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Published: April 3rd 2006
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Close encounter!
Up close and personal to a tree snake... I'm sure that these ones aren't dangerous...I hope?! I arrived on Magnetic Island on Friday 31st March after my first (of many) trips on the Greyhound bus from Cairns to Townsville. This part of my journey took me through cyclone central - cairns to Innisfail. It was really sad to see all the trees that had been ripped apart by the ridiculously strong winds and the houses that had had their roofs blown off... but evidence of the real force of the wind was the way that the road signs (mounted on steel poles I may add, just like at home) had been bent right over to the ground and twisted around in some cases... scary!
Well, we stopped at one point for a lunch break and I pulled out my cheese and vegimite sandwiches (yummy!) and sat and ate them on a picnic bench in the sunshine alongside a tree snake! Only in Australia?!
Eventually arrived at Townsville for the ferry,... and 25 minutes later was on Magnetic Island (so called because Captain Cook thought that something peculiar happened to his compass when he sailed past the island around the time of 1770, I think?!) Also... another interesting fact about Magnetic Island... it has approx. 300
Me and my Moke!
Barbi eat your heart out!!! days of sunshine, and (thankfully) it was on at its best for my visit (I have the strap marks to prove it!)
The local bus took me to my accommodation - Maggies on Magnetic Island - Where I checked in with 2 Canadian girls that had come across on the same ferry as me. We were all sharing a (very small) dorm with 3 other girls (2 from Manchester, 1 from Germany)
You've got to love the Australian hostels for their free meals... which tonight consisted of Beef chow mein... yum! Ended up having a pretty early night after all my traveling... and in preparation for tomorrow.
Saturday 1st April
Woke early,... as you do in hostels.
Looked into hiring a couple of scooters or a little car with the Canadian girls. Well, we discovered these little cars called Mokes... close your eyes (ok,... open one so that you can still read... stoopid!),... picture a little car... imagine it was designed by Barbi... then cover it with pink fluff (chairs, steering wheel, etc), remove the roof and doors... and that was our moke! Awesome! Bloody good job I like pink cos would have felt a
Love Magnetic Island
This isn't me being artistic... or a vandal... its natural! right ninny driving round in it all day otherwise!!!
The Moke gave us the opportuinity to get out and about to visit a couple of different beaches. You can drive the whole of the road network on Magnetic Island in about... 10 minutes! We drove half way... stopped off at a place called Almer bay, had a dunk in the sea to cool off (v. quickly just incase we got attacked by the stingers) and then dried off and drove to the other end of the road to Picnic Bay. Here we took a walk along the pier, where there were some small kids fishing and being quite successful at it too! We then found a lookout on the side of the road where we pulled up and took a scramble down a hill to a really secluded beach. It wasn't until we were halfway down the bank that we discovered that we were heading for a Nudist beach (Eeeeeeeek!) and it wasn't until we were on the beach and spotted a naked man that we actually believed that we were on a nudist beach! Well,... in my best bikini I went for a quick dip in the sea
The Beach
Spot the naked man! (not only was there now a chance of stingers but we had just been told by a lifeguard at the other bay that this was a common area for tiger sharks to breed... great!) and a sunbathe on a rock... back in the Barbi-mobile and off to another little place. We parked up and took a walk along a track lined with eucalyptus trees hiding a lot of ruined world war 2 shelters. The track led us to the old 'fort' where we got a great view out over the sea and across to the mainland, not to mention a fantastic view of a beautiful sunset. Before it got too dark to see our way down again, we headed back and were fortunate enough to see a mummy Koala and baby Koala having tea in a tree just by the path! The little koala was just soooooooooo cute! Perfect end to a lovely day.
Back at the hostel had dinner, tuna mornay this time... pretty tasty, then just showered (in the incredibly hot bathrooms ... so hot that the fire alarms had been set off by the heat!) and packed up ready for my next adventure!
Off to
Koala!
He is there... he's just a bit fuzzy! the Whitsunday islands next... and I can't wait!
Hope you're all well,... catch up soon
Clare x
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Claire
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check out your car!! i always knew you had style!!!