Day 22 - Leave Cairns, hello Magnetic Island

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I was up at 7:00am as today we are leaving Cairns. I had the scrambled eggs with beans and toast, followed by coffee and water this morning.

I’m all packed so I brought my stuff down when I went for breakfast to save me going back to the room.

At breakfast, I spoke for the first time, with Sarah for the first time today. She is a French girl living in London.

All done, and everyone has arrived with their luggage to the minibus. We were all done and ready to leave at 8:15. We have our day bags on the bus with us, and the rest of our luggage is in a lock up trailer. This is because we are parking the bus up, and leaving it behind for a couple of days whilst we visit Magnetic Island,

We are driving around 400km today. Our first stop will be at Josephine Falls in Wooroonooran National Park in Noongyanbudda Ngadjon Country. We are driving alongside the Great Dividing Range in which is also known as the East Australian Cordillera, or the Eastern Highlands. It is an area consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It was a recognised as the fifth-longest land-based mountain chain in the world.

On the walk in, the first thing we saw was a juvenile cassowary, closely followed by a bush turkey. The cassowary was a rare sighting in the wild here. We continued our walk, up hill, to reach the Josephine Falls. A beautiful sight. The danger lights are on, so no swimming here today due to the recent extensive rainfall. It was hot, humid and sweaty in the rain forest.

After seeing everything we came to see, we headed back to the bus. Once n the bus, it’s time to add electrolytes to our drinks. Staying safe!

We set off to our next destination, which is Tully. Tully is an area that experiences some of the highest levels of rainfall in Australia through monsoonal rain and cyclones. Hence, it was awarded the rubber boot!
This will be a snack lunch stop. It was a short stop. The first thing we saw was The Golden Gumboot, with a huge green tree frog on the side of it.

We had our sandwich, drink and toilet stop here. The set off again towards Magnetic Island. It’s going to take us about 3 hours to get to the ferry terminal. Just an observation, there is so many sugar cane plantations lining the roads on our journey. It is rumoured that the Italian Mafia had connections with the sugar cane industry in the early 1900’s.

We arrived at Townsville to catch the ferry at around 3pm. We made good time, so are aiming to get on the 3:15 ferry. We passed the brand new, Queensland Cowboys Rugby League stadium. Although, I’m not a fan, it seemed like a big deal!

Then it’s into the ferry, Rje Maggie Vat. It started slowly, until it was clear, then whoosh! It only took 20 minutes to get across to the island. Once we are off the ferry, it was onto a bus which is taking us to a resort called, ‘Selina’.

It is just a 5-minute walk from Horseshoe Bay. There are local hiking trails to admire the views, or you can book a tour round the on-site wildlife park. I haven’t quite made my mind up yet.

The room that I’m staying in is a small wooden cabin like place. It’s like an oven in there when I arrived, so I’ve turned on the A/C, and closed the door for a while!

Once it’s cooled down, I’m going for a shower in the communal shower/toilet building, then we are meeting to our for dinner at 6pm.

We met at the bar for a quick drink before going for our evening meal, we ate going to take a 5 minute walk round the corner into Horseshoe at. On the way, we passed the beach, we had missed the actual sunset, but it was so beautiful! We stayed there for a while as the photo opportunity was incredible. We all took many photos. Then we continued to eat at Sandi’s. It is ‘Parmy’ night, so parmy it is! It is chicken parmigiana with cheese and tomato topping, with chips and salad.

It was enjoyable. We had fun chat at the table. It was a good night. We then moved back to Salina’s to have a last round of drinks…. Or two! We played What do you meme? It’s a funny card game that went on for at least an hour! The end to a good night!

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Comments

[Julie w]

Day 22
Hi ya Les glad you’re having a great time. Wonderful pictures as always. Stay safe and have lots of fun 😘

[Lesley2912]

Thanks Julie
It’s a great group, and guide, so that really helps! Xx

[Andrea]

No more posh hotels
Glad your enjoying yourself back to what you like no posh hotel did you make up some of them named and places couldn’t get my tongue round them have a great time go steady xx

[Lesley2912]

Ha ha
Constant turnover of new places to stay! That last one was so good, only downfall was communal toilets and showers, but luckily for me, I was right close to them, which helps for a middle of the night toilet stop!!!

[Jo]

Looks like you are having a fabulous time. The photo's are amazing. :)

[Lesley2912]

Hi Jo
Thanks, yes, I’m loving everyday! Xx