Day 210 (Tuesday 7/06) - Magnetic Island - Koala and walk ...

I didn't sleep very well, as during the night there were heavy rains, and quite a lot of insects : mozzies, moths, ants, ...
The real jungle experience ...

Wake up at 9am.
At 10am ther's a tour in the Sanctuary.

The Irish people from yesterday (with Grace) are also doing the tour.

The guide/ranger of the tour is excellent, he gives us a lot of info about al the animals we see (more than in all the other sanctuaries I've been to).
The sancutary isn't big, but we see interesting animals (even if quite classical in Oz) : turtles, cockattoos (black and whihte), lizards (blue tongued, dragon bearded & pine cone), crocs, koalas, a python, and a "bird eater" spider (yuk!).

Another good thing in this sanctuary is that we can hold almost all the animals we see.
So I get to hold in my hands the 3 different lizards, a black cockatto on my arm, a baby croc, the python, and of course, a koala (another one ;-) ).
(didn't hold the spider, he didn't take it out of the cage ... I will not complain, I hate them :-) )

So this sancturay was really worth it, even if I've been to several others before, it was really interesting and a good moment.

"Crab Spider", so weird ...

After that, I spend some time with the Irishes (?).

They're having lunch at the hostel kitchen (simple soup + toast). They invite me to join them and give some of their food ... Really kind !

They're leaving today to go to the mainland, and continue their way up North, to Mission Beach, then to Cairns (they've rented 2 "juicy rentals" campervans to travel, 1 of them being on the mainland).


Once they've left, I go to shave my beard, then go to the reception to get some information for tomorrow (big day coming !).

I also meet a nice roommate in the room : Andy from Gloucester, who's been living for 2 years in Brisbane and is here on holidays.

I then walk to Nelly Bay, the main "city" on the island through 2 walking trails and the village of Arcadia.
The walks are nice, with beautiful views (it's quite exhausting as it goes up and down in the mountains, through the forest).

While walking I see lots of very tiny lizards (~5cm), running away as I' walking, as well as hundreds of dragonflies and butterflies.

In Arcadia, I make a small stop at Geoffrey Bay, where there are lots of wild rock wallabies haging around !

Once in Nelly Bay, I walk a bit around the city (and to the ferry terminal to check things for tomorrow), and then make my way back to the hostel at Bungalow Bay (again by foot, but this time through the roads instead of the forest (it's getting dark, and it's a bit too long to get adventurous in there ... - I still do a short walk almost in total darkness, it's not very reassuring, knowing that there are snakes in the area).
(in total, I've walked around 15km today)

Once back at the hostel, I go for a shower, a bit of Internet, dinner, and chillout.
Was a good day, but I still haven't seen any wild koalas !!!
Pfff, so unlucky.