Whitsunday Islands (13.08.2012): We spent the morning in Airlie today as we didn't board our sailing boat until 2pm. We had a nice walk along the beach checking out the market. Airlie is a lovely little town that is well kitted out for travellers. At 1:15pm we set off to Able Point Marina where we would board the British Defender. The boat is amazing. It has been on trans-atlantic races and has also sailed around the world winning many medals. Of course we were ...

Magnetic Island to Airlie Beach (12.08.2012): After breakfast we waved goodbye to our wonderful koala village and headed on the bus to Nelly Bay for the ferry terminal, catching the 11:15am ferry back to Townsville. We wandered around Townsville a little then got our 13:00 OZ experience bus to Airlie beach arriving at 16:30. This time we were the only ones on the bus! It's a shame as it would be much more fun with more people. Airlie beach looks kool. We shall h...

Magnetic Island (11.08.2012): We love this island and don't want to leave but sadly we only have one night left. We started off the day with a 3 hour walk to the Forts - a World War II site where we saw the gun placements that were built to protect the island from Japanese invasion. There was an amazing view from the top of the island which made the long steep walk worthwhile. Health over we spent the rest of the day on Horseshoe Bay relaxing and swimming. In...

Magnetic Island (10.08.2012): We haven't had a lie in for an age so today we treated ourselves to a lie in until 10am. Nice! We then headed for Horseshoe Bay beach to laze around some more. It is so nice to just chill out on a lovely stretch on beach on a fantastic island - it takes us back to our time on the Thai islands. Wish we had the yummy Thai food here though! After lunch we set off on a walk to Florence Bay which took around 1 hour - a steep climb. Flo...

Cairns to Magnetic Island (09.08.2012): Still tired we checked onto our OZ Experience bus at 07:30am to start the first sector of our journey to Brisbane. There were only 3 of us on board - it definitely is low season! The OZ Experience is a tour rather than just transport. We spent most of the day exploring the Atherton Tablelands. We stopped first of all at Lake Barrine checking out two enormous kauri pine trees. We then travelled on to Lake Eacham to check ou...