Magnetic Island
Trip Start
Apr 02, 2006
1
Trip End
Ongoing
Townsville, Australia
Saturday, April 1, 2006
Today I am in Magnetic Island which is just off Townsville in Queensland. Its gorgeous here - all relaxing with tropical beaches, palm trees and in-bred locals....or so someone told me! 30 years ago there were 200 people here, now there are several thousand...you do the maths!!!
But seriously it is fantastic and I have done some walks to waterfalls and secluded beachs and generally topped up my tan!
I'm going to work backwards to fill you in on the last week or so.
Yesterday I did some incredible diving on the SS Yongala. A wreck from 1911 just off Ayr which is a small backwater village/town whose only claim to fame or attraction to tourists is to dive the wreck. It was a great day - zipping out across the waves on an inflatable boat, backwards rolling into the sea and then dropping down 25m to see the most colourful wreck you can imagine. It was great and I went a bit happy clappy with the camera down there. Hopefully I will be able to load some photos up soon. I saw lots of turtles, wrass, and other cool sea life. Not too many jellyfish although everyone in my group seemed to get stung except me.
The day before I was in Airlie Beach where myself and my friend Munni went on a two day liveaboard to dive and sail the whitsundays. It was a lot of fun and there were over 30 people on the boat. It was a bit of a party boat and rather cramped sleeping quarters but we had a laugh. We had to sleep outside the engine room and I am amased I managed to sleep with the noise of the engine going all night. But it just goes to show that when you travel and stay in hostels you really do learn to sleep anywhere and with any noise around you. The diving was rather disappointing - the coral was very bleached and the sea life was pretty scarce. I think that is pretty much the way the Great Barrier Reef is though as global warming and overload of tourists have filled off much of the reef. There are nearly 400 boats that go out to the reef from Airlie Beach so you can imagine that it takes its toll on the sea life and coral. Because its jellyfish season we were not allowed to swim without stinger suits on. Full on wetsuits, hoods and gloves...it kind of ruins the image of the stunning white sand beaches of the Whitsundays when there are loads of tourists wandering around looking like bad extras from a bond movie. I've got some hilarious pictures to put on the site soon!
Before Airlie beach I was in Bundaburg where there really is nothing. There was no diving, the botanical gardens were terrible and the shops almost non-existent. My advice is to skip it completely! I only stopped off there to break up the journey from Byron Bay to Airlie Beach as it would have been 22 hrs on teh bus. Too much for me.
And thats about it really. Byron was great and I would definitely go back there and spend a week walking the sea, learning to surf, going to yoga and having alternative therapies. But alas I don't have an extra week on this trip and it shocks me to think it is the 1 April already. Colin W - if you are reading this, happy birthday!
OK - best end here as my internet time is nearly up. Hope you are all well and I imagine I will see many of you soon as I get back to the UK in just under 2 weeks. Seriously am not ready for the real world at all.... Can I stay a beach bum forever please?! Probably not a good idea as am sure the sun and salt water is rotting my brain. Don't expect any intelligent conversation from me for a while I don't think I will manage it!
Love to you all,
Sam xxx
