No visit to Townsville is complete without a day trip to Magnetic Island, known to the locals as Maggie. After a short ferry trip to the island we picked up our spacious hire car which featured manual gears, no doors, no windows and no roof. It was fun to drive around the island in, as we enjoyed swims at both Horseshoe Bay and Alma Bay. For dinner we dined outdoors at Ribs and Rumps on Palmer Street.

Next stop on our trip was the capital of north Queensland,Townsville. After setting up in a caravan park south of town we had a drive along The Strand before Dad took us past Max and Julie's former house, and also to the free outdoor pool at Pioneer Park.