After Airlie Beach we headed off to another island: Magnetic Island. We got a bus to Townsville, Northern Queensland's capital before catching a ferry to the island. Magnetic Island has a resident population of just 2000 but there are always plenty of visitors and tourists. We stayed as Base hostel which is well known for being the best place to party on the island and we weren't disappointed. It was more like a resort than a hostel, it was literally right on the beach, it had a pool with sun loungers, a bar and restaurant and palm trees. What more could we want?! Each dorm was it's own little cabin and there were lots of nice places to sit with a drink overlooking the sea. We were exhausted by the time we arrived as we hadn't realised how far the hostel was from the ferry terminal. It turned out everyone else got a bus and we walked with 19kg rucksacks in the heat so we were pleasantly surprised to find this lovely hostel when we finally arrived! Included in our package was a free evening meal, breakfast and welcome drink so we had some food before enjoying our free drink at sunset then sat on the beach while we waited for the party to get going. 2 of our friends from Fraser Island were staying at the same hostel and so were 4 girls we met in Noosa so we had a good catch up! We were a bit wary back in our dorm as one of the girls in there told us how the night before a possum had gotten into our room and went on someone's bed while they were sleeping! Thankfully it didn't happen when we were there though! The next morning we had an amazing free breakfast of bacon for Katie and eggs for Colette with toast which was heaven, then we caught an early bus to the koala sanctuary! Here we got to do what we had really come for : cuddle a koala! We also got the chance to hold a crocodile, lizards, cockatoos and a snake! One of the cockatoos wouldn't be hand fed so Colette had to let him take the seeds from her mouth, a strange experience! We then took a wander down to the famous Horseshoe Bay where we bumped into a German boy we'd met a couple of days before. They had an area where you could swim in the sea without stinger suits so we relaxed there then headed back to the hostel for lunch. The east side of the island is a series of bays so we thought we'd check out another one, where we had an amazing ice cream before going swimming (again). We were just leaving when we saw something in the water. We think it was a big turtle but we don't know for sure! The next morning we left Magetic Island. It's so beautiful there and we absolutely loved it but we saw most of the island so we're happy that we did everything we wanted to. The last few days have been so hot so we're hoping the good weather will continue! Next stop is Cairns, our last stop on the east coast of Australia, can't wait!