into the tall grass!

You know a dino tore that up

Lone palm tree on the beach

Oh, Danny

So cool looking

We walked back via the beach to avoid the mosquitoes. We crossed over flowing red water and admired the Jurassic Park scenery on the way. For lunch we had a “bucket” lunch. That means that corn, beans, taco seasoning, cream, and tortilla chips were mixed into a bucket for us to eat. Sounds gross, but it was amazing. We put them in a wrap and added cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and peppers and dug in. I had 2. So yum!

YOU SHALL NOT PASS

Okay, maybe Morgan can pass

The water was red with the blood the mosquitoes drained from us

Poor Bear 😦

After our meal, we headed to visit an Aboriginal family to learn about some of their history. It was really interesting. We also got to paint boomerangs. We had to paint our interpretation of one of their stories. The story was about a taipan (a seriously deadly snake) who wouldn’t share his fire with the rest of the animals. A bunch of birds plotted to steal the fire and after many attempts, one finally got a piece of the coal. The taipan got a snap at the bird and split its tail and also split the mountains in the shape of a broken tooth. My boomerang sucked. I can paint, I swear I can! This…it just didn’t work out. Wah!

Paint sesh!

Don’t judge me by this disaster…

I can paint!

I promise!

Believe me yet?

Because I’m not lying.

After painting, we learned how to throw a spear. I’m not good at throwing a spear. No one was really good at it. Hopefully we never get stuck on a deserted island and have to hunt our own food. We would all starve. It was really fun to watch some of our group’s determination to hit the rolling wheel. Some hit it, eventually.

The spear was bigger than Bear

Dangerous

Ugh, why do I have such good form?!

Killer about to kill it

Go, Killer, go!

The men being men

That night we went to a hostel. I’ve never been to a hostel. I’m actually terrified of them. Might be because of that horror movie that takes place in a hostel. It also didn’t help that we discussed that movie. Oh and that everyone decided I would die first. Thanks guys…

No no no no no

The hostel was really pretty. It was in the rainforest and everything was wooden and pretty. We even had a swimming pool that I didn’t go in because I needed to shower. That night was probably my worst night of sleep. I’m very spoiled because I have air conditioning in my room at school and not every college does. I’m used to having my air blasting and being comfortably chilly at night. Not here though. The hostel had one fan in the room and the windows had no screens. I spent the night tossing and turning and smacking bugs off my face. There was also a gecko I spotted in the room. I debated trying to catch him and put him on my pillow to eat the bugs, but I decided he was too fast and I was too tired. Several rainstorms also happened that night and I got rained on. I woke up that morning not rested and cranky. But it was an experience.

Later that morning we met back up with the same Aboriginal family at their house. Excited Arielle came back full force when I saw that this family owned a Siberian husky. Those are my favorite dogs. I am absolutely obsessed. I was so excited to see one in Australia! Best day ever.

HELLO PRECIOUS

When I was forced away from giving my full attention to the husky and other dogs, we all piled into a van to take us down to a river for kayaking. I’ve never kayaked. Well, I sat in a kayak in Mexico in still ocean water, but that doesn’t count. We were taught different strokes which I immediately forgot and we suited up with life vests and helmets. At first I thought the helmets were stupid and unnecessary, but I quickly changed my mind about that later on when I slammed my head into a low branch.

So many colors!

Thank goodness for the helmets

Once we were settled into our kayaks, we were untied one by one. Being awkward and having a slight short-term memory, I began getting pulled backwards down the river unable to stop.  My dear friend Danny had to paddle to my rescue. Embarrassing moment #1 on this trip.

Why did I have to be one of the first to go??

Everyone got the hang of kayaking pretty quickly. Everyone but me. I couldn’t get the hang of it for the life of me. My group went ahead and kayaked under a bridge that they all ducked from and made it through safely. I was behind debating if I had enough skill to get me back to the safe ground a few feet away. I realized I didn’t. One of the ladies from the Aboriginal family guided me through and was giggling at my insecure jokes that I tend to make. I made it through with tears in my eyes and a severe fear of getting taken down the river and eaten by something. It really wasn’t a completely illogical fear. This is Australia we’re talking about.

Just being last

Once I popped out the other end of the bridge, everyone clapped for me and said, “Yay Arielle!” Like thanks guys, please cheer more for me doing what everyone else did. I felt like a child using the potty chair for the first time and all the grown ups cheered for me. Embarrassing moment #2.

Yay, Arielle! What a special little snowflake!

After the second rapids we passed, I could finally prevent myself from crashing into vines and rocks. I still don’t know how to stop though, so I stopped by crashing into other people and holding onto them. Classic Arielle stuff, you know?

I was good enough to stop and take some pictures

The sights were BEAUTIFUL! We were really in the rainforest. It felt like I was on a Disney World ride. I was waiting for the fake elephants from the Jungle Cruise to be around every corner. I would’ve taken more pictures, but every time I let go of my paddle, we got near another rapid.

I’m pretty proud of myself though, I only almost flipped over once and that’s because there was a spider in my kayak. Killer had to come over and remove the dead body because I sure wasn’t touching it. This happened another time and one of our guides had to get the spider out before I fell out. The third time it happened, another girl in our group said, “you’re afraid of spiders, right?” as she tried to get the spider off of the back of my kayak. This resulted in me crashing head first into a rock wall.

Holding on for dear life on a branch in the river

We stopped for some snacks and river swimming for some time. In that time, I must’ve lost all the skill I gained because I ended up going backwards down the rapids and got stuck on some rocks. Once again, Danny had to come and save me. Embarrassing moment #3. I’m so coordinated!

This break sucked out all my kayaking knowledge

The kayaking was honestly one of the coolest experiences ever. I am so happy I got to go on this trip. Words can’t describe how much fun it was and how stunning it was. Another best day ever!

 

The only downside was that we didn’t see a platypus…Or a dinosaur. I swear there were dinosaurs hiding in there.

Oh, THAT’S the theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8zlUUrFK-M

 

VAS HAPPENIN’ LESLIE

Leslie at the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

I didn’t get a Vas Happenin’ picture for you Leslie, but I got one of my kayak called Ozzie! Like your husky babe!

Leslie also got to see the new pope and went to Ireland to celebrate St. Patty’s Day like a true Irish woman! Read about her adventures on her blog: http://thepassportmanuscript.blogspot.com/