Colly's World

I have for you three completely different stories all set in Sydney, Australia, where we spent two weeks. They are about a jellyfish, a bat, and a play. They are all really weird and wicked, but I just thought I’d share.

A jellyfish

A little while ago, I went swimming in Manly, a beach near Sydney that we took a ferry to. Manly is infested with Portuguese Man O’ Wars, also called blue bottle jellyfish in Australia. A Portuguese Man O’ War is called that because its top looks like a Portuguese battle ship.

We got to Manly and there were signs all over saying to watch out for Portuguese Man O’ Wars. I thought they were just being paranoid because there were crowds of people in the water not getting stung. So, I jumped in and went boogie boarding, ignoring the signs. The waves were huge but the water was shallow for about a quarter-mile out.

About an hour later I came back from boogie boarding and my brother was on the shore. He was crying and on his leg was a giant welt that circled his calf just below his knee. We think he was stung by a dead jellyfish floating on its side, which made it wrap all the way around.

Of course, I stupidly went back out in the water before we had to go.

Of course, a jellyfish stung me.

I couldn’t talk; it felt sort of like a bee sting times a thousand. A giant welt appeared on my knee, so whenever I bent my knee it hurt like crazy. I slowly limped to the showers. For some reason the pain was now moving up in my thigh. After I came out and met my dad, the pain was now in my hip. He took me to first aid station. The lifeguards told me that the poison was moving up my leg and that I should just rest it.

My day was okay after that. My dad bought my brother and me ice cream, and then we went home. Now I can say that I got stung by a jellyfish in Australia.

A bat

A couple of days ago, we went to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney to see the fruit bats. We walked around for a while but we didn’t see any fruit bats. As we got farther into the park, we kept hearing all these weird bird noises, but there weren’t many birds around. I had to go to the bathroom so we found one, and after I came out my dad said, “Colly, look at those coconuts up in the tree.”

“What about them?” I said, looking where he was pointing.

One of the coconuts flew away.

“Oh my god!” I screamed. “They’re fruit bats!”

I looked all around and every single tree was covered with “coconuts.” They were everywhere! (Later we found out that there were an estimated 12,000!)

“How did I not notice this?” I asked, really freaked out.

“We didn’t either!” my mom said.

We kept walking through the botanical gardens pointing out all the “coconuts”. The fruit bats are fury creatures the size of Chihuahuas with leathery, translucent wings. They curl up in the day so they really do look like coconuts.

We also saw giant spiders hanging on giant webs (poisonous of course).

A play

When I was 9 I saw Wicked in New York, and I’ve wanted to see it again ever since. In case you don’t know what Wicked is, it’s the BEST play ever. How did the Wicked Witch of the West become wicked? How did Glinda become the good witch? How did the Scarecrow become a scarecrow? This story took place all before Dorothy dropped in. Did you know Elphaba (who turns into the infamous Wicked Witch of the West) and Galinda (who turns into Glinda the Good Witch) were once best friends? Amazing costumes, amazing voices, an amazing show.

When we first got to Sydney I saw a huge marquee that read “WICKED”.  I got really excited that it was here and showed my parents, and they got really excited too.

On Monday my parents did Twenty Questions with my brother and me. I know it sounds weird, but it was for a really cool prize.

“Twenty Questions,” my mom said, “ What are we doing on Wednesday?”

“A ten mile death hike?” I guessed. (With my parents, that’s not a bad guess.)

“No,” my mom said.

“A water park?” my brother guessed.

“Nope,” my mom said.

The “game” went on forever (or so it seemed).

“Wicked?” I guessed.

“Yes!!!” my mom said.

“Oh my god!!!!!!” I yelled.

On Wednesday we went to Wicked. It was amazing! I forgot so much from the last time I saw it, and it was amazing seeing it again. If you ever have the chance to go, do it.