Townsville and Magnetic Island

Day 46: Townsville 

Got up, packed and checked out of Base. One of the guys in my room had heard that the hostel a few doors down did a free shuttle to the bus terminal so we sat in their reception and were able to get on the bus :) no 20 minute walk with backpacks for us! 

We got the seat right at the front of the greyhound bus so had great viewsof the   Australian countryside. :)

Bus view

Got a free transfer to the hostel. The hostel also seemed to be offering a free matchmaking service as the lady of reception kept asking is any of us wanted to have a double room! I somehow managed to book the only room in the hostel without air con! 

Wandered down to Woolworths to stock up on some food and then sat down with a cup of tea to relax. 

With two of the people that I'd met we walked up to the top of castle hill. We walked along the goat track and you really needed to have the balance and hill climbing ability to walk it. The path was steps but they were uneven and at different heights and felt vertical at points. And whilst we were red, sweaty and huffing and puffing our way up all the locals where jogging past us with their dogs! Felt so unfit. 

(Australia seems to be a country of extremes: weather, dangerous animals and fitness. You don't seem to get many average fitness Aussies. They are either super healthy or completely the opposite. Kind of how I imagine America is.)

The views from the top of the hill over Magnetic island were beautiful but unfortunately it was rather cloudy just on the horizon at the exact spot where the sun would set so we didn't get to see it set :(

Walking buddies and magnetic island

Castle hill 

Once I'd sorted myself out at the hostel Simon (the guy on the walk) and cooked potentially one of the best meals I've ever eaten. Not just in Australia but anywhere in the world. We had some delicious mixed seafood from the fresh fish counter in a lime and chilli sauce that you cook in the over with roasted peppers, onions and mushrooms served on pasta! Oh it was amazing. We completely over estimated how much pasta and seafood we'd need so I probably ate 2 portions worth but was happy to do so!  

Yum

Had a super cool evening playing the Australian edition of monopoly before going to bed. The amount of rules that I thought were real but turns out are only house rules is ridiculous! I lost completely! I spent most of the game not passing go and going straight to jail! And the Swiss girl who had somehow never played monopoly before destroyed us all! Never underestimate the power of the stations! 

Day 47: Magnetic Island

Woke up early and had a lovely chat with Will. Still struggling with the whole other side of the world one person is going to be whilst the other is waking up! And that my feet are pointing people in the UK's feet! 

Took the bus down with two of the girls in my room towards the 'rock pool' which is the area you can swim in in Townsville as not only does Townsville have stingers they are also sitting on a shark breaking ground! So there are all these amazing beaches with no one on them! We'd gone there as just in the sea past the rock pool there were lots of turtles living. It was a bit windy to the water wasn't calm enough to see them below the surface but you could see them coming up to breath which was cool. 

We walked back to the hostel along the beach front and then down the Main Street so I can now say I've seen the main bits of Townsville. 

Picked up the luggage from the hostel, got the bus back to the ferry port and then got the ferry across to Magnetic Island. Got the island bus down to the hostel.  It travels such a ridiculous route. It goes in circles at times. Drove past the same supermarket 3 times! 

Got to the hostel which has potentially the most beautiful setting of any hostel! Lots of little bungalows overlooking the sea. 

View from my dorm door

Marc (who I met in the Whitsundays) and I got the bus across the island to do the walk up, with a Swedish girl we met on the  way, to the old fort. We were pretty lucky as we got there just as the ranger reopened the track after the work they'd been doing on it that morning. It was a hot walk up but we say a big koala and a baby koala in a tree which was really cool and we got some great views on the walk. 

Sleepy koala 

View from the top. 

We were really lucky that the bus was running slightly behind schedule so we didn't miss it and got the bus across to picnic bay for a cool down swim in the stinger net (can only swim where these are on the beaches otherwise you need a stinger suit). 

Got the bus back to the hostel and showered and then had a lovely veggie burger for dinner (it was part of the package I'd booked) and a few drinks with the Marc and Tristan (a French guy I met on Fraser). Our evening could have been the start of a terrible joke... "There was an English girl, a French guy and a German guy playing pool..."  and some I actually did alright! I lost to Tristan but was so lucky in my game against Marc. I'd aim for one thing and end up potting something else!

Pool

Chilled out on the decking area and then headed to bed as my legs were killing me from all the hill walking in the last 2 days. 

Day 48: Magnetic Island

Caught the bus around the island first thing to Horseshoe Bay for my horse ride. I had a lovely Bay horse called Cougar who was very cheeky but I loved him. It was such a good couple of hours; we walked and trotted through the bush down to the beach. Obviously Cougar decided at points that trotting was too slow so I was in a gallop at times. It's really strange when they go between the two speeds as you can feel that how their legs are moving has changed! 

We rode down the beach which was such an experience in itself and then dismounted, took off the saddles, changed into our stinger suits and rode bare back into to sea. :) can't begin to describe how cool that feels! 

Beach riding

Bare back in the sea (in a sexy stinger suit) 

On the way back it rained a bit which was lovely as it was so hot and muggy before hand. 

Wandered down to the beach where I was planning on having a smoked salmon brioche at noodies (as recommended by Mozza) but they were on their 2 week holiday so I ended up going to Nan's tea shop which was run by an English Lady and served Devonshire Tea. I ended up completely spoiling myself having a latte, a chicken and avocado wrap and then a slice of rocky road cake... Not very good for the budget but very tasty! 

 Lunch

Had an unplanned nap on the beach at horseshoe bay and then went to bungalow bay yha for the wildlife show. 

Horseshoe Bay

Got to hold and stroke so many different animals; snakes, turtles, lizards and a koala! And I met a girl I used to woke with at Twickenham! We had both recognised each other and after going through where we went to school and stuff we finally worked it out! "It's a small world" is such a true song! 

Koala! 

Frill necked Dragon

Sorry Will... There's a new man in my life! A red tailed black cuckatoo taking a seed from my mouth. 

Afterwards we got to feed the wild lorikeets. The sound they made was so loud and so high pitched- it was horrible and deafening. We were give a bready mush to hold and they climbed all over you to get some. 

Lorikeets 

Got the bus to Geoffry Bay where I went to see the rock wallabies and admired the view. 

Stopped in the super market on the way home and bought some veg and tomato sauce to go with the pasta and then cooked again! Still have some chicken flavoured instant noodles in my cool bag but atm I'm all on the cooking! 

Showered, sorted out my stuff and chatted to the parents then had a pretty chilled evening. I was feeling tired around 9pm so decided not to fight it (even though I know it meant I was going to be up at some stupidly early time the next day) and just get an early night. The girls in my room where having an early night too so chatted to them before falling asleep. 

Day 49: Magnetic island and travelling to Cairns. 

Slept for such a long time! Didn't wander to the beach until 8am. Cannot believe today is the first day of December! Don't even feel slightly Christmassy! Even though I've seen Christmas trees in the towns and Christmas decorations it can't be Christmas when just sitting still in the sun at 8 causes you break into a sweat! 

Used my free breakfast token to by myself 2 rashes of bacon, 2 eggs and the thickest slice of toast ever. I probably should start being healthy and ordered the fruit and musli but who can resist the offer of bacon! 

Tristan and I went for an round trip walk in morning up to the top of the look out point. Even though we started walking at 1030 we were so sweaty by the time we got to the top and were so thankful for the sea breeze. Worth the walk for the views back over the hostel. 

Base is on the near side of the further beach. 

Soon as we got back we jumped straight into the pool to cool down and then showered and sat in the shade until we had to leave for the bus. Such a pleasure not feeling sun-creamy during the day!

Got the bus to the ferry terminal and then the ferry back across to the mainland. I have decided that magnetic island is secretly Tracey island from thunderbirds! It looks so much like it! 

Tracey/Magnetic island. 

Back on the mainland I got the greyhound all the way up to Cairns. We arrived at about 8.30pm and walked to the hostel. Tristan had booked the same one as me a couple of weeks ago before we'd even met! Nice having someone you know in the hostel! 

Rainbow Beach, Fraser Island and Hervey Bay

Day 36: Noosa to Rainbow Beach

After an absolute panic that I'd lost my purse (was left in my trousers when I packed then) I spent the morning relaxing by the pool in the beautiful sunshine. It got too warm so I had to move into the shade! :o 

Sun!!!

Got the bus up to Rainbow Beach at lunchtime. Stopped at Matilda services where there was a giant robotic kangaroo that turned its head and ears and blinked. So random! One of the many strange sights you see on the road in Australia!

Giant kangaroo

Frasers on Rainbow (my hostel) was literally across the road from the bus stop  so was a pretty easy walk. They offer a bush walk and sand boarding so since it was sunny decided to go on it. Went sand boarding down the Carlos sand blow which was amazing. Got some good speed going down.

Sand boarding

We went to go and see the different colours of the sand (mainly yellow!) and to learn how to throw a bomarang but it was so windy we nearly lost them off the cliff. When we turned around through the sky was black. And then the hail and the rain and the thunder started. It was so heavy. I was soaked by the time we got under the cover of the trees! Haven't been that wet since the jungle trek in Chiang Mai (which feels like a life time ago).

Soaked from the rain! 

Got to see a double rainbow in rainbow beach though which is pretty cool. 

Rainbow

I was really lucky as one of the girls I got on really well with in Brisbane (in that super quick stopover) was on the walk so we had some dinner together and with a few of the other people on the walk and then played the bar games with the crazy Irish man who worked there. Couldn't understand half the stuff he was saying. No idea how people cope with him when English isn't there first language! Played bite the box which I was pretty rubbish at as I have no flexibility! Ended up having to call a tie and both the finalist picked up a 20cents coin from the floor with only their feet on the ground. It was mad! 

Day 37: Rainbow Beach

Woke up super early so rather than just lying in bed doing nothing I got up, went for a walk into town to buy myself some new briht pink shorts (the ones I own are so dirty!) and then headed to the beach for the morning. Did a bit of body boarding in the sea and just relaxed in the sunshine. I took my clothes down to the beach with me to keep me company! Or maybe i took them down to actually dry as the room was too cold to dry things in with the amazing air con :) 

Rainbow beach

It was getting pretty hot on the beach and my cheese sandwich was sweating in its bag so I headed back to a cafe for fish and chips for lunch. Met one of the guys from last night there so we went for a walk along the beach being really nerdy and discussing physics! He is starting in Manchester next year and was so keen to learn what I'd been doing. Met the two German guys from noosa on the way back so threw around an American football for a bit with them. It was so hard to throw! Couldn't get my head around it! 

Decided (as there were very few clouds) to brave a second bush walk to sand dunes and it payed off. After a bit more sand boarding (in which I flew straight off at a bump in the sand dune and tumbled most of the way down!) and actually throwing a bomarang we saw the most beautiful sunset! 

Jump shot!

Had a lovely bowl of noodles for dinner and played a little bit of pool then headed to bed early to get some sleep before Fraser Island. 

Day 38: Fraser Island

After getting very confused and queuing with the people waiting for the greyhound to Brisbane I made it on to the bus for Fraser Island. It was a short drive onto the  barge to go across From inskip point to Fraser Island (named after captain James Fraser who did here).

The roads were made of sand and were so bumpy in the 4x4 coaches (didn't get used to the bumpiness for the entire trip) we used to get across the Island. As we droe we wen past an area where a tornado had ripped through the forest just under a week before we arrived. There were all these huge trees that had been snapped in two! so gla we missed that!

Stopped for morning tea and one of the girls on the tour lives in Hampton, was in the year below me at esher, also had alyssa for maths and is doing accounting staring in September. So strange how much you can have in common. Another if the girls lives in Southbourne! Such a small world. 

 We pulled out onto a beach which was amazing to drive on along to Lake Mackenzie. 

We had a while a lake Mackenzie to swim there and enjoy with the people on the tour (after swapping buses from the day trip onto the cool dingo bus). The day trippers were only there 20 minutes and the hour we were there wasn't enough! We used the sand there to clean our teeth as its so pure. Left them squeaky clean. I wen for the little bit of sand on the finger approach. One of the guys went for the eat a handful approach!!!

We had to wait for the mechanics before we could leave lake Mackenzie as the cover of the door fell off and they had to screw it back into place before we could go anywhere! 

We drove to central station for lunch and we saw a Dingo there. They look just like medium sized orange dogs but are far more dangerous. We went for a rainforest walk after lunch and were told to hug the big tree near the end of the path as it was massive and you could fit 6 people linked arms around it! We all hugged completely the wrong tree! Once we got to the big tree we knew that was the one we were meant to be looking for. 

Tree huggers

We then drove for about an hour acros the island to the kingfisher bay resort. We were meant to be staying in eco lodges but half of us (including me) got upgraded to the hotel as they were over full! I was not conplaining about that... A king size bed and a single bed just for me!!! 

Hotel

We went down to the beach for another sunset and then got the shuttle bus to the Dingo bar for dinner. The only problem about staying in the hotel was that 'heart attack' hill stood between us and food! So glad they ran a shuttle bus! 

Sunset

We had a few drinks at the bar and then headed back to the hotel. Had such a long shower under the rain head shower in my room. It was amazing after using the showers in hostels for so long. 

Day 39: Fraser Island

After and early start (and with a few hungover people) we went out for a long drive across Fraser Island. The island isn't very wide (15km) but on sand tracks it takes about an hour to get across. We stopped at a look out point where we could see the scribbly gum tree and a sand dune. 

We then drove along the beach and were offered a flight in a small aircraft (only seated 8 including the pilot). Wasn't exactly going to turn down that opportunity was I to see the island from the air! 

Plane!!!

We flew across the island for about 15 minutes and so were able to see the whole Island from the sky and some lakes that you are only able to see from the air to appreciate them such as butterfly lake. 

Butterfly lake

We took off from a beach and then landed on another part of the beach. That was such am experience in itself! We landed next to the Maheno ship wreck. It was really cool as it was high tide so the waves were lapping around it.  

Maheno ship wreck

I had a jelly fish (not a stinger type) thrown at me and it slide down my top which meant I had jelly fish goo on my arm which was horrible! Got to love meeting a group of people where you don't have to be nice and make the usual backpacker conversation and can skip straight to mucking around with them like you've known them for more than 24hours!   

We went to Eli Creak next. Basically its a fresh water river that is formed from water leeching out of the island as the island is basically a giant sponge. Sostrange  knowing that all the fresh water on the island is rain water! The stuff in the creak is about 100 years old but super pure as its filtered by the island. We walked up the river a bit and then we able to float down the creak back to the sea. I have a lovely large bruise on my leg from not noticing a branch in the water until I was on top of it. 

Eli creak

We played a bit of frisbee in the estuary before our morning tea and cookies (such tasty cookies). Can't believe how much stuff we did before elevensies!

We then drove down 75mile beach to Indian head (named because captain cook saw Aborigie people standing there when he sailed past and no one has change the name since). Had some lunch (i threw most of mine in the sand because it obviously tastes better with added crunch!) and then It was an easy walk up and from the look out at the top we could see a manta ray and 2 turtles in the water below us. 

We then drove further down the beach to the champagne pools. It was so busy there! Bumped into the German guys from noosa and sat in the pool as the waves crashed in. There were these sponges the cling onto te side of the rocks which squirt water when you squeeze them. Made our own fountain show! 

We drove back across to the other side of Indian head and had to wait whilst the tires were pumped up so we played frisbee and then built a massive people pyramid. Took so many attempts as our first try was a little bit too ambitious! 

Pyramid

Multi coloured sand at the pinnacles 

As we drove off down the beach the bus got stuck on a dune and so we had to push it back and forth until Katie (our drive an guide) could get enough grip to get over the soft sand. I helped a lot by being the official photographer! Far easier than pushing...

Push!!!!

Once we got back we had a quick dinner in the dingo bar and then sat in the jacuzzi from 8 until 10 when they kicked u out with a few ciders. I was so wrinkly when we left but it was such a treat to sit in the hot tub under the stars! 

Day 40: Fraser Island

Had another warly start to drive to one of the lakes were we went SUP boarding (stand up Paddle boarding). I surprisingly had pretty good balance and so was able to go out into the lake alright! Think the surf lessons helped! We were playing frisbee in the lake as well (so nice having people to grow around with) and my attemped layout through the air jumping off the SUP board to catch it completely failed and ende up with me belly flipping onto the water. 

SUP boarding

We had lunch at the Eurong beach resort and then drove to Lake Wabby and sand blow. It took about 45 minutes to walk through the sandy forest track to get to the sand blow but it was then a pretty quick run down hill to dive into the lake. The bottom of the lake was like stroking a monsters back! It was all furry from the grass! The lake used to be a creak like Eli but the wid had caused the sand blow to come in and block the path so there we fish swimming in the lake with us. They seemed to like nibbling at my feet. It was like being at one of those fish spas, only free! Tickled so much.

Lake Wabby

Had an ice cream on the way back to catch the ferry across to Hervey Bay. I got to sit in the front as we went across the island which was really cool being able to see the path ahead as we bumped along. 

Once we were back in Hervey Bay we were all dropped at our hostel and the girls at the bus station and we were going to meet on the main parade for  dinner. The bus station was about a 10 minute taxi drive away from our hostels rather than the 10 minute walk that we thought so we caught a taxi to have a final 'meal' (MacDonalds and then the floor of the bus station) with the people getting night bus that evening. So sad saying bye but hopefully I'll be seeing one of the girls in queenstown in NZ :)

I was walked back to my hostel and had to say good bye to the guys. Such a sad fact of travelling, meeting all these lovely people and then having to leave them. 

I just can't believe how much stuff I did on the island in 3 days and there was still when I left so much more I wanted to see!

Day 41: Hervey Bay

Was up early again (even when i have nothing to get up for I'm awake at 7!) so after breakfast and a quick chat to Will I was very domestic and washed nearly all (I mean all bar the dress I was wearing and the shorts I forgot were loose in my bag) my clothes and tumble dried them. Everything smells like clean laundry power rather than travel wash and then hung up over the end of a bunk bed to dry. 

2 of the boys from the tour drove over to pick me up from the hostel after I'd checked out and then we went to the Hislop Vic Shark Show. It was crazy in there. It was a tiny little room but all the walls were covered in newspaper reports from shark attacks, photos of sharks and photos of shark attack victims. And there was a freezer at -20C containing two sharks that were about 20 years old! They were huge and pretty terrifying even dead! 

My jaws impression. 

We went for coffee and finally found somewhere with wifi so I could upload a few of the pictures from my camera to fb using Alex's laptop so I have them saved somewhere and then had to say goodbye to the final 2 from the group! They should be getting to Cairns around the same time as me so I'll see them there. 

Final Fraser crew! 

Spent the rest of the day on the beach. It took me 3 hours to catch up all the blog and diary that I hadn't written for 4 days! So much stuff had happened that I hast had time to get down onto paper (or onto this blog!). Went for a little walk along the beach and had a nice long chat with grandad before heading back to the hostel. Need to have dinner and then it's time for a 12 hour bus ride to Airlie Beach! 

Hervey Bay 

Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays.

Day 42: Airlie Beach 

So I bumped into one of the German guys from Noosa on the bus which was pretty awesome. And about 20 minutes later his friend emailed me to say to watch out for him as he was going my way! He had Australia (the film) on his iPad so it seemed like an appropriate film to watch (even if half way though it felt like the film had a natural end and then they added a second half to it). 

Bus buddies

Managed to get a little bit of sleep on the bus. Kept napping but luckily I don't need to check out until 11am tomorrow from the hostel so maybe my body will let me sleep past 7 to catch up on what I missed. The colours at sunrise at 5am was pretty stunning though (no glasses so I couldn't see it properly). 

Once I got to the hostel and had left my bag in storage until the room was ready I went for lunch with 2 girls from the bus. Had the tallest fish burger! So tasty! 

Yum!

We then wandered down to check in onto our Whitsunday boats. Unfortunately they weren't on the same one as me. We spent the afternoon swimming in the lagoon and sunbathing. I had a great nap and it took they girls 5 minutes (and a big debate they told me later about whether it is okay or not to poke someone awake when you've known them for only a few hours) to wake me up! 

Lagoon

Came back to the hostel to pack my hand luggage for the boat and a Canadian girl was in my room who's also on my boat :) took her down to check in as I knew where it was and then met up with the German guy and his friend (also on my boat).

Had dinner at the down under bar connected to the hostel. Very yummy nachos! Spent the night with such a mix of people but it was a really cool night: the German and his friend, the Canadian girl, the two girls from the bus, their friends from Fraser, their roommate and my French friend from Fraser Island. Really enjoying meeting all these different people from all over the world. 

Day 43: Whitsundays

Lied in bed until 9 for the first time since I've been away. So good :) the Canadian girl, Sam and I wandered around the lagoon and relaxed there for the morning before we had lunch in a cafe next to the marina.

We got on the boat and the heavens opened! We all got to wear super sexy bright yellow waterproofs whilst the rain passed over. 

Fisherman jackets

We got into our sexy stinger suits and went for a snorkel. Didn't see a turtle but I saw some fish and some coral. 

We got back to the boat and the rain had stopped. :) we had a delicious meal on the boat, watched sunset and then sat chatting for ages before bed. 

Sunset on the boat

Sam and I were sharing the 'double bed' in the very front of the boat. It was triangular so our feet and bags were all cosy all night. 

Day 44: Whitsundays

It was so warm in the cabin so I kept waking up so uncomfortable a d sweaty and I couldn't even sit up as the bunk above was pretty much touching my head when I laid down! And I could really wiggle my way out the bed without treading on something. 

Woke up at 530 with all the banging upstairs and coukdnt be bothered to try and sleep anymore and so by 630 I'd eaten breakfast and was sunbathing on the boat :) 

We got to the beautiful Whitehaven beach at 7am before all the other boats arrived so we got to look at it from the view point completely undisturbed and have the beach to ourselves for 30 minutes :) 

Whitsundays 

No photo I put up will do this beach justice. 

  

We got back to the boat and 'helped' putting up the sails. Turns out I'm not that strong and really struggled pulling the rope to hoist the sails. With the sails we were able to pick up lots of speed! 

"I'm on a boat and I'm going fast and"

We sailed to a sand island where we went snorkling. Some people saw turtles but I didn't :( we ate nachos on the beach and had a glass of goon! Pretty relaxed afternoon. I even made friends with a injured seagull! He enjoyed the nachos too.... And my bird noises to scare away the angry looking one! 

Back on the boat we sailed to a sheltered area where we would spend the night. Had a great evening chatting and dancing on the boat. Lots of us couldn't face another warm night below deck so we took our swag bags onto deck to sleep! Bit of an issue when it started to rain and we had to scramble under the tarpaulin but it was a much nicer nights sleep :) 

Day 45: Whitsunday and Airlie Beach

Another super early morning wake up on the deck. We had some breakfast and then went for a snorkel. It was going to be my favourite snorkel spot until I became friends with a jelly fish. I did my best Dory impression and stupidly hugged my squishy (please watch finding memo again if you're confused). It stung my hand first and in my attempt to swim away I kicked it with my foot! 

The safety dinging drove over and took my back to the boat. Luckily it wasnt one of the serious ones (and thanks to te stinger suit it only touched me twice) and so after pouring vinegar over it I was left with just a few red bobbles on my hands and feet and a slight stinging sensation. 

Once everyone was back on boat we hoists the sails and sailed off (with alot of speed) back to the marina. We were at 90 degrees the whole way back! None I is wanted to get off the boat so after we decided ou plan to mutiny wouldn't work as none of us could sail we had to get off the boat. The weather greeted us in the same way as when we left the marina so we all hide out in a cafe for brunch. Had spaghetti on toast (if only there was eggy bread) so I was very happy. 

Bad quality photo of broomstick - Our lovely boat!

Checked back into the hostel and had a really relaxed afternoon napping and doing some washing. 

Properly cooked dinner for the first time since I'd been in Australia but the hob broke so the pasta I thought was cooking was still hard when I went to serve it! Had to then wait ages for the water it was in to reboil on another hob and cook! Teaches me to try and cook properly! 

Spag Bol without the spag! 

Met up with a lot of people from the boat and one of the crew for our after party. It was such a good night out considering I wa shattered and originally wanted to go to bed at 9! Survived all the way to 1! Played 'trying to get the ping pong ball into the bucket' which the American and Canadian girls were obviously amazing at since beer pong is basically a national sport out there and then flip cup! Played boys verses girls and I'm happy to report that the final score was 3-2 to the girls. When the boys won we were always on our last person to and when we won we were miles ahead! 

After party

Headed to a club for a little bit that was clearly a massive fan of air con as I had goose bumps when I walked in the door before going back to bed.