What a cracker first day of our trip.
Left the house on time (bye bye Northview), caught a rush hour train (managed to get a seat half way which wasn't too bad), flight smooth and on time, with a safe and very hot arrival in Townsville. We got the SeaCat to 'Maggie'- very windy, felt how my face felt when I skydived, blubber cheeks.
Arrived on Magnetic island and the bus is waiting for us. It drops us off right at the door and vola, we're here at Koala Bay Bungalows; cabins set into the forest and surrounded by wildlife. We saw a wallaby before we had even entered our room. Aside from a slight key issue (enter the room, go to leave 10mins later and have lost the room key, so spent the next 30mins looking for it), we had lunch then set off for the day. We walked four minutes to the nearest beach Horseshoe bay, then from there we walked over the mountain to Radical bay and the last stop was the nudest beach, Balding bay. Hiking in the heat is tough going, soo much harder than our good ole Norn Iron wet cold weather. Both were really beautiful and was so lovely to only have a couple of people or no-one else on the beach. We then watched the sunset on the way back, and finished with a walk by the restaurants on our way back; when the waitress said 'the ribs had been cooking all day,' Kennys jaw dropped. We went to drop our stuff off, have a cheeky happy hour pint and return to Sandi's for 1/2kg ribs for Kenny and 1/2kg green lipped NZ mussels for me, delicious. Our little treat to start our holidays. On the way back, we noticed how beautiful and clear the sky was, Kenny has been waiting so long for a good clear sky to see the stars.

Day 2 started early (will take a while to get used to being able to sleep in), had breakfast whilst listening to the birds, hired some 'stinger suits' and hitched a lift to Arcadia in a pink mini moke, like a pink topless go kart. There we started our snorkelling near Geoffery bay and the water was actually warm (it's freezing in Sydney). We snorkelled for a while but the tide was strong and made the water murky. So got out and went to visit the Rock wallabys, cute little things, even saw a few with a baby sticking it's head out of the pouch. By this stage we were so hungry, so stuffed our faces with the latest special lunch and debated what to do next. Food shop, walk or snorkel more? The issue being the buses only run every hour to hour and a half, and we kept forgetting to check the times=stranded. So snorkelling some more at Alma bay, seeing some colourful fish and feeling a bit safer as there were others around and we weren't too far out. Headed to Nelly bay for some groceries, then back to the hostel to chill. Swimming really is an exercise.

Day 3 we couldn't decide whether to go to the koala park or on another hike. As we debated, the bus pulled up and as it only came every hour or so, we jumped straight on. What we shortly realised that was in 30 degree heat and high humidity, our half empty water bottles would prove inadequate. We started our hike to Arthur bay on the recommendation that it was great for snorkelling. So after a downhill hike and a wade through a creek, with fear for our lives if there would be crocs lurking nearby, we made it to another beautiful beach and again we were the only ones on it. Today we decided against the stinger suits and I must admit, I was a bit more scared especially since the day before we had seen a couple of jellyfish, even if they were only the size of a 50p, we had no idea whether they were the bad stingers or not. Anyways, we snorkelled both sides of the alcove with little luck unfortunately and breaking the attachment on my snorkel aswell. We continued our hike to Giants of the Island, a headland walk between Arthur and Florence bays, that leads to a World War II searchlight tower. We wanted to go further to see if we could make it to Florence bay but we had so little water that we couldn't risk it. Do we headed back the way we came, and to our delight it was like a mirage, a lady with a truck selling frozen smoothies, amazing and just what we needed. Kenny spent the rest of the day sleeping, whilst I lay by the pool. Everyday at 4.30, they feed the lorikeets; the most beautiful coloured (green, red, purple) wild parrots that are everywhere and are nosey wee b*****s. So at 4pm their chirping started to get louder, as they gather in anticipation of their food. The zookeepers of the animal sanctuary give us some bread soaked in water, which you hold in ur hand whilst being totally attacked by the lorikeets. At one point they were buying my fingers and sitting on my head, hilarious! Soo much fun. Spent the evening with another happy hour strongbox or two and being proper travellers again; pasta for dinner.

Day 4 I tried to persuade Kenny to do the Forts walk where you can see the koalas in the trees, but he wasn't having any of it, so got packed up and spent the morning at horseshoe bay, with a wee coffee overlooking the beach. A really beautiful beach, they all our to be honest, watching people fishing and on jet ski's. Before we knew it, it was time to leave; bus to the terminal, SeaCat to Townsville , then Premierbus to Airlie beach.