CAIT AROUND THE WORLD

March 29, 2023 — Yet another later-morning wake-up. Even though we didn’t have to be up early, I have to say that the weather was a great impetus to get out of bed. The sun hit our side of the tents after it rose, and having it beat down on the canvas made it really warm in there. It was nice to get out and get into the cooler-feeling air outside.

This had to be my favourite morning yet, because there were pancakes for breakfast! Even though they were more like crepes because they were quite thin and the syrup was fake, they were delicious and I had six. (Can’t leave leftovers!)

Once breakfast was finished we loaded up the cars with everything we’d had in the tents, stripped the sheets off the sleeping pads, hung the sleeping pads up, stripped pillowcases and packed pillows in the bags, and headed out one more time, deeper into K’gari.

Our first stop was to Lake Waddy, which will actually probably be gone in another twenty to thirty years as it loses water at a rate of 1-2 metres per year. The transience of natural wonders really hit home here; it’s incredible to think that I might not have seen this lake, swam in it, and enjoyed time on its shore if I were born thirty years later. I’m really interested to see when it does dry up.

That natural wonder certainly took quite a hike to get to, though! It was about forty-five minutes solid of walking up and down on a trail through the forest before we finally made it to the lake, which was down a steep sand hill. And you know that that meant a steep uphill climb on the way back! Was it ever tough. I nearly cried with relief when I reached the toilets about two hundred metres from the start of the trail.

We had lunch upon our return which was wraps with cold meat, lettuce, cheese, and other toppings and sauces. I thoroughly enjoyed my corned beef wraps again. We were supposed to head out right after lunch but had a small hiccup as one of the girls got stung or bitten by something and we actually had to call the ambulance on the island! It was certainly a scary experience for her, but I have to say it was quite interesting and will probably make a pretty good story afterward (also, I do happen to know that she was okay and when the ambulance arrived they said that they would take her to the hospital just to make sure she was alright, even though she seemed mostly okay).

We finally piled into the cars and headed back to the mainland. (I got to drive!!) It was quite the production heading back! Since we were delayed about an hour, the tide was coming in high and lots of the sand we had to drive on to avoid the wake of the waves was soft sand. For the entire trip, we’d had a speed limit of 60 km/h (the actual speed limit for the island is 80 km/h unless otherwise posted) but we really pushed it on the way back because we had to catch the barge and were racing against the tide. We did make it with a bit of time to spare! I honestly can’t tell you how much fun I had bopping along to the music that I had going (by this time I’d kind of become the car DJ) and driving both against and in synchronized grace with the sand and the guide driving in front of me.

We crossed back on the barge and got back on to the main road. It was a little bit strange to be back on pavement after two days of sand, but it wasn’t that strange. Our car ended up fourth in line instead of second after the barge because of the order they let us off in. We followed the line from the barge into town and to the gas station where we refuelled the cars since they would be going out on yet another tour in the morning.

When we got back to the hostel I picked up my bags, got into my new dorm room, and enjoyed some chips and chill time as I caught up on messages since we hadn’t had any cell reception on the island. One of the really nice parts about booking my tour through Pippies Beach House was that if you took your tour of K’gari with them, you could stay a night before the tour and a night after the tour for $20 per night, which is a bit cheaper than their usual rate. I finally showered, curled up in a real bed, and continued reading the book I started while at Lake Waddy that afternoon while munching on some more chips.

I was waiting for it to be late enough to call home and finally did, talking with both Mom and Dad before brushing my teeth and heading to bed with a show.

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