The A-Z guide to Hullabazoola

The A-Z guide to Hullabazoola
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Ants
It may seem strange to start a guidebook with such a diminutive subject, but Hullabazoola is renowned for its ants. The chief habitat of the ant is up the unsuspecting trouser leg of the even more unsuspecting tourist; there is nowhere the ants cannot get and there is certainly nowhere they will not sting.
Once stung, the tourist's itch their way to nearest pharmacy to flash their rash. Once the pharmacist has recovered, they are sold a tube of Auntie Bessie's Extremely Good Itch Cream. It is of course not made by Auntie Bessie but by a manufacturing plant on the mainland, but it is none-the-less Extremely Good Itch Cream. Except for those few unfortunates (3.5 out of 1000) who find they are allergic to the cream and experience the side effects, which include getting a rash and itching.
Fortunately the islanders themselves have built up an immunity to the sting

Bicyles
Hullabaloola is not a place for cars, the street of Port Merrywell are far to narrow for them, and the rest of the island would hardy bother with them; If they can't drive into the Capital, then where else would they go? So that leaves feet or bikes as the main forms of transport.
The younger Islanders, always in a hurry, have taken to importing fast bikes from the mainland: The mark four Shizara and the mark nine Firestorm can be a real annoyance to those using plain old mark one legs.

Caves
The Quintoian Mountains are ridded with caves. It was while he was exploring one such cave that Old Drew had the inspiration for his legendary Old Drew's X alcoholic beverage.
Some have said that it was not inspiration, but a large rock falling from the roof of the cave and colliding with Old Drew's head that caused him to think up the drink. But regardless of the source of the recipe Old Drew's remains the tipple of choice for islanders. Mainland scientist say it should be tippled straight down the sink, as it has been found to contain traces of arsenic, but as Old Drew himself said shortly before his death: "a little bit of arsenic never did anybody any harm"

Drugs
There is a Hullabazoolain concoction that can be made from dried and pickled running berries that has an incredibly strong hallucinogenic effect. Unfortunately the effect only lasts for about 5 minutes before the victim descends into a condition called the creeping side fits. The side fits tend to last for about two days. Because of this, and the strictly enforced ban on importing more reliable narcotics, Hullabazoola is an unfairly drug free zone.

Erosion
The cliffs on the north of the islands are notorious for their fast erosion rate, and homes at this end of the island have been abandoned by locals. Unsuspecting tourist are sometime sold these short lived properties as holiday homes, for reasons unknown to islanders, mainlanders place great values on a homes close to the ocean. When the mainlanders next return to their second home, they find that "Sea view cottage" has become simply "Sea". As the locals say: If you like water, buy a boat.

Gnarlytwisty tree
The Gnarlytwisty tree's warped form can be seen scattered all across the island. The fruit of the tree is renowned for it's incredibly sweet flavour, which it retains for only 20 minutes after picking. Because of the fruits desirability, locals will often sit around the bottom of the tree when the fruits look almost ripe. One a fruit drops, the local who has been waiting longest takes it. If they want a second fruit they then have to go to the back of the metaphorical queue. Occasionally an impatient tourist, wanting to know want all the fuss is about will attempt to scale the tree and reach the fruit. There are only two possible outcomes to this: Either the tourist gets wedged in the twisted branches or the tourist is set upon by Hullabazoola's legendary ants, which are attracted to the sap. In one unfortunate case a tourist got first trapped and then attacked by ants for several hours.

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