The trip started on Friday afternoon. Sharon (the blonde chick in the back of all my videos) and I skipped our last lecture so that we could make it to the campsite before nightfall. Actually, Sharon was supposed to have gone grocery shopping with the guys before I joined, but that fell through, as would most everything else throughout the weekend. Note: I am laughing at this, so please read this as something of a dark comedy.
So, we leave at 4 and head towards the grocery store. We bought lots of stuff, then headed back to Ryan's to pack the cars. The cars were so packed that you couldn't see out the back window of the SUV or the sedan. We left at 5:30, a full hour and a half after we intended. We stopped along the way of the 45 minute drive to get some gas. While we were getting gas, we realized we had forgotten a lot of food-stuffs... and the camping permit... and so we had to drive across the street to the grocery store. In doing so, Ryan lost the gas-cap which he had left on top of the car. Things were remedied when he bought a new gas-cap to go along with the new bag of groceries. Then we expected that we would be on our way.
We got to the campsite around 7, while the sun going down. This would not have been a problem until we noticed that the lantern was no where to be found. As one group made progress on the Taj Mahal, Tim and I headed back to Ryan's to break into his house and grab the permit and lantern. While we were driving back, we got a call and subsequent text message telling us to grab about 12 more things. We found everything they asked for, including a tight rope, bed linens, and guitar tabs, and came back. Upon our return, Tim noticed that his back was missing. That's when we had a flashback of seeing his bag on top of the car that Ryan drove to go get cell phone reception. A bag worth several hundred dollars disappeared into the great abyss of Alligator Creek park.
Things were decent again, for at least a little while. We ate our fill of kangaroo and beef steaks, and had a few beverages before bed. Unfortunately, my insomnia ran rampant, and I didn't get a wink of sleep. This was a bad omen for the next day.
Woke up at the crack of dawn to find that the turkeys had attacked a lot of our stuff. They ate the Tim-Tams, spread the trash around, and just made a mess in general. After an awesome breakfast of bacon, omelets, and toast, courtesy of Ryan, we decided to go for a swim. We happened to be swimming between 10 and 12:30, during which time, we also laid out on white rocks. We may as well have shoved ourselves on a shish-kebab before doing so, because we got ROASTED.
After our swim, we came back and made noodles for lunch before headed back out to the creek again, this time fully covered in sunscreen. We played as it got dark and came back for dinner. Kangaroo steaks again! I love my men. They definitely know how to please a lady.
I slowly came down with a mild case of sun poisoning. My head began pounding and my body began shivering uncontrollably. As everyone got wasted outside, I laid in bed with Sharon and pondered life while trying to ignore my pain. It didn't help that we ran out of potable water, which left me (and everyone else) dehydrated.
I will not be taking the time to describe the drunken debauchery that took place that evening. I will say that we almost witnessed a British chick stone (Jesus-style) her boyfriend. It was pretty crazy.
I rolled out of bed at 8:30ish to find that the turkeys had caused at least 4 times the destruction as the night before. After shouting explicatives, I picked up all the trash and put it in one spot, then sat on turkey duty until everyone else woke up about an hour later. We drove to the outskirts of the park, bought water, powerade, and breakfast fixings, then drove back. As soon as the sun hit my skin, I winced in pain. When we went to swim that day, I wore a shirt and spent the entire time hiding from the evil sun in the shade.
At some point, Tim's flip flops broke. Thus, Tim had nothing left but his shorts and shirt that he came in, and a dinky yellow toothbrush that he bought at the corner store.
By the time we left, I'm pretty sure that everyone was done with nature. I know I was. I can only take nature for 2 days at a time. After that, all I want to do is shoot everything and drive a bulldozer into the woods.
I did see some pretty cool animals, though. I saw wallabies for the first time... heaps of them. I also saw a gowana and 2 different Littoria caerulea, or the Green Tree Frog. I also saw 2 Kookaburras up close. All of these experiences were awesome.
All in all, it was definitely memorable. The creek was beautiful, and delightfully chilly. I had a wonderful time with all of my friends, and everyone took all of the set-backs like champs. I definitely recommend Alligator Creek, if you find yourself in Townsville. Maybe take a slingshot, though. It's always turkey season.
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