I left a piece of my heart on Magnetic Island

My last few weeks on Magnetic Island flew by and for the first time on my travels, I had to leave somewhere that I didn't feel ready to leave yet. I had no idea it was possible to fall so in love with a place. Even if I was having a hard day, at some point every single day I would think to myself...I LOVE MY LIFE SO MUCH! It was like I escaped the world for 2 1/2 months. So I tried to make the best of my last few days there which included visiting Alma Bay for the last time...

Taking photos of some of my favourite things about the island...like these rocks that always look like they're about to tip over...

Making sure I went to my favourite beach as much as possible (Rocky Bay), which I actually cried when I left the last time...

One of those last times I brought Franck with me thinking it would be nice to have some company and he did this the whole time...

BORING!!!


Some more of those pretty rocks at Rocky Bay...

Balding Bay (which Laura took me to on my last Friday on the Island). It took us about half an hour to walk there up some pretty steep rocks in the heat and on the way we got yelled at by this crazy man who lives on a boat in Horseshoe Bay who told us we were "stupid females"and needed to "get a man". But it was worth it!

This one is at Picnic Bay and looks like the profile of a face. Can you see it???

Another one at Picnic Bay. Tired of looking at pictures of rocks yet? How about a picture of a Cockatoo than?

This Cockatoo flew down quite close to us at the hostel which is unusual. They normally stay high up in the trees eating mangoes and making crazy noises (not unlike most birds in OZ).

One of my last sunsets on the Island...

One night there was some live Latin music down by the beach close to where I lived so Franck and I went to check it out. The music itself sucked pretty bad (the woman was a TERRIBLE singer) but there was a dance performance which was kind of neat...

Franck and Vince decided they could do a better job (which they did) out on the Jetty.

At the same time there were people picnicking on the Jetty at Picnic Bay. Some people had really fancy food and decorations. It was super cute.

Here's one thing I won't miss about the island or Australia in general...

But I will miss having BBQ's with my Maggie Island family. This one was at Laura and Riccardos new amazing cottage-like flat in Horseshoe Bay.

Of course my last few weeks on the island involved some drinking and dancing and general mayhem (what night didn't, really). On this night we had our own dance party and the Frenchies decided to do a little Michael Jackson Thriller.

Jazz hands???

One night we went to X-Base because there were 2 amazing guitarists playing. Live music doesn't happen often on the island so when it does we made sure we were there.

Franck and Jeremy obviously enjoying the music. They are just too cool to smile!

Me enjoying the music...

Riccardo and I enjoying the music together!

Brilliant invention. Keeps the beer cold without having to water it down with ice!

After the live music was over they had a game of musical chairs and the winner got a bar tab. If you didn't get a chair you could choose to take an article of clothing off to stay in the game...

and the winner is...

I also went to the RSL Markets for the last time to enjoy some yummy Indonesian food with lovely Laura and Riccardo. Although I was very sad to find out that the cheesecake lady had sold out prior to our arrival because someone had come and cleaned her out for a dinner party they were having. Has no one heard of pre-ordering? Geez! So I had to settle for these little Dutch donuts which I still can't pronounce the name of smothered in chocolate and icing sugar. They were ok but nothing beats that cheesecake.

On my last Saturday night on the island we had a BBQ at Hideaway...

and Franck even helped out with the washing up. Amazing! Thanks Franck!

After we went to X-Base for our last night of crazyness. Unfortunately Paul passed out in the hammock before we got there and didn't make it out with us.

My last day was tear-filled and very bitter sweet. Franck drove me to the ferry and Laura and Riccardo met me there to say one last goodbye. Here they are waving to me as my ferry pulled away...

My first few days in Melbourne (I'm here for 10 days to say goodbye to the people I met while I lived here) were pretty emotional. My body was here but my mind and heart were still on the Island and to make it worse it was rainy, cloudy and cold for about 6 days straight which was hard for me after being in non-stop sunshine and warmth for 2 1/2 months (although today it's sunny and about 25 - hooray!). I fantasized a lot about going back but now that I've been gone a week I am starting to feel more excited about the adventures to come and trying to look forward (or to stay in the moment) rather than living in the past. It was an amazing time and with any luck I will be back there someday.

So...what's the plan now? Well, I fly into Christchurch New Zealand on Thursday night. From what I hear it's not a city I am going to want to stay in for any length of time so I am first going to visit a friend who I met in Sydney in December who I have kept in contact with and who has an art show the day after a get there in a small town about 200kms from Christchurch. We will probably do some sightseeing the next few days after that and then I will either meet up with a German friend named Hendrik that I hung out with for a few days when he came and stayed at Hideaway a few months ago and is now driving around New Zealand or fly to Wellington which is apparently the Melbourne of NZ and meet up with my Canadian friend Lindsay who I met while working for Cirque Du Soleil and is now living there. Nerys and some other friends will be in NZ for X-Mas and New Years so hopefully I will meet up with them. One day at a time...mate! I will post my new Mobile number as soon as I get one in NZ as I won't be able to use the current one I have after I leave OZ. As of now I plan to be there for approx. 4 months and then go to Thailand for a month before heading home in April.

Side note: One of my biggest pet peeves about travelling is when I tell people from home what I am up to (i.e. living on a tropical paradise island) and their response is "wow, you're so lucky"! Um...no...this trip has nothing to do with luck. If I had won the lottery, perhaps I could attribute this year and a half to "luck"but the truth is...I worked my ass off to save money to come here and I worked my ass off while I was here to save money again and I took a leap of faith and came to the other side of the world by myself and that is MY doing...not lucks. I created this reality for myself and so can anyone else. Thinking about it is much scarier than actually doing it. If you've ever travelled, you know what I mean. Ok, just needed to get that off my chest. Phew. That feels better. Hope I haven't offended anyone.

See you in New Zealand!
xoxo

Possums go wacko for tacos!!!

Things that have happened since I last updated:

I got a job cleaning at a resort, lasted one day and quit (they paid per room rather than per hour and it worked out to be about $10/hour that day and was probably the most physically draining job I have ever had plus I worked for 8 hours with no break!). Then I got another job cleaning in a 5 star resort where at least they paid by the hour and we had a lunch break but it was still very physically draining. It was also very unprofessional...tons of gossip and very disorganised. Bleh! Plus now that I have worked for small companies it's so hard to go back to working for big corporations where the lowest on the totem pole (that would be me in this case) is treated terribly, never appreciated and generally underpaid and overworked. When I was being given a tour of the place I happened to mention to my manager that the pool was lovely to which she replied "The employees aren't allowed to swim in the pool". Even though it didn't surprise me I was thinking "and why the f*ck should we after working our asses off so that you can charge people $260/night for a small hotel room?...that would just be insane!" I'm telling you...if I ever own a big company it will be the guys at the bottom who I will treat the best. Free massages, drinks and you can swim in the effing pool all you like!!! I lasted there 4 days.

Then I got my 3rd job in 3 weeks waitressing at a beachfront bar called Marlins (there's apparently no recession on this island. Plenty of jobs to be had!) It's also hard work as I only work Fri-Sun (the busiest days) and I spend most of my time in the kitchen washing dishes or running food and cleaning up tables but at least I have a 2 hour break since it's split shifts in which I can swim in the ocean, take a nap on the beach and read my book or eat an ice cream. I also feel appreciated for the work I do there (my Manager buys us drinks at the end of a busy shift and ALWAYS says thank you to me when I am leaving) and the wages are quite good.

Here's what the bar/restaurant looks like...


This is where I take my breaks...

This is what it looks like at about 6pm when I start the second part of my shift...

Conrad and his friend who had come from Germany to travel with him for a bit came to the Island for 2 nights so I went to meet up with them the second night they were here...

I finally said my last goodbye to Conrad as he heads back to Germany soon. Hopefully I'll see him again one day. Love you Connie!!!

Adam got a job on the Gold Coast as a Head Chef (congrats Adam!) and therefore obviously left us. The hostel just isn't the same without him. I miss him a lot...and here's why...

The only good thing that came out of Adam leaving was that I got his old room. A double bed all to myself. Oh the luxury!!!


Before he left there was one Saturday when everyone who lives at the hostel (there's about 8 of us) were all home (which is rare since we all have jobs), so we had a family day together swimming in the pool, playing footy and drinking beer. It was one of my favourite days at the hostel in the 7 weeks that I've been here.

The boys in the pool...

I did a lot of this that day...


In my last blog I mentioned the Full Moon party which happens once a month at X-Base. It was pretty cheesy and the music was terrible but we went none the less. Having a few drinks before we went...

Another night I made tacos for the fam and the possums were going nuts. There were about 6 of them surrounding us and getting pretty aggressive. We were under attack! At one point Tash (to the left of me) said "Possums go wacko for tacos!" I laughed pretty hard at that one. Not sure why I found it so funny but I did.


Um...just a random pic of Laura and I...

These handsome boys have moved into our hostel. They are from France. Jeremy on the left and Frank on the right. Katie is the other girl in this pic. She is from England and works at the pub near my hostel. I work with the girl she is travelling with called Caroline at Marlin Bar.

We went to a fancy dress party (dress-up)...although I didn't know if was fancy dress or of course I would have dressed up. Here I am with Royce. He works at the bottle shop (Beer/Liquor store) in the bay next to ours. There were also people dressed like Shrek and princesses and stuff. I think the theme was fairy tales.

Um...just a random pic of Greg, Tash and myself!?

and another random of Katie and I...

Here's Katie hard at work at the pub...

I went to this Bay close to where I live called Rocky Bay. You have to walk down a steep hill of rocks to get to it which makes it very secluded and often empty. When I went I was the only person on the beach for the first hour and laid in the sun and listened to my ipod and sang out loud. Since it's so secluded it makes it a good candidate for one of 3 nude beaches on the island...

This is what it looks like from the look-out point I climbed up to...

This is the Jetty at Picnic Bay where I live from up above, although it was low tide that day so the water looks kind of yucky.

Rocky Bay from the beach itself...

Looking up at the look-out point where I took the other pic from (the highest point).

There's even a wishing tree there! I made a wish that all of you could come and visit me here! I'm keeping my fingers crossed and awaiting your arrival patiently!

Random things about the island:

The buses have names. How cute is that? Here's Big Ben...


Cathy J...


and Friendly Fred...

These birds remind me of Mr. Burns. I suppose you would have to see them walk to understand what I mean...

We walked into the kitchen one day and found a Koala on top of the fridge! I kid you not! He/She is real. Silly Koala!

The next night we found him on the banister outside the Frenchies room...

He/She's checking me out...

Now that's a big bug!

So...3 weeks left on the island and every time I think about it I feel sad (I've even had a handful of nightmares about leaving) so I am just trying to enjoy every day and be grateful for the time I have left here.

Muah!