Here are some pics of the very muddy Full Noise Music Festival:
I just wanted to let everyone know I'm loving this beautiful town in North Queensland! I was planning to go back down to Brisbane yesterday but I decided to stay a few more days. Of course, the music festival was awesome. Jenny and I danced all day in the pouring rain and made some great new friends. I saw lots of rat tails (creepiest hairdo ever ... see picture above), sweet festival costumes and a handful of NBA jerseys. :D
The next day Jenny and I hiked Castle Hill and it was so cool!!
We did the goat track which ended with about a thousand stairs straight up the rock and it was brutal!
Good times. I went with my new friend Ian to Maggie Island and it was absolutely gorgeous!
We didn't see any koalas but the weather was perfect that day and swam in the ocean for hours. I had a really nice time staying with Jenny and her roommate Sam; I am back with them now after about a week of couchsurfing. I stayed with my cousin Richard's friend Matt and his girlfriend Brooke and they were soooo nice! They live in Hermit Park (a suburb of Townsville) and have two big dogs and a snake and a bird and two bearded dragons -- and geckos come into the house all the time! Matt let me borrow his bike and drew me a very detailed map showing me how to get to the river and the downtown area. I took a beautiful bike ride through the golf course and along the river and all over town.
I got rained on quite a bit but it was warm out so I didn't mind. I couchsurfed for a couple nights with a lovely French girl named Celine and her friend Maura, another couchsurfer from Italy who stayed there the same nights as me. Celine took me hiking with her dogs at the Castle Hill quarry and later that night she took me up to the dam to look for wallabies -- we spotted about 20 of them!! Here are some pics:
We also saw an owl:
... a cute tiny tree frog:
... hundreds of (poisonous) cane toads:
... a possum (didn't get any pics of the fast little guy), and millions of tiny spiders on the railing of the staircase we were walking down (ewww).
Maura and I went shopping downtown one day -- we had a great time and all I bought was tea tree oil for all my mosquito bites :/ I also couchsurfed with my new friend Steven who I met at the music festival when he was dressed up as a Hooters girl with four of his mates. Of course I had to get some pics of them (see above) and while we were talking, he asked me if I was on couchsurfing! I said that I was and he offered to let me stay a night or two.
While in Townsville, I went swimming at The Strand beach in a giant "stinger net":
When I first got to town and saw that everyone at the beach had to swim inside a huge net (so the deadly stingers can't get to them), I thought "How sad!" but I was wrong -- it is AWESOME!! No seaweed, no creatures to worry about ... just unbelievably warm ocean water and small waves. It's fantastic. I swam for about 2 1/2 hours yesterday and I'm going back again later today.
Other plans for my last few days in Townsville: at least one more Castle Hill hike, Billabong Sanctuary (I need to see some kangaroos and koalas!), the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium (where Sam works), and another trip out to Maggie as long as the weather's nice.
:)
Yay Marie, finally an updated blog. I was going through Blog withdrawals. Half way through Thanksgiving weekend. An amazing time at Aunt Lori's and Uncle Todd's for Turkey Day. Personally, got rounds of golf in yesterday (Fri) and today (Sat) with golf planned for tomorrow, weather permitting. Got first story X-mas lights up today, with the second story my morning project tomorrow. Those stinger nets sound like a good idea. I watch "I Shouldn't Be Alive" and other A&E shows, and I suspect those nets are well thought out. Love you Marie and miss you a ton, but enjoying your travels through the blogs. Love and kisses, Daddy.
ReplyDeleteHI Sweetie! Soooo good to hear from you!! Sounds like you are having an amazing time!! As Daddy said, we had a wonderful time at Aunt Lori and Uncle Todd's. It was so cold out (really, it was cold and windy!!) that the men moved all the living room furniture into the garage so we could move the tables and chairs inside where it was nice and warm. Their new house is so lovely, and the food was fantastic!! We're on our way to Los Gringos Locos tonight, but first I might have to have an appetizer of apple pie! :) There really is no bad time for apple pie!! So glad there's a stinger net to protect you!! How do you get INTO it? Do you have to swim in the open ocean just to get in??
ReplyDeleteWell, as usual, we can't wait to read your next installment of your travels!! Have fun!! We love you and miss you!!
Love, Mommy Sue
Stay away from those stingers! True story - when I was a young child living on Bermuda, I was attacked by a Portuguese Man-O-War while swimming in the ocean. (Ever wonder why I don't like to be IN the ocean?) Anyway, it hurt like hell and people rubbed sand on the tentacles and peed on me to take the sting away! It didn't work and I ended up in the hospital anyway, despite all the peeing! So the moral is Stinger Net Good - Stinger Owie Bad! Have fun! ~ Aunt Connie
ReplyDeleteRead your blogs all the time. We're delighted you're having such a wonderful time. We would like to be swimming with you, but you know how it is. We'd be there tomorrow, but we don't want to get patted down by the TSA. Love you.
ReplyDeleteTownsville trivia - that asswipe Julian Assange of Wikileak, that is trying to start World War III by leaking sensitive documents, was born in Townsville. He's now the world's most wanted criminal. Yayyyyy Townsville. Love, Daddy
ReplyDelete