Hi one and all, hope everyone is well! Just a quick update from OZ - Still on a high from our dive!

Since then we headed up to Townsville and got on the first boat over to Magnetic Island. We weren't even going to head up here, but we're so glad we did as we had an amazing time! The island is SERIOUSLY laid back, a real Island feel, and has the friendliest Aussies in the world living there! Even the bus drivers were great - they drop you off at your house and know everyone and where they all live! Got to our hostel, and its that laid back that the owner was down the pub and just left the key out for us! It was pretty run down hostel, but one of the best we stayed in because of the people. Everyone was so friendly - one guy that was staying there, an Aussie Jack, randomly invited us out on his speedboat for the day. Never asked for a penny. So we spent the day out on the boat, stopping off at beautiful bays and coves that can't be reached by car/foot on the island, swimming, relaxing, manatee and turtle spotting - was incredible! Then, we all decided to camp out (slightly illegally but we were very clean!) on the beach at night. We took the speedboat out to this TINY beach, about 20m long, hidden from the rest of the island (and the sea police!), built a fire, cooked a BBQ and just chilled out. Was an amazing night - no two people from the same country (an Italian guy, German guy, French girl, Canadian guy, Jack the Aussie..) and to top it off, Vince, this hilarious 62 year old from Czech. He entertained us singing Czech folk songs, skinny dipping at 1am (!!) and just being quite hilarious! Good spontaneous fun!

The island itself is really beautiful, and we spent 3 days solidly trekking, at least 15-20km a day, so we're both suffering from blisters now but it was worth it! We walked all around the island to the beautiful bays and coves, to bush walks and tracks with grogeous viewing points - 360 degree views of the island. Bit scary at times as we were in death adder territory, and I saw my first snake which scared the life out of me - luckily it was a small one! Saw lots of other wildlife, including rock wallabys (very cute - like giant squirrels!), some incredible tropical birds, and possums that came and tried to steal our dinner every night!

Had a fantastic time - we're up in Cairns now, not the greatest place, but where you go to get out to the Great Barrier Reef snorkelling and upto Cape Tribulation and the Daintree rainforest in the north so we can't wait for that!