Magnetic Island

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Greetings from Magnetic Island! Myself, Brenda and Lindsay arrived into Townsville and then hopped on the 20 minute ferry trip across to Magnetic Island on Wednesday, the 23rd of May. Magnetic Island is the perfect isolated, chill out beach zone for people to recupurate from the Whitsundays. Magnetic Island's relaxed tropical lifestyle, quiet secluded beaches, natural unspoilt beauty, abundant wildlife and easy access to the Great Barrier Reef offer an experience unique in Australia's Tropics.

We checked into "Base" hostel, which was nicely located just off the beach and surrounded by lush rainforest and tropical palm trees. The dining/bar area was made of decking and went right out onto the beach, it was like being in the Carribean with all palm trees and sounds of Bob Marley/ Spice Girls and Boy George echoing from the bar speakers. That first nite we took it easy and were in our beds by 9:30pm. We soon realised we weren't the only souls in need of recovery from our adventures on the "Clipper".

The next day we were a bit more pro-active and managed to drag our bodies out of bed at a reasonable hour and headed to the beach to lay out for a couple of hours. Later that night we met up with Lindsay's friend Luke (whom she met in Thailand), Jessie, Anna, Jenn and Lucy at the Base Bar for the Thursday nite tropical dance party. We ate some yummy chicken tika and then celebrated some good news from home, aka..congrats Eanan for landing the opening credits for Prime Time with Miriam O'Callaghan...perhaps celebrated a bit too much, but I blame the bartender who forgot to charge me for my champagne bottle!

The next day there were sore heads all around our 8 person dorm, Lindsay, god love her, still a tad drunk was serenading me with lines of "Wake up spewey Susan". Myself and Brenda managed to pull ourselves together to meet up with Jessie and Anna on the beach for a couple of hours. It was soo incredibly relaxing there, listening to the surf and hearing the echo of the palm trees in the distance. Later that nite the four of us ventured off on the island to find some pizza. We came across a real cozy venue and sat around yapping for ages enjoying our coke's and pizza's.

On Saturday, before leaving the Island myself and Brenda joined Anna and Jessie to get on the bus to Horseshoe Bay. Horseshoe Bay is the largest bay on the island and is where the girlies and myself decided to jump in a "topless car hire" pink jeep for a good photo opt as Malibu barbie's. Horseshoe Bay was gorgeous, but as time was against myself and Brenda to catch the ferry, we had a quick ice cream with the girls and then headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags before boarding the ferry back over to Townsville.

After an extremely turbulent ferry ride (i.e. if its possible, this dude was drunk bc I don't think the boat was meant to go that fast!) we checked into the Civic Guest House in Townsville. We were all pretty shattered but that didn't stop Ms. McNeill or Ms. Brady--the two of them headed off on the town for the nite, while Ms. Roe took advantage of the room to herself and settled down to a James Patterson book. At about 4:45am the two girlies stumbled in and informed me of their adventures for the nite which included dressing up as the YMCA people and fighting off some local aboriginals who were looking for their pizza... yeah it was quite entertaining. Especially the next morning when we were due to get the Greyhound up to Mission Beach. They both looked at me with puppy dog eyes to stay another nite in Townsville, which I said I didn't mind doing but that they would have to sort out all the cancellations and reschedules. Unfortunatly for them, our accomodation in Mission Beach wouldn't shift our reservation back a day without us loosing a nite's pay, so as you can imagine, we were gonna make that bus no matter what!

Now we are all rested and ready to go!
Next stop: Mission Beach~WHITEWATER RAFTING ON THE TULLY RIVER!!

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Photos

The Girls
L-R: Jenn, Anna and Lucy

Topless...yes, thats the name of the car hire company
L-R: Myself, Jessie, Brenda and Anna

Comments

[Karina]

Greetings from Vancouver!
'Ello there, Susan and Brenda! It's always great to read about what you guys have been up to. Looks like you two are having a fantabulous time! I've been back home for a few weeks, and have started full time school and part time work again. Gotta save up some coin for the next trip! I'm thinkin' Europe would be great (I was so young the last time I went that I don't remember much). . .much lovin' to you both! -Karina-

[Amy]

Magnetic Island
Glad you had a nice, relaxing time on Magnetic Island. It sounds like a chill place. Whitewater rafting is a lot of fun. I'm sure you'll have a blast! :) Just how old are those trees?! My guess is 2,000-3,000 years old. lol.