Big city, magnetic island and a mini moke!
Trip Start
Feb 23, 2005
1
20
47
Trip End
Jun 14, 2005
Townsville / Magnetic Island, Australia
Thursday, April 14, 2005
That evening, my room mates were out when I checked in. I went out for dinner and decided to go see a movie. When I returned later that evening, they were all in the room. I found that Fabio, the Italian guy from 1770 was in the bunk below me!! This running into people is very hard to get used to. In a country half the way round the world you are not prepared to meet faces you know. Amazingly, the two girls in the room were from High Wycombe and had been in the cinema watching the film I had just watched!
Teh next day I caught a ferry over to an island called Magnetic Island. A very popular holiday spot for Aussies I saw more Aussie people there than in any other place. It has a very laid back feel and has only 4 small villages around the island to visit. The Island is only 12km from one end to the other, in fact: Rhode Island could beat the crap out of it in a war! we're talking small, it's 30 cents from one end to the other, this, is not a big place. They have recently had the whole island carpeted! Erm, right, back to it:
When I got there it was raining so I hired a thing called a mini moke to get around the island in. A fab little car made from just about the minimum components and materials that they could get away with. It had seats, 4 wheels, brakes and a speedo. That was it. more basic than an early jeep, and smaller than a tesco trolley almost! It still did 60kmh around the island and was heaps of fun. I sprinted around the island looking at all the towns and beaches as I went. In the last town, I was walking through a set of shops and met a guy I had talked to on the bus from Airlie Beach! Igal was from Israel and was a very nice guy. Very laid back and world wise. He was an accountant back home and had traveled most of the world it seemed. He was on his last trip before getting married and he had been to New Zealand and loved it. I offered him a lift in my little old roller skate with an engine and we spent the rest of the day together. We did a few of the walks on the island, some steep climbs and treks over the hills to secluded beaches and even a couple of WWII arms bunkers sat on the very top of a huge hillside. I got some fabulous pictures from the top there.
At the end of the day we decided to move on up to Cairns together and he promised to tell me all about New Zeland so I could plan the rest of my trip.
So that was it for Townsville, I didn't see very much at all of the town and what I did see didn't impress me but I'm sure I didn't give it the time, next time maybe :)
Next stop Cairns, take care all.
