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Picnic Bay
Yes it really was this beautiful 2nd July - Disorganisation Pays Off!
After some very bad planning, i.e. not actually booking a hostel in Townsville (our next stop) we were left with no accomodation and so decided to get the ferry accross to Magnetic Island - ferry terminal was right next to the Townsville Greyhound Stop. I'm so glad we did this because Magnetic Island (so called because Captain Cooks compass failed to work as he sailed past) is awesome. Amy has now decided she wants to retire to Magnetic Island with Darren.
We booked another dirty pit that called itself a hostel, 'Travellers Hideaway' - avoid at all costs. We were staying on the first floor and the building was actually on a tilt. You grab the handrail as you go up and it falls away from the staircase....but the owner was lovely and was permanently telling Amy to applying Sun Cream - she is looking slightly pink on her back!
Everyone is very laid back here and where we were situated, 'Picnic Bay', there are just two restaurants by the sea and both of them start closing at 7.30pm. It is pitch black from 6pm. A great place to just
totally de-stress and lots of wildlife and beautiful little bays (and even a shipwreck or two to explore).
Amy managed to wander into an art shop that hadnt even opened for business and the owner was very friendly and wrote down some things we MUST do. One of them was The Forts walk where she said we are guaranteed to see a Koala.
That night we went to one of the restaurants for dinner, a pizza place, which did amazing oysters.
Lucy
3rd July - Arcadia Bay
We got the bus into Arcadia Bay (the bay next to ours). While exploring, we found the Jumping Pillow. Which was very amusing. We ate lunch at a small cafe, I managed to get the bad end of the stick because I only ordered 3 battered scallops, whereas Lucy had a whole mackeral to herself! (But she did share!) We went on a walk afterwards, which we believed was Forts walk. But later turned out that it wasn't, we blame this on the unclear map! We followed signs to two lookout points, where you could see Townsville across the sea, it was really nice! We gave
Sunset at Picnic Bay
We took this photo looking back at the bay from the jetty up after the second lookout, and on our way home, I managed to walk right past a Koala. But Lucy had seen it and stopped, while I was waiting for about 10 minutes at the end of the pathway wondering where she had got to. It was magical (so she says..)
I did not want to get too close, but Lucy was well in there taking photos from every angle, of what looked like a teddy bear sat up in the tree. Very cute!
In the evening we had a few drinks and chatted to our roommates, Karen and Katherine. These two are really, nice friendly girls from Scotland! Anyways, Lucy had (stupidly) balanced half a bottle of Jacobs Creek (rose!) on the top bunk bed. While I was underneath sat on the bottom.
The bottle smashed all over our floor, of course Amy was blamed for the whole thing, for 'moving'.
Amy x
4th July - Back on Schedule
Originally we planned to get the ferry back to Townsville in the morning but it was such a gorgeous day so we spent the morning on a deserted beach playing frisbee and sun bathing.
Hello Possom!
People must have thought we were strange taking pictures of the contents of a rubbish bin! We got the ferry back to Townsville early afternoon. It was absolutely scorching hot in Townsville. We stayed at a hostel that was a huge square block of flats with a car park in the centre. Didnt look all that great but on our way up to our room after we checked in everyone said hello so I knew we would be happy there for the next 2 nights. A lot of people were living there and had jobs etc...
No one we met along the way down the East Coast had stopped in Townsville and I got the impression that it wasnt very popular. I really liked it though. It was the first bit of civilisation we had come across and it was great to wander around the town and go shopping. Amy bought a lovely Rip Curl bikini in the sale and some blue and white surfer shorts and I got some flip flops....doh! More stuff to carry!
There was a small festival going on around the time we were in Townsville (we've been looking out for a festival for ages). Met a German girl in the toilet who recommened the live music session at
the Night Market that evening. We got ready and walked into town but when we asked for directions we realised it was 2 km out of town....the new flip flops hurt so we settled for a trendy bar and some acoustic guitar music.
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Alison
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What's next?
Hi Girls - keep up the blog! What happened after townsville??