27th - 30th Nov - Magnetic Island

Next stop was Magnetic Island! I bumped into a group of girls as we were checking out of the hostel who were also getting on the Oz Experience bus, so we waddled down together to the bus stop, randomly they are from Gerrards Cross - small world!

The Curtain Fig Tree

On the way to our first stop we stop off at the Curtain Fig Tree - which you think, why are we stopping to look at a tree? but its pretty epic and then head to Lake Eacham and after that we headed off to the Atherton Tablelands, which is where there are a lot of waterfalls and we stop off at Millaa Millaa falls which is the waterfall that Peter Andre supposedly filmed his Mysterious Girl video at, and where Herbal Essences also film some of their adverts. A few pictures later we all head off on our merry way.

Mark playing Peter and us his adoring fans

We drop half the group off at Mission Beach (which is the best place to do a Skydive apparently as you land on the beach) and the rest of us (just four of us) head off to Magnetic Island. We have to get a ferry from Townsville across to get to Maggie (as its is commonly called, although every time I've used this phrase to Aussies or people that have travelled Australia everyone is like whats Maggie?! So I guess its not as commonly used as I was led to believe) and then a bus to the hostel.

We are all staying at Base Hostel, which is an awesome hostel, its right on the beach, which is stunning and it has such a holiday vibe to it, you instantly relax. The bar is completely open and overlooks the ocean and beach, with a few verandas scattered around its the perfect place to forget about everything. The rooms are quite small and the air con sucks so its HOT. But, well at least for me, you don't care, you are either on the beach, in the pool, at the bar or off exploring the Island.

So the first night we all party and do a bit of star gazing afterwards, as the licensing at the venue is only until midnight so the night ends fairly young, but also gets going fairly early too. The sky over in Australia in general is stunning, the lack of light pollution makes its all so very pretty. I could literally stare at the sky all day and night in this country and never get bored.

Hope - only 300m left!

The next day one of our group of four is leaving, so we decide to do one of the walks in the morning before he heads off to the ferry. We walk from the Ferry Port to a place called Geoffrey Bay on a coastal walk. After reaching Geoffrey Bay Lee and I, say our goodbyes to Mark and then we decide we are going to do the Forts Walk which is a walk where you can see wild koala's on route. However, as Maggie is a really small island, there public transport system only runs once every hour and we have just missed the last bus. So in my wisdom, I suggest that we head off walking until we find the next bus stop to kill sometime and then we can just wait there for 20/30minutes or so....in theory a good idea.....but not really recommended when the next bus stop is the bus stop for your destination! Yes that is correct, we walked for 50 minutes in the blazing sun up the side of this winding road up a mountain UPHILL, every time a car went passed we had to press ourselves into the side of the mountain so not to get run over! After walking this and the Forts Walk we must of walked about 8/9K that day!!

We finally get to the Forts Walk and trundle along down the path, which has koala's (yay) along the way in the trees and dangerous snakes (boo) in the bushes, after stopping off at some beautiful lookout points, and bumping into the other guy from the group and another girl from the hostel we all head back, defeated that we didn't find any koala's BUT wait for it, who do we bump into but Nathan and Chris two very lovely park rangers who take us 2 meters back the way we came, pointing up at a tree and there is a koala - how did we miss it?! Its beyond me! We stop and have a good old chat with the guys who fill us in on the wildlife and habitats and then head off to get some food and the bus to Horseshoe Bay.

Horseshoe Bay is basically what it sounds like a horseshoe bay, that has a lovely beach and a small section of the water sectioned off with a stinger net so you can actually get in the sea and swim! So that's what we did!!

On my final day, I decided to just spend it chilling, Jordan and Lee were leaving and I was staying for one more night, so I just lounged around the pool and the beach. In the evening I headed off to feed the wild wallabies at the old Ferry Port. I took down some apples and you basically just wait there until they have learnt that they can trust you and then they will come to you to take the food you have put on the floor or are holding. It was so much fun, I made 'friends' with a little shy wallaby who I literally sat with for 30 minutes, it would spend ages creeping over to me and then it would grab the food and dart back quick sharp, very cute. A lovely way to spend my last evening and then it was back to the bar for some more dancing on the tables and crazy antics!

I met some really lovely people on Maggie who I bumped into further along in my travels! I also really want to head back to Base for one of their full moon parties which is meant to be epic! Unfortunately I was a little too late in booking my accommodation this time around but I still have 10 more months! Whoop!

The next day I checked out, headed over to Townsville and waited for the Oz Experience bus to collect me once again and take me on my way to Airlie Beach.