Capricorn Dave
Trip Start
Aug 15, 2006
1
82
159
Trip End
May 27, 2008
Where I stayed
Rockhampton, Australia
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Today I went out on a cool wildlife trip with a guy called Capricorn Dave (obviously his name is Dave and we were travelling on the tropic of Capricorn). The group was just myself and a young girl and guy from the UK and we had great time. His minibus was so clapped out and his driving so erratic that it was one of the highlights of the day itself. We drove around a local cattle ranch like maniacs following bulls, emus and kangaroos. Within minutes he got us stuck in some wet mud and we got filthy trying to push the van out - I'm convinced he does that every time though to suss you out....... During the day we went along a billabong on a little raft looking for snakes and spiders (by the way Dave wears no shoes or socks), picked up peices of wood and metal to see some redback spiders (by this time I had no socks or shoes on and yes, redbacks are deadly). We also found some tree frogs and licked the backsides of green tree ants; for a good reason mind you as they contain ascorbic acid and it's like licking a really sharp lime, although mine was so strong I think I burnt my tongue! We had a tradtional Aussie lunch of steak burger in a cool country pub and ate a tiny grub like thing after lunch which wasn't very tasty! Another highlight of the day was picking up a Huntsman spider then having it on my face - they aren't very poisonous but they are commonly found in houses are are pretty big and hairy with huge fangs. The trip has been taken by the guys from the TV show 'Jackass' and since then, Dave has an ánt dance'challenge - basicaly how long can you stand barefoot on a nest of red ants that are biting you hard like electric shocks. Surprisingly enough we passed on that one, although my Scottish friend Alan took the trip a few days ago and set a new record of over 10 minutes - as Mr T would say 'I pity the fool'.
In the evening we made a fire and Dave made us some coffee and tea using a billycan, although since he forgot his actual billycan he had to make do with an empty can of coke. A nice end to the day before had to get back to the hostel, get showered and get an overnight Greyhound to Townsville. Luckily the hostel owner, Robbie, kindly offered to take me to the bus station. She is such a nice lady and most of the hostel guests are working backpackers and she looks after all of them as if they were her own children!
It was no surprise that the Greyhound didn't show up on time (3rd time in a row!) so there i was sat in a service station late at night with an overnight bus journey ahead of me, including 2 or 3 stops for the driver which makes it hard to even fall asleep, on top of the fact that in Australia there's no option of a cama (bed) bus like in South America! When the bus eventually showed up I was treated to watching one of the worst movies ever - Nanny McPhee which was on so loud that I couldn't even try and sleep even with my earplugs, eyemask, pillow and sleeping bag. Additionally we had the token screaming kid and some of the dodgiest driving I have encountered since Bolivia so sleeping was certainly out of the question.
Arrived in Townsville around 6am.
