Ziska Down Under: You're Not You When You're Homesick

What a weekend it was! Friday morning, I left Cairns at 7 AM to head to Townsville to catch the ferry to Magnetic Island. I was really excited to get going and see this island! We got there and got settled and did some looking around. Where we stayed was very close to the beach, so that was nice. We then saw a bird feeding which I found kind of gross, but that is probably because I'm not the biggest fan of birds. Then we had a BBQ on the beach for dinner which was really fun. Because it was a holiday weekend, the beach/park was PACKED, so we had to wait for a while to grill, but it was okay. Then we sat on the beach and watched the stars for a while, which was really nice.

Saturday was a rough day for me. We started off by having this amazing breakfast and had some animals join us, and I FINALLY held a Koala Bear! He was only about a year old, so still pretty tiny and soft. It was such a cool experience. But back to way Saturday was rough. I didn't really know anyone on the trip this weekend, and for the first time, it hit me that I am 10,000 miles away from home. It's not possible to drive home for the weekend. I'm not going home anytime soon, and no one is going to be visiting me from home. No matter where you are, even in a place as cool as Australia, you can't help but miss your family! After that settled in, I just started crying. A wet, slobbery, not cute, SOB FEST. It was pathetic. I let that go on for about 30 seconds before talking myself out of it, then walked to the beach. And started sobbing as I walked to the beach. I would have called home, but having zero service and no wifi on this island got in the way of that. Then I started crying again, and decided it was necessary to pay for some wifi. So I sat in a SUPER BUSY public park PACKED WITH FAMILIES on a public holiday and called home SOBBING. I'm sure everyone was looking at me, but no one asked if I was okay....my leg could have broken and no one would have known...anyways, after I cried for a while to my mom, I walked around a little more and went back to take a nap. I slept for three hours. After my sob fest and marathon nap, the group climbed to The Forts, which is a lookout point at the island. It was refreshing and beautiful! The views were absolutely spectacular. We even saw a few wild Koala Bears which was super cooooool. That night, we went out to dinner and had ass hole waiters, but that's a whole different story. Got a free meal out of it.

Sunday, we spent the day at Alma Bay. We had lunch, played lots of cards, and went swimming. It was a really fun day. At night, we bought the BBQ at the hostel and met some people from AMERICA, England, Germany, and of course, some Aussies!

We left Magnetic Island today and got back to Cairns at around 5. Back to reality tomorrow...sort of. Another four day week!

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter Weekend back home.
XOXO

PS: I got a grip and am no longer homesick.