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Published: February 2nd 2007
Adventurer
Had to take the photos ASAP because if you stood still for a second the mosquitos started feastingMagnetic Island is 8km off the Townsville harbour and there is a ferry that goes over every couple hours... you would then expect that it is easy to get there. Not if you are called Craig and Tim. We got a lift to the ferry terminal to get the 10:30 ferry, unfortunately we just missed it so we had an hour and a half to kill before the next one... easy?... as we set off for the ferry it started a torrential rain storm that actually got us wetter than if we'd jumps in the pool fully dressed. While we were trying to keep our stuff as dry as possible we managed to miss the next ferry... very annoying and so we had to sit soaking in the terminal. We saw the funny side of it though and decided to wait around for the next ferry that was 2 hours later. Eventually we managed to get across the sea and got a bus to the youth hostel. The 45 minute journey took us 6 hours... a splendid effort that left us gagging for a pint. The youth hostel called 'Bungalow Bay' in Horseshoe Bay was very nice and spread out like
Completely Soaked
It rained constantly all day on the way there a camp site with all the dorms being in separate bungalows. We had some weird Austrian girl chatting at us for a while before we escaped to the bar for some drinking games with two Irish girls (I couldn't understand what they were saying until I got drunk!).
The next day we went exploring. The whole time we were there it rained but that didn't stop us. We went on a 5 mile walk up to a 'fort' at the top of the tallest hill... set up during WWII to fight Japan. It was a well good walk and we saw a Kangaroo after the first 10 mins. Apparantly the island is the largest natural place for wild koalas so that is what we went looking for, there was also warnings around everywhere saying to beware of Death Adders, we didn't see one but they don't sound too good. There was no luck with the koalas, just the kangaroo, a frog, a dead snake and two irish people. The walk was up a dirt track through the rainforest and across a few flooded parts. We came back wet and covered in bites but still enjoyed it.
The best part of
Flooded Path
Because of the rain, a lot of the paths had been flooded so we were wading through. At least the rain kept the mosquitos away on the way up. the day was when we got back to the hostel and they feed the wild parrots (Lorikeets) everyday and we got back just in time to feed them. You just had to pick up the wet bread and oats that they were eating and then they'd be all over you (amazing)- the video at the top of the page shows them in action.
That night we managed to wangle a lift to our next stop again with a couple from Leeds who are going to Airlie Beach as well. As I'm writing this we're supposed to be on our way down but because of all the rain the roads north and south are flooded so we're in Townsville for a little longer... staying in Kirwan (a suburb) with the relatives. Hopefully we'll be going tomorrow but with the weather still terrible we can't go yet. The joys of being in the tropics... apparently a cyclone is coming soon- we can only hope!
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