Our last night in Airlie beach was spent in the hotel bar with the friends we made on our sailing trip and from the other boats that were out at the same time. We got free jugs of beer and free food, so we made the most of the situation. Unfortunately, our boat skipper joined us too. One girl told him exactly what she thought of him, only to be met by more abuse. As people started to drift to bed, Kyle from our boat, Sally and I ended up sat with our skipper and deckhand. The idiot skipper was trying to tell Sally and me about a river in Manchester that we knew didn't exist. He proceeded to google it and try and prove us wrong (to no avail) for the next fifteen minutes, which was good as it kept him quiet! Instead, Kyle and Sally began a heated conversation with Alex, the deckhand of the boat who looked quite like a pirate. Alex was defending the skippers fowl behaviour and language and kept sprouting a load of rubbish that he has to act and speak like that. The conversation just went in circles. This is when the skipper piped up that everyone was just miserable and at least eight of the girls were just boring c****. Kyle told him he was out of line and that no girl should be called that, especially as his younger sister was one of the girls on the boat and we were miserable because we paid so much to be stuck on his grumpy military style boat! Suitably pissed off, they then invited us on for shots at another bar. This is where I swiftly informed them we were not going out anywhere with them and they left. I think Oz Sail is just a poor company as it sounds like they get a lot of complaints. A late night walk around Airlie and a play in the park knackered us all out before collapsing into bed.

The following morning we made the most of the free breakfast at the hostel before checking out. Beaches accommodation has been the cheapest, yet one of the best equipped hostels we have stayed at in Australia.

We caught our greyhound bus onto Townsville, then took a ferry across to Magnetic Island, where we took a local bus across the island to our hostel, the YHA Bungalow Bay Koala Village. On arrival we got upgraded to an en-suite air conditioned room 6 bedroom dorm, instead of an 8 bed, which was a bonus! We are staying in modern little bungalows and the facilities are great. There is a koala sanctuary attached and lots of wildlife within the resort. Sally and I were walking to the washing machines when it was the bird feeding time and we were swamped with parrots. They stood all up your arms, on your head and clung to your back. They are so noisy but it was quite funny! There was then a possum in the kitchen, lots of creepy crawlies everywhere, and a wallaby hopped by as we ate our tea. Sally and I took a walk to the little town called Horseshoe bay. It is so tiny with one shop, one restaurant and one bar. It is very relaxing though and the beach looks nice.

The following morning Ruth, Sally and I visited the on-site koala sanctuary. Jade wasn't feeling too well so had a lie in. The sanctuary was a really good hands-on experience. We got to hold a small saltwater crocodile, a large black cockatoo and get a kiss off it, a huge python, a blue tongued lizard, a bearded dragon and a turtle. We also got to see and stroke a baby wallaby, wombat and koalas. We could pay to hold the koala but as we had already done it at Australia zoo we decided to just settle with a stroke. Due to government regulations, each koala can only be held by humans for a maximum of three hours a week. Not a bad working week!

The hostel has a nice cool pool on site which we used. It is so hot and humid up here now, even Sally has to sit in the shade!

After lunch we all headed to the beach at Horseshoe bay, only to find it was shut as a child had been stung by a jellyfish earlier that morning. The beach has a big stinger net up in the sea but one must have got through. We have heard the higher north we go, beaches are more likely to be shut as it is jellyfish season and they are more prevalent and deadly up here! Sally and I went back to the hostel to use the pool while Jade and Ruth sat in the shade. Back at the pool we bumped into Tom, who we now see everywhere we have been and go since Fraser Island, and some other people off the other boat Avatar who we met the other night.

Later on in the afternoon, Jade wasn't feeling too well again so stayed and relaxed at the hostel while Sally, Ruth and I went for a big walk. We followed one of the islands tracks, the forts walk, up to an observation tower at the top of a massive hill. The views of the island and bay at sunset were great and made the sweaty walk up worthwhile! Along the track many people see wild wallabies and koalas, however, we were too busy looking at the steep rocky floor rather than up in the trees so didn't see any koalas which was a shame, but we did spot one wallaby to make up for it.

Magnetic island is very peaceful and pretty and has been a nice break for us. The hostel has been really good and there has been a wider variety of people staying at the hostel, which is nice for a change. Tomorrow we are taking a ferry back to Townsville to spend a night there, before taking the greyhound up to mission beach. We all hope Jadie is feeling better tomorrow.

Today is our 12 week point of being away and we can't believe it has been so long, everything has gone so quick, although we see pictures from Singapore or Thailand they seem like distant memories!

Amy. x