After the short bus journey and 20 minute ferry we arrived in Magnetic Island, and straight away realised how beautiful it was. It was boiling hot as well, 37 degrees in the shade…toooo hot, but we shouldn't grumble! We were staying at Base hostel and it was really really good! It is right on the beach front, and has a huge deck looking out to sea, a large swimming pool also right near the sea, and all the rooms are little triangular bungalows… with air-con… thank god! After checking in we sorted ourselves out then had a swim in the pool for a bit, and had a chat about what to do whilst there. We only had one full day there, but the island is tiny so that would be enough! That night we went for a few drinks with other people in hostel, two German girls we met in mission beach and their friends, some Swiss girls, a Dutch lad called Zino who is doing whitsundays with us, top bloke, and two lads from London, Adam and Luke. These two are top lads as well and we got on well straight away… we will be bumping into them all down the coast and they are coming with us to Space Festival in Sydney, New Year's Day…. The group for this is getting bigger and bigger!

That night we realised how clear the sky was here - we had heard stories. When you look up the amount of stars is unreal! You can see the usual ones, orions belt etc… but then you can see all the ones around it, which usually you never can. Also through the course of the night you could see how the world rotates and the sky moves, as the stars would have been in a completely different place to when you last looked. It is hard to explain with words, but there were times when we couldn't take our eyes off it… mesmerising. I think over the two nights we were there, between us three we saw around six shooting stars. That's how common they are here.

At night the animals come out and they have huge fruit bats flying around the skies too… no joke, they have a wingspan of around a metre! Scary things…. But pretty cool! We also saw a strange raccoon/possum/large rat/ ugly thing chilling next to us at the bottom of a tree. Beady eyes just staring at us.

Luckily we managed to hire the last 4x4 on the island for the next day… and we were excited for it! We got up early and went for a cruise in our Toyota Rav 4. The island has lots of different bays which are all beautiful, with scenery full of rainforest, beaches and mountains. There were a few scary moments as we tested the car on the off road tracks… and our life flashed before our eyes at one point, but nothing got damaged and no one got hurt. Scary but fun…. You know what we are like by now!

We headed to a koala bear sanctuary where you can hold koala bears, and learn about them and other animals on a 2 hour tour. The ranger told us a lot about animals and you could tell how much he loved them. He was a funny old bloke and we had a laugh with him throughout the time we were there. We held turtles, birds, lizards, baby crocodiles, snakes and then of course the main attraction the koala bear. At one point we put a seed in our mouth and a big black cock. Wait sorry that came out wrong… we were holding a black cockatoo called Shadow on our arm, and put a seed in our lips - that's better. Then Shadow sort of gives you a snog and takes the seed to eat. Obviously snogging birds is nothing we have ever done before, pretty fun! Anyway back to koalas. Their fur didn't look real… looked more like a teddy bears' and we were looking forward to giving them a cuddle! The koala we held was called Thor and he stunk! - 'like all teenagers do' the ranger said with a smirk! Have a look at the pictures of us holding him, and we will let you decide who is cuter….

After the tour we went back to the hostel to chill for a bit and get some lunch. In the evening we planned to get a few beers, take a long off road track to a place called West Point and watch the sunset on the beach. The drive was so much fun! With sandy gravel roads winding through the forest. There were some scary moments again, when large dips in the road appeared from nowhere through the tight gaps in trees…. Adrenaline takes over and we enjoyed every minute! The sunset was a disappointment because of a huge black cloud covering the sun, but it was nice to chill on the beach with a couple beers and talk s*** to each other…. Standard! Driving back down the track in dark was even scarier/fun. That night we had a few drinks at the hostel again… then in the morning, next stop is Airlie Beach!