Well i have officially forgotten what sleep feels like! My Irish roomies were in late as usual and told me stories of a Chinese girl they'd met called 'mammy'! It was certainly enlightening sharing a room with a group of lads and although I had to deal with the toilet seat being left up, I enjoyed taking the piss out of their 'getting ready to go out conversations' that totally resembled the ones I have with the girls, questions such as 'what shoes are you wearing' I found extremely comical! Gilligans was a great place to stay with it's own on site nightclub and pool. I seemed to have lost my Thailand tan in Perth as it was only spring and I often wore trousers to ride in but after 2 afternoons in the Aussie sun, my olive skin has returned!!! Sooooooo hot here, even I wear factor 30 all over and if I don't wear a hat, I get a headache due to the hole in the ozone layer so White face for me!

Well my east coast Oz experience started today as I boarded the greyhound at 6.15am! Tommy our driver announced loads of interesting facts on our 6 hour route past mission beach to Townsville where we boarded the boat to magnetic island for 2 days chill time!!! Facts such as in the 1890s, Australians would take huge 800 people boats over to papa new Guinea and similar places and hoax the locals onto the boat by singing and offering gold and gems! Once the boat was full, they held them hostage as slaves and these people became known as the 'karakas'!!!

I met Ellie McKay and Helena Rose from gilford on the greyhound so were all chilling on 'horseshoe beach'! Ellies a physio and helena has not found a career yet and is counting on having a brainwave whilst on her travels!!! Just as the sun was going down at our picturesque bay and tea time approached a man came over and introduced himself as raphael the sailor and said he'd caught too much fish so he invited us to join him and his fellow hillbilly/sailor mates for fresh mackerel and queen! Raphael is from Italy and worked successfully in his youth as an engineer but got tires of being a number so he left 28 years ago to live as a savage in Tahiti. However he became I'll from the bites and stings and eventually was saved by witch doctors! He then came over to Australia and bought a yacht which he lives on and also has a little dingy to get him to shore. He is currently trying to get down the east coast but relies on the wind, as fuel is too expensive but the wind only blows south 98% of the year so he doesn't know when he'll make it! He told us how he battled with the cyclone 4 years ago for 3 hours, had a 20 minute tea break whilst in the centre and was surrounded by a black ring before undertaking the 2nd 3 hour battle of trying to save his boat! When asked why it was more important to him to save his boat rather than his life, he replied 'because I didn't know the government would reimburse me' ha ha! Can't believe the generosity of all the people I've met so far. What an extraordinary man. Were staying at bungalow bay and I'm in a 6 bed dorm and have currently met a girl from the uk and a guy from Paris who are my new roomies. Absolutely loving life on magnetic island, it resembles koh tao!!! Tomorrow is all about exploring and discovering the naturally, attractive, secluded bays and beautiful beaches, happy days :0)