Day 10 - We're Team 2... Get us out of here!!

An early start for us today, with alarms set for 6:20, we were leaving the jungle at 8 and definitely couldn’t be late, due to the 8km walk (rather than 3.5km!) which we knew lay ahead of us! Once full up from noodles (again), we were underway! We survived the survival camp (just about)! Due to the torrential rain from the previous day, the jungle floor was incredibly slippy and the leeches were ready for us. Anya did in fact manage to fall twice within the first 500m and we heard a lot of ‘LEECH!’ cries from everyone as we exited the densest part of the jungle. Ollie decided that our pace was too slow on our journey into Miki’s, safe to say it was ramped up on our way out – although this might have been due to the air-conned minibuses that were waiting for us at the end! We only had one minor encounter with danger, when a tree branch fell on Ollie (thanks to Ffion who tugged the vines attached to it)! Despite the sheer size of this branch, Ollie remained unscathed, remarkable really!

Once we arrived at Miki’s house, our second bags were waiting for us, alongside donuts and orange squash which really lifted the mood! We freshened up and prepared for the first leg of our bus journey, to Kota Belud. This 1 hour bus ride was very smooth, as we all slept the whole way! On changeover however, we were all hit with the heat from the city, requiring a quick stock up on cold drinks, for the 3 hour ride that lay ahead! Along the way, we had an impromptu stop at KFC, where the majority of us got some food, but 40 minutes later Ollie crawled out of the toilet – I don’t think you want the same level of detail that Mr Boughton and the rest of us have been receiving! Nevertheless, Ollie remained in high spirits, and we successfully arrived at Kudat where we met our friendly hosts!

The accommodation seemed 5 stars compared to the concrete village hall floor, even though they have a few holes, intermittent amounts of electricity, and mosquitos in their millennials! Here, Howard (our host) explained what lay ahead, safe to say we were all incredibly excited when we discovered our volunteering was painting murals in the local primary school! We set up and definitely made the most of the showers, which we have really missed – everybody was extremely thankful to feel clean again! It was nice to touch base with the other team from Balcarras on our crossover evening, although we tried to refrain for sharing stories with one another in case of any spoilers about the fun to come! Dinner was delicious and made a change from the usual rice and noodles. Curry was on the menu, and the vegetarians were ecstatic to eat something with both sauce and flavour to it! The evening was spent playing Mrs Leighton’s clapping game, as well as some rounds of Mafia which we are thoroughly enjoying playing at the moment!

Overall, a really successful and enjoyable travel day from team 2, we are all missing you at home but having a really fab time – it’s going too quickly!!

By Annie Wood (I've put loads more photos on day 11)

P.S Happy Wedding Day for Saturday Miss Niblett, thanks for your comment on the blog, the whole of team 2 hopes your day is amazing, and we now know why you and Mrs Cullis love Miki’s camp so much – it was great!