The first leg of the journey was all pretty simple apart from Rich struggling to find 3rd gear and being attracted to 1st instead but luckily I was wearing my seatbelt for the rather jerky ride! We stopped midway on the journey to see Mission Beach but I think we went to the wrong end as it didn't look as impressive as I expected. And of course we couldn't even go in the water as it is still jellyfish season. We arrived in Townsville just as it was getting dark and we parked up by the water and prepared for the first nights sleep in the campervan. The nights sleep was interrupted various times when the sprinklers started up and were soaking the van and later when a huge lorry pulled up and at first I thought we were about to be towed away but thankfully it moved on.

Met up with Michelle of Derek and Michelle from Vietnam as they live in Townsville which was great to see her again and reminisce about Vietnam which seems so far away now. And then it was off to the ferry to head over to Magnetic Island just half an hour away. The weather was still perfect and really hot and the hostels location that we stayed in must be one of the best about as far as hostels are concerned with stunning views out to sea. We mainly just hung out by the pool chatting to fellow travellers that had been coming up the country and finding out the best places to go. After a few drinks we all went to the hostel bar where there was a big quiz going on but after a strong start we kind of fell apart when they started awarding points for the best paper aeroplane which is not really my forte sadly. But it was a fun night all the same with a very nice bunch of people.

I ended up staying up right through the night in the bar with Greg which was a good laugh and was rewarded with a spectacular sunrise coming out of the ocean at about 5.30am. Went slightly photo crazy trying to capture the perfect shot so hopefully a few will look good when they are blown up to full size. My short stay on Magnetic Island was a great one and would definitely love to see more of the island another time as you can hire these mini topless jeeps to drive about in which look like fun. And I must stop meeting great people that are travelling in the wrong direction and start finding some that are heading the same way!