Island life and Cloncurry.

Arriving in a new place alone is always a little daunting but me being the talkative person I am had made friends on the ferry with two girls who were both travelling seperatly. We arrived on magnetic island and had to get a bus to our hostel. We started talking to more people on the bus and ended up with a group of 8 people. We all decided that hiring a car would be the best way of seeing the island so we hired two 4x4's. Me being the super freaky organised person in any situation had the whole day planned, luckly everyone agreed and was happy to follow me. First stop koala sanctory. We got to hold a host of different animals and learnt about most of them too. including my now favourite fact about koalas that they do infact have clamydia. Next stop was a walk to a ww2 fort. This was a hot walk which some people didnt like the idea of, by this point we had also aquired three scooter drives to our crew. So it made for an interesting convoy. The highlight of the walk was the wild koala that we got to see and of course the breathtaking views of the island. Next stop to feed wild wallabys by the beach. They are so tame that they will take food from your hands. Final stop was down a very long dirt track to watch the sunset. Turns out it was cloudy and we couldnt see much but we did have some fun on the beach and take some very random pictures.

Next day most of the group left but there were a few left. We decided to go for a walk that would take about 4 hours. The aim was to see more wildlife...we saw nothing bigger than a gecko. But we came down from a trek we did stumble upon the best vegetarain pie I have ever had. The next day saw me leaving for cloncurry. This included a bus, a ferry, a taxi and a train. Leaving maggie island at 930am to get into Cloncurry at 5am the next day. A very long day but met some interesting people along the way including some that offered me work.

Collected at the train station and taken to a room in the hotel to sleep for few hours and then begin my induction which was a brief over view of the rules and regulations that they ask you to sign. Most of them are silly but have been put in because somewhere along the way someone has done them. For example, appropriate swimwear in the pool...apparently some girls thought it was ok to swim topless in there onsite swimming pool at the hotel. I was then moved to my new house. With no one around it felt very strange, I just sat and watched tv for a few hours before my housemates had finished work. They arrived back and the first thing that was mentioned was a trip to the pub...I knew we would get on well.

The next week followed without too much drama, we all were short of money so stayed in and spent no money. We had all decided to cook together as we worked the same shifts. This has worked well and meant that we have all eaten alittle more healthy. With there not being much going on in Cloncurry we can at least have good food. The saving was all going so well until we had 2 days off and then the logical thing to do was party. We went out saturday night and realised that the nightlife isnt that bad and there is actually some fun to be had. We rolled in at 6am so must have been a good night. Monday was Australia day and the local had a full day of festivities planned including thong, keg and rugby ball throwing. We had to get involved and ended up making some friends with guys who work here. Now having friends in the area life may not be as dull. We are hoping to go on acouple of day trips soon apparently there are some nice places to see in the area.

There are a few things that I have learned about Cloncurry in the short time that I have been here...it is hot as hell literally like being in an oven constantly. There are are more kestrals in the sky than there are clouds, every day. There are so many road trains that drive through on their way to mines (Do you know what noise a road train makes? choo choo choo choo brum brum. :-)) We went into town to look for bored games to keep us entertained, we asked in a shop if he knew where we could get some he said no why just do what everyone else does here and drink! We took his advise and went to the pub.

Base Backpackers - Magnetic Island.