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Published: August 8th 2006
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Our next stop, after Kathy had returned from her (calm, relaxing) sailing trip on a tall ship, was Townsville. On the way there we passed through a little town called Ayr and I thought of all of you north of the border - although the two towns look v.different!
Townsville is the 3rd biggest city in Queensland but there isn't that much to do there and we were using it more as a jumping off point for Magnetic Island. We spent one night in Townsville and spent the afternoon exploring the town and then had dinner in a cute little (cheap) irish pub.I think Kathy and I must be cursed because we had another situation of having phoned to book beds but they had no record of us - but we were lucky again and managed to get 2 of the 3 remaining beds. I have a bad feeling that the third time we might not be as lucky!!
The following morning whilst waiting for our bus to the ferry terminal I had my first bush tucker experience.Kathy noticed these huge yellowy green ants with really big bums. The hostel owner informed us they were called sugar ants and
Townsville
Townsville from the ferry with Castle Hill in the background if you eat their bums, they are meant to taste lemony. So never one to turn down the opportunity to try something new I grabbed one and bit its bum off!!!and yes, it did taste lemony!!Kathy looked both horrified and repulsed.
Then we went down to the harbour and caught a ferry over to Magnetic Island. We were staying in this amazing hostel which had cedar A-frame huts for its dorms (and they had ensuite bathrooms in them too 😊 ) and in the evenings/during the night you could hear all the wildlife pottering about and calling to each other (not to mention the numerous lizards we had in our hut!).
We spent our first afternoon on Horseshoe Bay just relaxing and soaking up the sun on a beautiful beach and swimming in the warm waters.The evenings were pretty tame, partly due to there being nothing to do and also because we were getting up early each morning to go out walking before it got too hot.
The following morning we walked to Radical Bay which only takes about half an hour and takes you out on to a gorgeous little secluded beach. When we got down there, we
were the only people on it but slowly a few more people arrived and joined us on 'our' beach. We spent a few hours here but there wasn't much of a breeze and it was pretty hot so headed back to the hostel for a shower and lunch before going out to explore the area surrounding our hostel.
Then we had the perfect end to the day - drinking chilled beers whilst watching the sunset over Horseshoe Bay and then dinner with one of the other girls from our dorm who we met down at the beach. Also met one of the guyts from my Whitsundays trip in the restaurant - he lives in Townsville and was over for the weekend with friends, so arranged to meet up with him when we got back to Townsville.
Day 3 on paradise dawned warm and sunny and we set off early to do a walk upto a WWII fort on top of the cliffs. The real reason we were so keen to do the walk was because there are lots of wild koalas that live in the eucalypt trees along the paths. We were lucky enough to spot several koalas looking
v.cute and dozing in the trees but the real find was a mum and joey. I was so excited I practically wet my pants!!Then me and Kathy spent about 15mins clambering around the rocks trying to find the best angle to take a pic from and oooooohing and aaaaaaaawing 😊
We headed back to the hostel and in the afternoon we went for a guided tour around the wildlife sanctuary that is connected to our hostel. As well as learning lots of facts about all sorts of australian wildlife, we also got to hold a 1.2m croc called 'Godzilla', 'Bluey' a blue tongued lizard and a 2m carpet python. Now most of you will know my feelings on snakes so it was a big achievement having it put around my neck and standing there while it slithered around. Kathy reckoned I had to do it "for the sake of all the injured or ill snakes I might encounter through work"!!
Whilst we were eating our dinner in semi darkness that evening we also had a visit from a brush tailed possum seeing if we had anything that it might fancy - luckily I had my camera with me, whipped it
out my pocket and blinded the blighter with my flash whilst capturing a v.cute pic 😊
The next morning we woke up feeling a little sad because we knew we had to leave our island paradise and go back to the mainland. I think Magnetic Island has been one of my favourite places so far because it is just so beautiful, peaceful and unspoilt.
But it was back to Townsville for one night so we took the opportunity to meet up with Tim for drinks and he took us on a tour of Townsville by night - still not v.exciting but the views from Castle Hill were impressive.
The following morning we visited Reef HQ before catching our bus. Reef HQ is a big aquarium which has living reef tanks and every kind of tropical marine life possible. We spent a few hours just wandering around and sitting in front of the huge tank windows, watching the various creatures darting about. Then we went to a sea turtle presentation. When we had arrived the guy at the front desk had told us there would be a presentation and then an opportunity to visit their sea turtle rehabilitation area which
me and Kathy were both rather excited about. After a really interesting presentation, the guide asked if anyone wanted to go up to the rehab area and we both nodded enthusiastically at which point he pointed at our feet and said "Sorry, no thongs allowed". We were gutted until this v.sweet aussie couple tapped me on the shoulder and offered us their shoes-so surreal. So whilst we were seeing the sick turtles(with Kathy in mens sandals which were about 5 sizes too big), they were wandering around the aquarium with bare feet!!
From Townsville it was on to Mission Beach for one night. We stayed at a hostel set in the middle of the rainforest and had another relaxing couple of days before we hit Cairns (we've been hearing that we'll probably be doing quite a bit of partying!). Whilst there we saw a Cassowary chick. Cassowaries are emu sized birds but are black with blue and red bits on their head and are an endangered species over here so it was pretty cool to see a baby one.
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Sarah
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clothes, weddings and overeaten nothing fits... poop!
PROPER FANTASTIC PICTURES!!! Pleased you're having a marvellous time, wish I was somewhere tropical! Its such a bummer you're not here to advise on clothes for 'The Wales Wedding' (I've named it this as there seem to be so many engagements its untrue- Hello would have a field day if any were celebs im sure!) Anne suggested i buy a classy under wear and wear just that as i can not find anything. 3 weeks to go.... ARGH! Streaker at the wedding. Miss you greatly. always lovely to see pics of you and see if you've snapped and brough some clothes... now that dress you sent home... would it fit me? I could wear it in for you, test it out:-) it'd be no problem. x x x