Without setting an alarm last night, I managed to get some kind of lie in waking up at gone 8. This was ok because the only official thing I had planned for today was a trip to the islands koala sanctuary in the afternoon. As I didn't really fancy toast this morning, I opted to use my free breakfast voucher. I also wanted to use it this morning so that I could get off the island early tomorrow to spend the morning in Townsville. Breakfast consisted of bacon, eggs and toast which was nothing substantial but it filled a hole.
This morning I took a walk south down to Cockle Bay to try and find a cache which I didn't have time for yesterday. I only headed north yesterday. Walking over the hill and past the Hawking's lookout path I walked up the first evening, I arrived in Picnic Bay, the southernmost village of the island. Here I looked at the derelict pier which gave me views back over towards Townsville. A short while later I went in search of the cache and after opting against going up and over the large rock boulders for a shortcut, headed down this gravel track covered in dead frogs to Cockle Bay.
Upon arrival at Cockle Bay which seemed like a derelict village with old housing and with what was actually a really nice beach, I followed the title of the cache which was "Clamber the Rocks at Cockle Bay" climbing up the cliff until I got to the final location. After all my efforts in getting here I got a DNF and instead got a few painful bites by these annoying green ant things. I don't think people go up here very often! There were good views like with so many other places on the island though.
After heading back over the hill to the hostel I caught the island bus over to Horseshoe Bay for the Koala Sanctuary. I took an early bus to have lunch before my 2.30 tour of the place. The bus took ages however as the driver only went as far as Nelly Bay and wanted his break, with no drivers to replace him. We eventually got a driver and I arrived at the sanctuary, buying my ticket, before heading down to Horseshoe Bay for lunch once again. It was only rolls, crisps and wafers like yesterday. I even managed to get another 5 minutes WiFi here which was more like 15 minutes, which kept me happy briefly!
After what was a relaxing lunchtime down on the northern shores of the island, I headed back to the sanctuary which was also a hostel, relaxing on the sofas before the tour started. I was going to stay here but the travel agent told me not to as they didn't pay for your ferry transfers whereas base did. Eventually it was time for my hands on session with the animals in this small animal centre. The first animal we got to see was this black parrot thing which I was able to feed seeds to with my mouth. He seemed to like my t shirt though as he kept nibbling it!
After seeing another parrot thing which was white and could swear in English and German, we got to see this wombat called Harry. Thought to be extinct, this northern hairy wombat was discovered by a farmer who donated his farm to science to promote the breeding of this animal. There are now around 200 of these endangered animals. We were only able to stroke the wombat though.
Next up was the reptile section where we got to see these freshwater crocodiles. Apparently they don't eat people and if you were to get into a lake with them they would swim away from you! I was then shown a saltwater crocodile which I was able to hold. Luckily it was only a baby as when fully grown, they would easily devour a human, with an average of two deaths a year to crocodiles in Australia. Whilst here I also got to hold a blue tongued lizard and a two headed skink, which decided to do its business all over my hand! I also had this random lizard which had a flappy neck which expanded to defend itself from predators put on my head!
After this we moved onto the Koala photo shoot where we were able to hold a koala for an additional fee. I got to hold this 18 month old baby which was just really soft and cuddly, although it just gripped on to me. Prior to holding the koala I was taught how to be a tree and my training paid off in the end! In terms of photos the actual sanctuary took some photos of us for a souvenir photo, then we were allowed some personal photos after. To finish off it was onto the snake handling, although we were stretched for time by this point so I was only able to hold the carpet python in the end, which was a lot smaller than the one I held in Thailand!
An additional perk of the afternoon tour was the fact you could feed the rainbow lorikeets after the main tour, and after having this honey and water soaked bread placed in my hand we had to wait for these birds to come down. It took ages for one to make the courage to come down but after one came down they all swooped down, settling on my arm and even my head at times for the food. After finally getting the bread off my hand, it was off to the bus stop to wait for my bus back to the hostel.
About a half an hour wait later a bus finally arrived and it seemed to take ages as the driver kept winding down the side streets at every opportunity! When finally arriving back at the hostel which wasn't until nearly 6 in the end I cracked straight on with dinner which this evening was beef stew and rice, and the fact I managed to cook rice without it sticking to the pan marked another improvement for me. The downside was I couldn't open my tin, although after getting everyone to try without success it felt better. In the end this German got a knife and opened it by stabbing it for me!
After a filling dinner, the evening was spent writing blogs and packing my bag ready for an early departure tomorrow. I also took the chance to sort out my folder of leaflets again, which is getting really heavy now! Before long I headed to bed which was now only 3 people for some reason. No complaints from me though!
No comments:
Post a Comment