Oh my. I just got back from the most beautiful weekend of my life. Seriously. A few girl friends and I went to Magnetic Island this weekend. Its an island just off the coast from Townsville, about a 20 min boat ride. We left Friday evening and got to watch the sun set. It was spectacular. We got to our hostel (Bungaloo Bay) and it happened to be in a Sanctuary. It was awesome.
We got up Saturday morning to walk to the beach and watch the sun rise and eat our breakfast. Then we went on 2 hikes. The first trail dropped down to different beaches all along the coast that you could only get to by boat or hike. They were secluded and beautiful. We saw a few gigantic logger head or green sea turtles (they're hard to ID). The next hike we did was called the Fort Hike. I guess the island was used for military operations during the war, so there were lots of look outs and forts around. The hike went up to a few different forts and you could see the whole North side of the island from up there. The view was spectacular. We heard that people see koalas on the trail all the time, but we didn't see any. I am determined to see one in the wild though! We did see lots of really cool bugs though. A HUGE spider and a really big stick bug! it was soooo cool!
On Sunday we rented kayaks for the day and took them to more secluded beaches and saw more sea turtles. The paddle was easy on the way there, the wind wasn't strong and it was to our back. On the way back is another story! It wind picked up like crazy and the waves got real big. Sarah and I were in a double and Sabrina was in a single. We worked for about an hour and a half to paddle against the wind and waves to shore. It was so "epic". SO hard and tiring. The other two girls couldn't make it. They had to get rescued!
This trip sparked my new interest in birds. I love them! All weekend we were IDing birds and listening to their calls. I don't know what I am doing with microbiology!
My heart wanted to explode from the beauty of this place. Really, there are no words to describe it (not even "reallying f-ing beautiful" does it....). The sights and sounds and smells and feeling of this place was nothing like I have ever experienced. I wanted to capture it in a bottle and send it to all of you so you all can feel what I was feeling. Experiencing that made my heart grow so much! How can places this beautiful exist? How is it that I am this lucky to be here, witnessing this beauty? Certainly my description or pictures don't do it justice.
I got back and got to move into the trailers! It so nice to finally have a "home" to go back to. and really, the rooms are not that bad. We get a king twin (in between a twin and a double) and a fridge and a big closet and a good size bathroom. Its actually pretty decent. I am going to get some sheets and a bit of home decor to liven things up a bit.
soooo, now that I am moved in, I have super high speed Internet. So now we can all video chat!
I can't wait!
I love all of you!
p.s. check out my pictures at.... (www.picasaweb.google.com/kristine.akland)
"Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher"
- William Wordsworth
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