no worries..

...I can still write about the rest of our week...more than 9 days after I started. ha!

so I think day 3 (Sunday) was next...we went to Maggie Island! Mark and Julie took us over on the boat, and our first stop was Florence Bay where we went snorkeling! Of course stinger suits for a must because jellies were still in season (only for a week or two longer, but we didn't want to take any chances, since I'm pretty positive I promised Momma and Hawke's family I would send everyone home safely). We saw a GIANT stingray chilling at the bottom in the sand! I thought its tail was just a stick or something, but then it moved and I saw its body as well. It's pretty silly to talk when you are under water and you have a snorkel in your mouth, you sound pretty ridiculous. After snorkeling we had coffee on the boat then headed to Horseshoe Bay to ski and tube! tons and tons of fun, lots of beautiful shells and sand dollars to pick up!, and lots of water up the nose. Hawke tried water skiing for the first time and he was pretty good at it! I'm too scared to try it there because of the sharks, crocs, and jellies that are probably hanging around there for me. We all tube a lot, and tried (unsuccessfully) to stay in...I'm really terrible at getting back on the tube, and we had lots of silly pictures taken of us when I fell out while going, Hawke fell out just while we were sitting..probably because he was laughing at me while I was trying to get back in...and Maya laying all the way off of her tube to help me get back in mine, and then she fell out.

After that we probably had lunch on the beach I forget...oh yea, because we bought a whole chicken on the way to put the boat in the water...so we had chicken avocado tomato sandwiches on rolls. That kind of sandwich is actually a huge part of my diet here, because that's all the have.. well not all they have, but whatev.

Then we caught a bus...I think its name was Friendly Fred...and got dropped off by the start of thehike to the forts. (Maggie Island used to be used for military something). Apparently this hike is where people see WILD KOALAS sometimes!! When they see one, they know that make some sort of arrow on the ground pointing to the tree that they found it in, which is pretty neat if you ask me. Anyways, we saw TWO on the way up!! It was absolutely amazing! I never thought I would see that in my life! At the top of that hill/mountain/whatever the Aussies would call it were the forts and it was such an amazing view! You could see all around Maggie!

Then we took the boat to Nelly Bay to steal the nice hotel's showers again, then headed to Picnic Bay which is where we were going to eat dinner...it was a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant, some wine, lots of delicious food, and then a stuck boat...apparently Mark had anchored the boat WAY too far in to the shore and he hadn't checked the time that it would be low tide...apparently low tide comes in around dinner time, maybe like 8ish. That means we were stuck at Picnic Bay if we wanted to wait to get the boat out, or take a taxi to the ferry and take that home...so that's what we did. It was a little funny actually, but Mark was frustrated at himself, but things happen. Anyways, my dad and Mark went back at like 5:30am the next morning to bring the boat home before it was low tide again.


Day 4: Monday...we hung around Townsville...practiced driving more...Daddy did anyways. We went to the Reed HQ which is the Aquarium in Townsville, which is apparently the largest coral reef aquarium in the world!...even though it's kind of a small aquarium, they give really great talks and information about everything! very very interesting! Then we had a drive down the strand just so they could see it and a stop at the Bottle-O to pick up some supplies, then it was BBQ time! Mark's parents were over and everyone was home and there was tons and tons of food, and Maya, Hawke and Daddy had their first official Australian BBQ!

Then I'm not really positive about the split up of the next days I don't think, but here I go..

Day 5: left Townsville! Heading up to Mission Beach for the night...on the way we stopped at Cardwell, where they have the best meat pies in Australia apparently...Maya and I got a chicken, cheese and asparagus one to share, and my dad and Hawke both got beef and kidney pies, yuck! haha. We took a little look around, but there isn't much there to see, there was a nice beach though, and Hawke and I climbed a GREAT tree. We got to Mission Beach sometime that evening, and found Bingil Beach which is where the rain forest meets the beach, it was absolutely beautiful! I found out about that beach thanks to a nice person who suggested it to my blog :) Daddy picked up a million cuttlefish bones, we got some more shells, and watched the sunset. Then we ate at Coconutz again..Hawke and I took a walk on the beach that night and it was perfect weather and temperature (which you don't get all the time in Australia) and it was an early night for all of us.