Cinderella and koalas

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About a month ago, I got tired of feeling like I could always do more for the planet. I was feeling everything but useful, neither to the people nor to nature. So I started looking up information about volunteering projects in nature and wildlife conservation. I came across a work exchange offering to get up close and personal with Australian wildlife in an educational setting. Moreover, it stipulated that we would be working with injured animals. Marc and I were soooo excited, we redid our plans to head up north to that place, to Magnetic Island.

The deal was that we would alternate work: I do 3 weeks of housekeeping while Marc works with the animals, and then we switch for another 3 weeks. Everything sounded beautiful, so we offered “shocker” a trip on a ferry and we arrived in the beautiful island some kilometers east of Townsville, in tropical Queensland.

We have been here only one week, and we are leaving tomorrow morning.
But before we get to why we are leaving, I want to talk about the magnificence of Magnetic, lovingly called “Maggie” by the locals. It is completely different from the rest of the area. As soon as we see its shores and vegetation, we are taken aback in a swirl of varied memories which help bringing the present moment to its climax. The evergreens that populate the hills bring scents from home and the way they mingle with the lovely colored granite boulders take our hearts back to beautiful Big Sur and Northern California. This island is certainly a vortex of some sort for you have this feeling of being transported to some huge sacred site where ancestors of stone guard your path at every fork in the road. The towering pinkish soft rock formations call for respect and awe in this almost uninhabited island. Their round shapes evoke the sensuality of desert dunes and are just perfect to lie on after they absorbed the goodness of a full day’s sun. What is even more wonderful about Maggie is that it is a Koala sanctuary and you can actually spot lots of cute little grey bundles of fur chewing eucalyptus’ leaves, comfortably sitting where two branches meet. Koalas have lots of wild friends around here as well. Just strolling around the hostel where we lived, we saw plenty of wallabies (even in bright daylight!), lots of cute possums trying to get to our food and many families of curlews, the bird I fell in love with last November in a wildlife park. The curlew has seducing mysterious big eyes and is really elegant on its long stilts. I have to admit it makes really weird noises…along with lots of Australian wildlife, including our cute koala bear, who actually snorts a little like a pig but worse.

So why are we leaving you’ll ask? Because for the first time in Steph’s life, she had to put up with a mean boss, who just seemed to want to make everyone feel stupid. For the first time I felt my unconditional love challenged and I prayed to have some “zen” help to transmute all this negativity into positive energy as the days were going by. As I am not even paid, we just decided to say a heartfelt goodbye to our wild friends, and to start anew, again. Steph and Marc on the road again, ready for some refreshing life-changing adventures!

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