Photos from 2002 September 27
This is the view out the back of the ferry as we're chugging out of Townsville. The view really encapsulates the city: industrial on one side, tourist hotel on the other.	Again, looking back, this time from quite a bit away from shore.	The island is not far away; only a twenty minute ferry ride, and you can see it clearly from the mainland. Here's the view from the ferry as we pulled up to the island.	Once we disembarked, this is the view that greeted us.
Next to where I rented a bicycle (more on that in a minute), there were these two very cool looking parrots, who were pretty much like pidgeons: eating what they could scavange. In this case, it was a piece of apple.	Another shot of the pidgeons, from a higher angle. As cute as these parrots were, they are a real nuiscence in Townsville, because they swarm by the *hundreds* in most of the trees downtown, and all their twittering and screetching is *deafening* when you walk by.	Once I got my bike, I rode off, full of energy and excitement. It was brutal. The heat was staggering, the road was all hills: up hundreds of feet, down to the beach, up hundreds of feet, down to the beach... I was absolutely exhausted, and I didn't even do the hike to the Forts, which is what I was biking up there for. Here's a view along the side of the road as I went.	What I did do was go down to this sparsely populated cove and go swimming. After all that exertion, the water felt sooooo good. There were these sun-bleached tree trucks like dinosaur bones in the sand.
Here's a shot from the same location looking to the left.	There were quite a few snorkelers over here, and I read that these rocks shelter many underwater caves, in which are interesting sea life to look at.	The end of the rock wall in the previous photograph. I think the rocks in the center of this picture look like a grouper.	The beach.
Another secluded beach. I saw this one on the way back, and if I hadn't been so exhausted, I would have gone down to swim here, too.	The dock for the return ferry, with the mainland on the horizon.	The view to the left of the previous one. The island was really gorgeous, but I think I need to go back and take some kind of motorized vehicle to get places, so I don't arrive so tired I can't really take advantage of them. I'd like to rent snorkel gear and go back to that bay where I was before. I'd like to check out that bay I saw on the way back. I may have to go back over there. Oh, well, that's why I left a day of wriggle room in the schedule. Tomorrow: snorkeling the reef!!!
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