Magnetic Island and Mission Beach, Australia

Hey all!!

Well Magnetic Island and Mission Beach have both come and gone. We arrived late in Magnetic Island due to our bus being late. We needed to get a bus to Townsville and then a ferry to Magnetic. So we finally arrived at our hostel in Magnetic late afternoon. We were staying in Base which was in Nelly Bay. When we jumped onto the bus after the ferry it seemed like a long time until we reached our hostel. So we thought the island was HUGE! We didnt do much the first night, but in fairness, where we were staying was 15 minutes from even a shop!! The hostel was cool, right on the beach, with its own swimming pool, but the night before had been the full moon party, so there were a lot of soar heads.

Next day after we arrived, we began the day with some kayaking at Nelly Bay. W went in doubles, as all the singles had gone. This was cool, but got quite boring after a while. Myself and Emma were in the same kayak and bailed after about 20 minutes!!! We had the kayaks hired for an hour, but yeh, it was quite boring after the initial thrill had worn off. It was cool though, we met some guys kayaking that we had been on the WhitSundays trip with!! Anyway, we then chilled by the pool for a but before deciding it was time for some exercise. So we did the 'Forts Walk' It was one of many popular walks on the island. It was only 4km in length, but we got a view of Arthur Bay, some other bays, and Townsville at a distance.

Next day was out last full day so we hired a Moke. For those we haven't heard of this, it's a tiny kind of mini Mini!!! The one we hired was called Scooby-Doo! It had 4 gears, no horn, and was very stiff trying to change the gears!!!!! But the fun was unreal! What a thrill to drive. Marie didn't have a full driving lisence, so myself and Emma shared the driving. Seriously, hard to describe, but you can't really drive over 60 km/hr, and with only 4 gears, so imagine the fun!! =D We went around the island anyway, stopping at all the main bays. We also saw some Rock Wallabys. Then we stopped at the Koala Sanctuary. In here, we saw Koalas, Crocodiles, Cockatoos (dunno how to spell this!) It was crazy. Though I've been to numerous zoos and wildlife parks, it was the first time i held a crocodile (albeit a small one) a few lizards, and I faced my fear and held, A SNAKE!!!!!!!!! Some kind of python! I put my hoody on first though, with the hood up. No way I was letting that thing touvh my neck and arms!!! :p haha ah it was grand. Myself and Marie had held Koala's in Australia Zoo, so this time Emma decided to hold one. No matter what though, they're always so cuddly, they're adorable!!

Last night we arrived in Mission Beach, just for 1 night. There's really not much to do here, but I definitely think we stayed at the best hostel (Scottys) !! We met up with people from our WhitSundays trip and headed to the beach for some drinking games. THe three of us, Hannah and Heather (the 2 English girls) were already staying in Scottys, along with a guy called Will, so the 6 of us met up with the 3 Scandanavian guys for some games; Henrik, Daniel and Jens. A few hours of goon later, it was time for some sleep.

Today we head for Cairns. We plan on all meeting up again (the crowd from Mission Beach) and we know some of the people from Fraser Island too, so we all plan on a few nights out here. Also, it's time to meet up with Gillian again. It's less than a week now until New Zealand, and for those of you who know me, it's now 3 weeks until I leave the girls and meet Ger in New York!!

Catch ya later,
Cathy x x