Australia - Townsville & Magnetic Island

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I arrived in Townsville at 1pm on Tuesday 19 June. After walking around the dull, quiet town, I spent 3 hours on the internet. The evening was spent in my room listening to music and reading before going to sleep at 10pm. On Wednesday, I checked out at 10am and walked into town to get some brunch before meeting Ian at the ferry terminal at 1pm. We took the short crossing to Magnetic Island and then a 5 minute bus ride to Magnums hostel. The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out in and around the hostel. In the evening, we had dinner at the hostel before watching 'Toad Racing' (8 toads are auctioned off and placed in the centre of a circle - the first toad out of the circle is the winner). Once the cold set in, we went inside for a few drinks while playing pokies. On Thursday we hired a Moke (cross between a buggy, go kart and a mini) for the day. At our first stop for breakfast, we saw dozens of parrots on the street. Then we went to 'Forts Trail', a 3km trail that still had remains of shelters and lookouts used in the second world war. As well as the various different birds, we also saw a few koalas in the wild, one with her baby. After driving back to the hostel, we walked to the beach to see wallabies nestled in and around the rocks. That night, we made use of the Moke and went out to eat before returning to the hostel for a few drinks. We woke up at 8am on Friday to catch our 9am ferry to Townsville and then our 9.30am bus to Mission Beach.

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