Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island…

The journey from Cairns to Townsville was quite a long one. Luckily for me, I slept for most of it. Unlucky for Ecto, he had to drive. It took about four and a half hours in total with a few stops on the way, photo opportunities and food stops. One of these stops was at a small red neck town called Cardwell. The big Fish and Chip sign beckoned us in and I have to say it was a massive mistake! It was the funniest place I have ever seen. We walked through doors of this shop to find selves stocked with food from the eighties and fading posters on the greasy walls. A woman bursts through the door from the back of the room, behind the counter, if you can call a chest freezer a counter! She was short and round and had a very hairy chin. You could barely make out what she was saying as she shouted at us for our orders. At this point we were all ready to turn around and jump in the car but the hunger got the better of us. I honestly think the suspicious chest freezers dotted around this place were full of the hungry backpackers before us. It was like something from League Of Gentlemen, very Royston Vasey! By the time our food arrived, half an hour later, we had all lost our appetites. She insisted on telling us stories of the locals, the ins and outs of their troubled lives, gossiping while stroking her hairy chin. As we listened to her tales we all thought of what might happen if she were to pull a gun from under the counter. All remembering the film Wolf Creek and watching each other nervously. Although it made us quite cross and sick as we pulled away and threw our chips in the bin, looking back on it, it was one of the funniest experiences…

As we arrived in Townsville, the sun was beginning to set. We left the car in a car park and caught the ferry across to ‘Maggie’. Our accommodation was quite cramped, eight folk in a small room in bunk beds, the surroundings and the hostel itself were pretty cool. There was a swimming pool and quite a funky wee bar, it was situated right on the beach although we couldn’t see much when we first arrived as it was dark, we still got a really good vibe from the Island. When we awoke to our first morning on the island, we crawled out of our pits to lay claim on our free fry-up and cup o tea. We decided to hire push bikes and check out the island that way. All over the island there were Mokes for hire (little open top mini like cars), but they were too expensive for us so the push bikes had to suffice. Little did we know, the Island was covered in hills and mountains, oops. I hadn’t ridden a bike in years and I’m quite unfit, getting around this rough terrain was pretty difficult. Ecto, however, seemed to suffer more than me, phew! The poor lad at one point, honestly looked like he was going to collapse, that was after an uphill climb like I have never seen before. All this aside, the views from this hill were amazing. We could see for miles and it was incredibly beautiful. I was amazingly warm and there appeared to be no shade at all. We cycled back down the hill and jumped in the sea to cool off. The water in this little bay was as warm as a bath, so not as refreshing as we had hoped but lovely all the same. We splashed about for a while in this tropical water then headed back to base. We spent the rest of the day exploring the island, going on a small bush walk and cycling around seeing the sights. Magnetic Island is a well known Koala haven, so we kept our eye’s to the branches whilst on our walk. Unfortunately we had no luck. We didn’t stay in the bush for long because there are lots on signs advising of appropriate foot where due to snakes and things and there is us lot hiking about in our flip flops and tiny shorts, not the most sensible of ideas but worth it for the possibility in seeing the koalas in the wild.

We arrived back in time for 2 for 1 drinks in the little bar attached to the hostel, so we took full advantage of this and got as much free drink as we could. I then magic up some poor mans potatoes (thanks Mother) for our dinner while Don and Ecto went on a mission to smuggle some drink into the hostel. A lot of the hostels over here are very strict about bringing in your own drink, which is a bit crap really. This place were that strict that they had signs all over the place instructing you to surrender all alcohol at reception before entering the premises. We were having none of this, especially seeing as they charge a small fortune for a jug of beer so Ecto and Don successfully smuggled in a bottle of vodka and stashed it in the room. We polished that off quite quickly and got back into the bar for pool and merriment. We met a few folk there, there was a Scottish guy who Don spent all night with quoting Father Ted to each other, it was hilarious! As it happens, this guy is planning on being on our boat at the Whitsundays! It should be good craic! We had planned to go kayaking on the sea the next morning, unfortunately the sea was too rough so we chilled in the pool trying to shake the hangovers and then headed to drop the bikes back. The next leg of the journey was about to begin. The ferry, the car, next stop Arlie beach…

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