Bomb Site
Yesterday, a cyclone ripped through the town of Innisfail in Northern Queensland, Australia. Innisfail, and the surrounding Atherton Tablelands, were responsible for my single best day in Australia.
I rented a car and drove around the Tablelands, stopping at evermore charming waterfalls and increasingly impressive strangler figs. That night, I stayed in Innisfail at a hostel that served primarily fruit pickers. I ate a wonderfully out of place dinner at the club down the road (think country music, slot machines, and good ol’ boys), recommended by the proprietor of the hostel. Managed to pop into the common room in time to see Saddam Hussein get dragged from his hiding spot, which was less thrilling only because I don’t like to see my president happy.
In the morning, I got up at 5am with the fruit pickers. That wasn’t really by choice. But I headed off to Etty Bay and saw a cassowary, a rare, huge, and scary Aussie bird, and his two chicks. And I had a mango.
I went back to Innisfail when I figured things would actually be open, and decided to go to a crocodile farm. The crocs were cool, but the people pretty much just let me hang out with about 30 kangaroos for a while, which was awesome. Kangaroos really like bread and are extremely pushy about it, especially if you stop feeding it to them. Usually, I require dinner before I let someone paw me that much. And the teenager assigned to take me around said I could buy a joey for only A$10 (US$7), but only on the condition that I fling it over the fence to a waiting crocodile. I declined.
From the news reports, it sounds as though much of that is probably gone now. I mourn that loss, and best luck for a speedy recovery to all.
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