We had to get the minibus from Jackaroo to the Greyhound bus station an hour earlier than we needed to because there was an earlier arriving bus full of newbies for the hostel... We were up early and made packed lunches and put all of our leftover food and bits into the cold bag ready for the journey down to Townsville and beyond. The greyhound was due at 10 and at 20 past we were getting agitated having sat in the really strong morning sun for 1h 20 waiting already and someone told us that the bus was to be an hour delayed :/ f***kkkk and there was loads of people waiting at the station with us, all going down the east coast so we knew the bus would be packed... Not a nice thought when your really sweaty and all your dreaming of is a really airconned bus to have a nap on! Seriously weve been napping everyday, the sun takes it out of you soo much! You could never be productive in this heat!! When the bus finally arrived the driver was a complete hitler, making everyone line up outside and not helping with bags or anything until hed counted us all and made sure three times over that we were all on his list. KV dashed onto the bus sneakily though to baggsy some seats together which was good though so at least we could lol on eachother when sleeping! The bus was the most tedious journey ever, the aircon was broken :( so it was the biggest sweatfest in the world, not a pleasant three hours! kate and i watched Romeo and Juliet on my phone though which nicely killed te time and now in obsessed with the sound track and listen to it all the time :)

We didnt really have high hopes for Townsville, especially considering everyone wed spoken to about going had referred to it as s***sville, so when we arrived to find no friendly shuttle bus waiting to whisk us to a nice cool dorm it wasnt the biggest suprise.

We phoned the hostel and they were lovely however, and sent a bus for us straight away, teyd been waiting but had given up as the bus was so late and they obviously didnt know. We're staying in the Townsville civic inn which is nice, they had a problem with our booking though ad asked if wed mind being in our own private room, with ensure and air con instead of a six bed mixed dorm... Hell yeah!! So KV and i are sharing a massive double bed and Al her own one made up on the floor. We also have a fridge in the room which is nice so we don't have to leave stuff in the communal kitchen and have people nick things again or open the girls coke and drink half which is what happened before!!

Once wed dumped our bags we went for a nice walk around Townsville, checking out what it had to offer. Not that much. Most of the shops were either pound gift shops or really expensive branded clothes, theyre mad for quicksilver and surf brand here and even a normal looking bikini is $100!! So expensive!! The town was also so deserted, we literally saw about four people in the couple of hours we spent wandering!! And there was absolutely no sign of the fact there was a massive party going on on nearby magnetic island the following day - weird!

We went to the supermarket in the evening and i had the best intentions not to buy too much at all, pasta and pesto, that was all i wanted and felt like, a cheap dinner that would last a good couple of days! But i still managed to spend just shy of $10 on it because even supermarket food is really expensive! We were amazed to learn that spirits cost $50 a bottle and a crate of cider $70! Soo much!! Goin it was for us then... Just really cheap wine sold in wine boxes, we got the red one and man it was disgusting!!

We spent all of Friday mooching in the sun and swimming in the bit of sea that had a massive jelly fish protector net around it, not only apparently is Townsville the most skin cancer ridden place in the whole of Queensland but also home to the deadly box jelly fish as well, arghhh!! And then after a quick nap we started the palavar of getting ready for the full moon party on magnetic island (just over the bay from Townsville) none of us could decide what to wear and as weve not been wearing make up for so long we all felt like drag queens all made up so off it all came and start again we did! We got dressed, i wore my sequinny skirt and a plain black t with flip flops, as i didnt want to be too dressed up and my bum bag! Love wearing it!! And we walked over the catch the ferry across to the island. There were no other people going from our hostel which was weird and absolutely noone at the ferry station, so we starting wondering whether it was actually even goin to be happening or not!! We found that wed just missed a ferry and the next wasnt for another hour and a half, so we sat and drank our goon on the curb! Classy!

The ferry to magnetic island was about half an hour and $30! Espensive but in the end full of other party goers and when we got there we bumped into loads of people wed met at our previous hostels to that was fun to catch up and have a drink with them... We all danced and drank from little plastic buckets (i had to be a complete diva and ask for no red bull in any of my drinks!) Tom piper a ministry of sound DJ played a set later in the evening and it was pretty cool raving on a beach on the island! Most of the party was held at a hostel called base so it had proper facilities and everything which was good as i wasnt looking forward to peeing in the sea with the jelly fish!! Everyone got pretty drunk and we danced like crazy people all the way through the night which was really fun!

At the end of the night there was a proper s*** fight to get into the minibuses back to the ferry terminal so some bits said theyd show us the way to walk and there was a few other people doing it as well, just across the beach instead of cutting through the middle of the Island on the main road... It was quite a lot longer than we thought it would be, about 3 miles or so and when we got to the terminal the 330am ferry was just leaving - not too much luck with ferrys and timings! So we had to sit and wait and we must have looked like such hobos all huddled together on benches napping and trying to keep warm and the wind was really chilly!! We got back to land at 5am and after the extremely long and low walk home climbed into bed at 6am, hardcore!! We all passed out instantly into deep slumbers and didnt stir until at least mid day, when we went in search of food!

And we found it in the form of (sounds weird but bare with!) jaffles!! They're toasted sandwiches, but not normal ones, they have crazy fillings in them, i had a filo pastry toasted quiche which was so yummy until about twenty mins later when i wanted to heave, but probably that was alcohol/hangover related!! We had our jaffles at this really cool cafe that wouldnt look out of place in shoreditch, with all banksy style art over the walls and our iced coffees were served in big jam jars! Delish!! We played UNO in there and just chilled until we were ready to brave the sun again, so so hot and sweaty and sometimes a little unbearable! Yes i really just said that mum! As i said apparently towsville has the highest skin cancer people and im guessing it might also be where the hole in the ozone is at its worst and therefore the uv rays even stronger...which means you burn in an instant and ive only just stopped peeling from my accidental burn in fiji... I want to be brown but gradually so it lasts!! So you have to slather yourself in cream any second you step outside and obviously were on to buying cream now and the cheapest ones at that so it makes your face all cloggy and even more sweaty! So disgusting!!

We sat by the sea on our fave little patch of grass by the sand and had our heads in the shade and napped and listened to chill out playlists on vidals little speakers... A nice afternoon! But because we got up at 1pm or something it was about 6pm before se even knew it and after a long walk to woolworths, the supermarket, to get dinner, we find its been closed for an hour or so already :( it was a supernoodles night for me!! And i was quite inventive and used my last slice of rye bread as well and had Nutella and mashed banana on it, as i didnt think the banana would survive the greyhound luggage hold, flying around everywhere!!

As it was saturday night we couldn't let such a small thing as hangovers get in the way of us seeing the Townsville locals at night, so we showered and got dolled up and headed out... When i say dolled up, i asked the girls how much make up they were putting on to be told only mascara so thats what i did and then i was fronted with two full faces, so had to go back to the bathroom mirror and make a bit more of an effort (i had wet hair as well- sexy!) all of the girls in town were dressed up in those disgusting really tight white dresses and the biggest heels youve ever seen, it would probably be a compliment to call them scarlet women as mrs weasley calls them!

We had a fun night apart from the big fat f***ing trollop that splashed her whole brightly coloured icy cold and disgustingly sticky cocktail all over me and my brand new pink dolly shoes that i was wearing for the first time having deliberate for ages whether to go for flip flops or not!! I was not impressed and told her so as well, the girls had to lead me away as i was fuming! My biggest grievance is spilt drinks and there is just no remedy! Nothin makes it better!! Well apart from maybe the mahoosive slice of pizza i gobbled on the way home!!

The next morning i literally woke up 15 mins before we had to check out and we hadnt packed or cleared our room or anythin let alone have a shower blah blah blah... It was a bit of a panic! We got a lift down to the ferry and bus terminal and had 30 mins to wait there so i being very nifty i thought! Used a Tupperware box and fork and poured out some cereal and soy and happily ate my brekky sat on the floor...i have become a true hobo! I also washed the Tupperware in the sink because we need to keep them!!

Next up is a four and a half hour express bus journey (i didnt realise it was that long!) So Airlie beach here we come and happy travels!!

Lula xoxo