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Published: April 21st 2007
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Moving on from Hervey Bay we visited carried on our tour of the East Coast at the small town of Town 1770. After a short journey on the greyhound (4 hours!) we got off the coach and quite bizarrely got picked up by a guy, his own car and a dog. I have to admit it sounds a bit ominous at first, especially as it was pretty dark at the time but we got in with other people so we felt fairly safe that this one guy would kidnap a bunch of backpackers. The hostel we stayed in was probably the smallest I've slept in so far, it had quite an open door policy and everyone was pretty chilled out. The hammock in the courtyard area was amazing, I could have slept in it for days! They had a kitchen where it seemed that everyone had written on the walls, ceilings, everywhere! if anyone goes to Town 1770 Backpackers in the future, look out for my mini message its near the door!!
Our stay in Town 1770 was one of the best times I've had on our whole trip! We got a free 4x4 tour of the area on
our first morning, the place is so small it has only had about 80 people living there! (We were actually staying in Agnes Water which had a bit more but not much.) We stopped at a house for sale which had an amazing view although it was just a shack with an outside toilet, still a bit out of my holiday home price range I'm afraid, $1 million dollars a bit too much I think! After a bit of selling we found ourself booking a Scooter-roo tour for the afternoon and a one and a half hour plane flight the next day! This was bargainous though as it cost us $100 dollars (40 pounds) to do both. The scooter-roo was so much fun! We went around lots of little roads that were practically deserted for 3 hours, saw a kangeroo with its joey, and watched the sun set over the harbour eating wedges and sour cream! The plane ride has to be my favourite part though. The pilot Bruce was a little on the crazy side! We set off and he let Luc steer the plane! Then when we got up higher he turned round and asked if we liked
Camera Shoot
This is what the pilot makes you do on the wings of a plane rollercoasters. If you know me well then you'll know I'm not the biggest fan, although its growing on me more and more, but not wanting to be a loser I mumbled 'sort of'. Well he just decided to drop the plane suddenly, bring it back up, turn it to one side, then do it again! urgh my stomach did not feel good, and Luc felt it a bit more unfortunately. Hopefully if I can load up the movie you'll see how it went! We landed on a random beach, only accessible by plane or a boat for some more awesome views! The pilot did decide to put a crab in my hair and being a bit on the thick side it nessled in, the only way to get it out was via being dunked in the sea! After that it was my turn in the drivers seat and I got to take off!!! I wasnt controlling the speed unfortunately but he let me stear and I got a bit of filming to prove it, if I manage to get it up or the other one please excuse the massive hair do!! blame it on the pilot! Lol.
After leaving
1770 on a bit of a high we went to Airlie Beach on another great overnight ten hour journey! It's usually just the place that people go to for the Whitsundays but Luc isnt the biggest fan of spending lots of time on a boat and we were lacking the money at the time. We made up for this in Magnetic and the Barrier Reef though! Anyway, we decided to hang around for a few days and enjoy the scenes, the sun and Luc's birthday!!!
You can't swim in the sea by Airlie Beach due to the harbour and the dangerous sea life, so they make up for it by a lagoon. Its essentially a big swimming pool next to the sea but it is quite nice to sunbathe by as you don't get sand everywhere!!! For Luc's birthday I felt a little under pressure being the fun provider but I think I did quite well in the end! I managed a rather nice birthday cake which was quickly demolished. We went for all you can eat chilli, accompanied by Corona of course! Then we went out around the delights of Airlie's night life. They've got some cool places,
although we did get a rather large amount of old aussie guys approaching us which wasn't much fun at all! Overall it was a fun stay but there wasn't too much to Airlie itself, its nice but nothing to special really.
From Airlie Beach it was up to Townsville and Magnetic Island! Townsville was fairly nice but again there isnt that much to it. They have quite a cool area for families on the strand, there are loads of picnic places, open sports fields, an enclosed swimming area in the sea, more outside gym equipment and this teen playground! we might be twenty year olds but I'm sure they didnt notice! Townsville was the jumping point to Magnetic Island though, a place I was really looking forward to.
Our hostel 'Base' was pretty nice, as you check in you go past the bar which over looks the beach and the sea, you can sit on the beach or by the pool, there are kayaks and snorkelling gear to hire and the rooms are crampt but pretty cool little huts. We had a fun time here! As there is nowhere else to go the bar was pretty lively with
some good beach side evening music. That aside on our first full day we roamed around the area on the local bus network. Then on the second day we hired a topless car, it was pink and basically looked like a barbie car but it was fun to drive! After 2 months of not driving I was quite happy to hop in and what better scenery than the coasts and hills of Magnetic Island! As its only a small island we managed to tour the majority of it. We planned to do our snorkelling this day in Florence bay, the reef around magnetic is part of the lower end of the Barrier reef and it was a really cool area to snorkel in! It did require a bit of a treacherous walk but it was worth it and on the way back some friendly aussies gave us a lift up the hill! The next day we hired a kayak and got to see the island from the sea which was cool. I didn't realise what hard work it would be though and I will admit we didnt last too long! We stayed in Magnetic for 4 nights and enjoyed all
of it, the weather was nice and the scenery was amazing, it was also cool to do some activities and a bit of walking!
As you can tell the trip so far is going well, our stay in Mission Beach follows . . . . .
P.S. I've been meaning to say if anyone wants to see my trip from travel buddy Luc's perspective you can search for her blog on here, it'll be Lucinda Simpson!
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