We got to townsville and decided to really cheap it out and stay on a BP Petrol Station site, (its not all funa nd games you know) so we got down and dirty with a load of truckers! Actually there were some of the best showers and facilities that we had used yet, got to make the most of every shower we have now! Townsville is the type of place that you could actually settle down and live, theres a port there and a lovely stretch of beach, along the beach they have made what they call 'the stand' nothing like ours at home (didn't see one sausage roll snot kid) its set up for families, loads of bbqs and seating and loads of things for the kids to do, its a lovely little place where we booked our trip over to magnetic island...

Magnetic Island
We took the 20 minute ferry over, theres some really nice beachs on this island but most importantly there is a zoo where you can go and learn a lot about the animals and also have a little hold too! We started with the crocs and had a little hold of the one which thankfully had a bit of tape around its mouth so it was very safe. Then came Captain, he was the cockatoo and totally had it sorted, he didn't like men so would only let women stroke him (smart bird) he said some very strang words and I swear he had an Ozzy accent, I went in and had a little stroke much to aarons amusement he bit me, little swine fortunately he got me on the bracelet that the monk blessed me with otherwise I would have knocked him off his perch! Next it was Barney the Koals, we had just been admiring his misses who was with baby Koala (they were so cute, there was some green ants on her and she was hating it, they had little characters and everything) Barney was snoozing so the guy had to wake him up, we were so excited about holding him as Tony (the guide) started to explain how to hold him, you act as a tree branch and he sits on your arms, dont move around too much or tickle his bum (strangely dosent like this!) Then he went on to tell us that if he felt uncomfortable of unsafe that he would actually bite you and claw you with his 2 inch claws, so now we're not too excited. He was quite heavy and you can tell by Aarons piccy he wasn't feeling too safe with the situation, Barney smelt a bit funny, not horrid just like funny and he was lovely and fluffy, unfortunately we couldn't snuggle him out and send him in the post (they dont like this either!). Next stop it was the snake, I held him and then spent the next 30 minutes along with the rest of the group, including a 5 year old trying to pursuade aaron to hold the snake, eventually he did after the 2 year old had a little prod and made him feel stupid! Tony went on to demonstrate how safe it was to hold the snake by putting its head in his mouth (friggin nutter!).

After our eventful morning (yes we do have mornings now) we went to do a little walk over to another side of the beach, bit of a walk in flipflops (not the brightest thing to do) we statyed and had a little bathe then decided to head back for some garmet noodles, on the way back however the tide had come in and what we had orginally crossed being a puddle was now a fully fledged creek, we waddled across up to our bellies in water thus soaking the camera, then were told that further down was only knee deep (damn it). Camera was totally wrecked, so more camera shopping for us I thinks! Next stop...Arlie Beach and the Whitsundays!