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Published: December 2nd 2006
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Magnetic Island
Koala in a tree There was definitely something amiss with The Gambler. She had defiantly powered on, chugging like an old steam train over a rolling, hilly coastal road to Cape Trib and back. Now, finally leaving Cairns for the big haul to Melbourne and Sydney, we decided it best to get the old girl looked at. And so, we took her back to Travellers Autobarn, whereupon a lovely aussie gentleman informed us that one of the spark plug leads was 'cactus'
Back on the road with a complimentary new lead and the boys in tow, we locked onto destination Mission Beach, apparently beautiful. Of course we never made it that far that day, we ended up some 40kms inland at the nearest acceptable free campsite. Upper Liverpool Creek was set deep in a beautiful green valley roughly 10-15kms past a pretty one horse town named Silkwood.
The sun set maginificently through a group of tall trees on the banks of the creek and once dinner was eaten, an aussie guy from Townsville came over for a yarn - he was up there with his mate, working to repair cyclone damage - that might explain the lack of roadsigns throughout the valley! Wayne then played
Magnetic Island
The stunning view from the Forts Lookout some tunes on his guitar when he wasn't being distracted by the lurking Bandicoot, whilst the rest of us relaxed with some goon and tinnies.
Mission Beach was beautiful, as was the drive down through the hills to reach it. Due to Box Jellyfish warnings, the 6 of us took the opportunity to stretch out in the baking sun and remain there for the rest of the day.
Being 'Jezza and the Pacemaker' veterans us 3 girls jumped at the sight of some opportune firewood lying around on the fringe of the beach. With our central heating roped firmly to The Gambler's roof rack and the rather large partial tree trunk stored safely in the boot, we all set off for camp. The rest stop seemed good enough, the only interruption to the peaceful surroundings being the g'dunk g'dunk noise of the interminable 38 carriage trains whizzing by at sparsely regulated intervals. The fire, the goon and the toasted marshmallows dipped in chocolate sauce soon drowned them out, distracting us with their homely qualities.
A disjointed morning involving a drive to Townsville and a search for the Magnetic Island ferry terminal was not particularly enjoyed by any of us the
Magentic Island
One of the stunning bays next day. Before we drove back out to our campsite that evening, we decided to cheer ourselves up by buying stuff to cook a spag bol later (expensive meat being a rareity) but not before we stopped by the BP truckers roadhouse for a shower. There, we had to leave our car keys behind the counter as a deposit and were abruptly explained to by the butch aussie shop assistant how to use the showers, who quite obviously explained she'd kick our asses if we did anything different to what she'd said. What a bizarre situation that was - all lined up in front of the counter with our towels and shower gel whilst others behind us waited to pay for fuel and the Townsville Gazette! Turns out her drill sargeant like manner was protecting us from leary truckers, quote one who said "Yep, if you get the wrong number shower ladies, you'll be coming in to scrub my back!" Eew!
That evening as the boys stayed in relative luxury at a campsite in town, we sat down around the table to make a more definite itinerary of the east coast roadtrip. We felt a little like we hadn't accomplished much so far.
Greeny answered a call from the boys at 8.30am asking if we'd caught the 8 o'clock ferry to Magnetic Island. "Yes" she said, "We're on it, where are you?" There were in the terminal carpark, having been delayed due to road closures! We concluded to meet up later that afternoon.
From the port of Nelly Bay on Magnetic Island we set out on a 6km scenic walk leading up into the hills, with beautiful views out across the island - the start of a very energetic day of exploration! We then descended down into Arcadia, ate the cheapest thing on the menu at the coffee shop and, after great debate, spent an extra $10 on electric powered bicycles to defeat the much warned of hill climb to the forts lookout walk! It was a Godsend which allowed us to enjoy the day, which would have otherwise plunged into cataclysmic disaster! Trying out the bikes on the flat at first, we discovered their turbo speed - a quick twist of the handlebar throttle and we would shoot off - one peddle revolution to 10-15 metres - we just needed ET wrapped up in a blanket in Smithys basket and we all would have taken off!
10 mins later, having received a number of dumbfounded glances from people in cars as we waved and peddled effortlessly up Mount Everest, we arrived at the entrance to the trail of the Forts Walk. It took us just over an hour to complete the walk, during which we spied 3 koalas - one who broke from his routine 20 hour a day sleep to move further up the tree as we were clearly disrupting him with our coos! The lookout towers were used to help protect the port of Townsville from invading Japanese aircraft during WW2. We also saw some anti-aircraft gun stations positioned just below the towers and visible from each, were the channels protected by them. Looking out to sea you could imagine Captain James Cook sailing by wondering why his compass was dithering, causing him to name the landmass Magnetic Island!
We reached speeds of over 40kms per hour on the hill down to Horseshoe Bay - where, surprise surprise we saw Ross and Wayne in the pub! Their arguement was fair - they had hired normal bikes and hadn't had a cold pint in a proper pub for over a week! We had plenty of time to catch some rays on the beach, leaving the boys to begin their journey back to Nelly Bay via the Forts Walk.
Back in Townsville, we collected the car and Wigg, who stayed on the mainland, came to fetch Ross and Wayne and we all headed once again, out to Bluewater, our previous nights campsite.
Us girls made time for journal entry updating the following morning, whilst the boys made a bee line for Airlie Beach. A long day of driving then passed and we eventually ended up at Gunna Go cmapsite in order for a quiet night before rejoining 'Team Cubs' in the party town!
Have a Ripper Day Sport!
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