Back online after 3 days on Magnetic Island! How come you didn’t write anything? Well doll is gonna tell you. It seemed as if I just couldn’t get into the vibe of the Island. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. Either the universe was trying to tell me something or Murphy was on the loose. Anyway I survived it and it was a good experience and exercise on how to handle when things aren’t going to well. I’ve been trained for that a whole year, better to put it in practice, not?
So after arriving at 5.30am I had to wait an hour for the first ferry from Townsville to depart to the Island. When finally there I had to wait to 2.00pm at the hostel to check in. Well, I thought to explore Horseshoe bay a bit until that time. Sorry no picture here, because that’s exactly what I was doing when fate struck. Ok, I was just an idiot and did the stupidest thing ever. See, there was this soft bed of sand and next to rock hard super solid concrete. If you’d accidentally smash your phone after taking a picture, where would you do it? Yes! On the concrete, precisely!
So, clumsy me on an island for two nights, no phone, no time, no internet, no calls, no bookings, no photographs, no blogging and probably not a happy mom (saaarrry mom).
So what did I do? Instead of worrying too much I tried to let it go and bought myself a watch to at least know the time.
I made the receptionists my best friends and their office my second home to arrange everything I needed to like bookings my next accommodation. Can’t say it was all happy ever after from there on. However handling it well, I did feel a bit uncomfortable. To focus I did a mindfulness exercise with food. I bought a chocolate croissant at Nelly bay and found myself a nice place to relax a bit. Ok, I was in the bus, but had at least 10 minutes to sit down (‘: when fate struck again. The horror! No chocolate in my chocolate croissant!!
I could go on and on on what all went wrong on the Island, like dog poo on Horseshoe bay and losing my bra (yeah, don’t ask), but that would place all the exciting and nice things in the shadow of all the lesser things. And maybe not being in contact with the world through a phone is something I needed.
To calm down a bit I slept in a hammock before check in and guess what, that was on my bucket list. Awesome!
I also met a lot of new people and most of them were Dutch! First time to meet so many Dutch people. We had a great time playing Bingo and winning with trivia, where the music round was my favourite. Of all other things I obviously just have no knowledge :/
Highlights of my stay besides meeting new people were the koala sanctuary, the Forts walk and Geoffrey bay.
At the koala sanctuary I held a turtle, birds, lizards, a baby croc and a koala! I also had the opportunity to hold a snake to get out of my comfort zone, but my fear of snakes is so severe I just couldn’t do it. Seeing them out of their cages already wanted to make me flee. I hid behind a kid, people. I did make a step in facing my fear, though! One of the lizards I held looked so much like a snake and it made me sweat so much, my God. I’m proud of myself for holding that one. It’s not a snake yet, but it is something.
Talking about koalas and snakes. The Forts walk.. It was a nice walk around the Island to Forts from ww II and we had saw wild koalas which was actually even more fun than seeing them in the sanctuary!
The only thing that scared me the whole time walking the track was the warning sign of death adders on the track, hiding under leafs and sand during the day. I was highly alert the whole track, staying in the middle as much as possible, while my two new friends really tried to enjoy the walk, even walking off track to look better at a koala. Massive party pooper here, but I really wanted to stay just where I was on the path wearing only my thongs, because I left in a hurry.
Well, maybe I should have enjoyed it more or maybe I was right to be cautious. Either way, there was this moment when two Scottish girls catched up with us saying a snake crossed their path just where we were walking a few minutes ago. I remember saying I was so glad I missed it to one of the people in the group when we stumbled upon a small snake ourselves! While the others gathered around the filthy thing I was already at a laaaaaarge distance. No really, my head was pounding in my head when I heard them call ‘snake’. Rrrr, that crawling thing. Still can’t shake it! 🙁
Happily our next stop was Geoffrey bay, where we got hitchhiking! My first hitchhike, guys! It lasted 5 minutes, but it counts (‘:
I can tell you, there’s nothing more cute than wallabies. At the rocks next to the bay you could feed wild rock wallabies, and they eat out of your hand ^^ hearts melting and stuff
So Magnetic Island was definitely not what I hoped for. If I must be honest I liked Cairns a lot more. It’s not that special despite the fun things, well not to me, and people I met in Airlie beach tonight couldn’t agree more. Maybe because of the things that happened, but mostly because I have the feeling it’s portrayed better than it is.
Here in Arlie beach I already feel more in sync just like in Cairns. Lovely people in the room and at the hostel.
Oh, and the phone? Had to buy a new one. Repairing costs at least two weeks. Time I don’t have, unfortunately.