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Magnetic Island
View from a lookout point The road towards the East Coast from Alice is quite uneventful. We passed a small town called Tennants Creek where we stayed for a night. Whilst there we had some entertainment from a bushtuckerman called Jimmy. He was a bit like Ray Mears, and told us stories of the bush, and about what plants you can survive on out in the bush. We all sat around a campfire and drank some bush tea which was ok, and had some ozzy bread, which they call damper. This was gorgeous with a bit of golden syrup! The next day we crossed the NT - Queensland border and then arrived at a place called Mount Isa which is apparently the biggest city in the world. Not because of population, only around 20,000 people live there, but from land mass. Its a very big mining city, which draws many workers because of big wages on offer. We only stayed the one night as men outnumber women 3 -1!
We arrived in Townsville on the 2nd May and it is a very tropical city with a lively esplanade. Huge mountains surround the city and it reminded us of a clip from Lost. We decided
Magnetic Island
View from WWII lookout tower to visit Magnetic Island which only lies 8km off Townsville's coast. 'Maggie' as the locals call it, is a gorgeous tropical getaway, with giant granite boulders, hoop pines and eucalypts covering the island, which is half a national park. Maggie also lies in Great Barrier Reef waters, and gorgeous beaches are scattered along the coastline. We went on a bush walk to the 'Forts', which was a lookout in WWII, and it gave us panoramic views over the island. The second day we got dragged into a bit of a backpacker party day. In the morning we went to a bushtucker brunch which included an English breaky! We also had campagne mixed with Gauve juice, very backpacker! We then got to see loads of animals such as snakes, spiders, koalas, and a baby croc. During the afternoon, we tryed our hand at golf with loads of other backbackers which was put on by the local hostels. We got paired up with 2 English chaps, and was just really a piss up! We told the chap that we dont really play golf, but he told us dont worry about making holes, just make sure you fill them up with the sand
Magnetic Island
Im sure this club is supposed to have a big end on it!!!! provided. We started off ok, but as the beer cart came around after every hole, we werent doing to well by the 9th hole! I was seeing 2 balls, but couldnt even hit one! Also by the last few holes we ran out of sand, due to the trail of holes behind us! Dont think the golf course made much money out of us thst day, especially when we came back minus 20 balls and one broken golf club! After some grub, we hit the famous Full Moon Party on Maggie. Its just a mental atmosphere with everyone partying on the beach and getting pretty drunk!
With sore heads we fot the ferry back to Townsville and picked up the van. We then headed up to Cairns. Along the way we stopped at Mission Beach which is famous due to its long stretch of palm-fringed sand. We stayed for one night, but was very windy and cloudy so wasnt as nice as we hoped. When we arrived in Cairns everything was shut as it was a sunday, and the monday was May day, so we decide to travel to Cape Tribulation. Its an area steeped in history, its where
Captain Cook ran aground after his ship hit the Endevour Reef. The area is cut off from the mainland and we took a 3 minute ferry crossing to get there. The drive from the ferry to Cape Trib is extraordinarily beautiful and famous for the rainforest, sandy beaches and the huge mountains. It also one of the only places in the world where the tropical rainforest meets the sea. The beach was amazing and because its part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area it's virtually unspoilt. It looked just as you imagined Captain Cook would of seen it all those years ago. We stayed at the Cape Trib campsite for the night and it rained constantly all night, well we were in the middle of a rainforest! We packed up the next mornibg and travelled back to Cairns as the weather was terrible.
The main reason for going Cairns, as many travellers do, is to visit, in one way or another, the Great Barrier Reef. Me and Steve decided to splash out and go on a 5 day course to get our PADI diving certificate. We booked up with a company called ProDive who Ann did her diving
Magnetic Island
Someone loves themselves!!! with. The course involves 2 full days in the training centre, which taught us the basics of diving in the classroom and in a pool environment, and then 3 days on a multi-million pound dive boat out on the reef. This includes 9 dives, 4 training with the instuctor, then 5 when your certified with a buddy. We started the course on friday 11th May. Our instructor was an English chap called Dave. He has worked all over the world as a diving instructer, from Mexico to Egypt, and has over 4000 dives under his belt. We had about 8 people in our group and we were just English and Irish. The first morning we sat in a classroom and did a bit of theory , then after lunch we went into the pool. We got kitted up with all our gear, wetsuits, BCD's, regulators, snorkels, masks, and fins. We had to learn how to set up all our gear on our own from scratch and check our dive buddies equipment. When in the pool we learnt all the underwater signs to use for what we wanted to say, from 'ok' to 'fuck i'm out of air!" We then did
emergency ascents, and also how to use your buddies air if you did run out 18 metres under water, which is good to know! The second day was pretty much the same, and after we had to do a simple test about what we had learned. The next morning we got picked up at 6:15 from behind the dive centre where we were leaving the van for 3 days. We got onto the boat and met all the crew and other passengers, and there was a really good bunch of people there. All the crew are in there twenties even the skipper, and the oldest instrutor was Dave at 31. There were around 21 people on the boat, and around half were like us, learning to dive, and the others were certified divers just doing a diving trip to the reef. The journey to the Great Barrier Reef is about 3 hours from Cairns, and to say the least it was choppy!! After eating like pigs at breakfast, about half the people in the boat were outside throwing up, including me! The boat was being tossed from side to side, and everything was being thrown everywhere, they even had to
Mission Beach
Watch out for coconuts!!! tape down all the cups! After me getting rid of all my lovely breakfast, Steve decided he wanted to be sick aswell so joined me outside! So funny everyone there trying to be sick when you can hardly stand, not a great sight! When at the reef the sea was very calm, because the reef acts as a natural barrier from the waves . The first day we did two training dives at Milln Reef. We went to around 12 metres and saw many fish and beautiful coral. We swam around a bit but mostly did training with Dave. The next day we did 4 dives, two of which were fun dives without the instructor. Also one was a night dive which was excellent. We saw so many different fish, even 'Nemo', which is actually a Clown Anemonefish! We swam with green turtles and even managed to touch one. The highlight though had to be when we saw sharks. They were only reef sharks, which are quite small only around 2 metres, but when you see one swimming around you, you cant help but think of "Jaws" and start humming!! Seeing a shark in its natural environment is something i'll
Daintree National Park
Top canopy of the rainforest, the only monkeys up here were me and Phil!!! never forget. In the night dive we also saw a Guitar Shark with a calf, and they were just basking on the sea bed. On the last day we did 2 out of the 3 dives, as we were starting to get very knackered and also the pressure was affecting our ears. The deepest we dived was 18 metre, and will probably do our advanced course in Thailand which can take us to 39 metres. Altogether we did 8 of the dives and me and Steve loved every minute of it. It was such a good time, with an amazing group of people that we'll both never forget. Also the food on the trip was awesome. The chef was a chap from Italy and the food he was dishing up was first class. After every dive we always had food ready there to get stuck into. We left the reef at around midday on Tuesday 15th May, and got into Cairns around 3. That evening we went out in Cairns with everyone from the boat, and the staff for a meal and a bit of a piss up.
We left Cairns the next day and travelled down to Townsville
Daintree National Park
"Hello, hello, this mobile is s@#t!!!" again. Me and Steve saw one of our old school friends when we were on a internet site, and he is now living in Townsville. He's called Tim Bishop and we haven't seen him for around 8 years. We sent him a message and met him for a meal and a few drinks with some of his friends. He was telling us about what he's been getting up to over here and how we should get over here really soon to work. He was saying how tradesmen are getting ridiculous amounts of money as there is a massive shortage of workers. He makes it sound so easy to do, and it has definatly got both of us thinking. We've got a lot more travelling to do yet but you never know, always keep an open mind!
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