We arrived in Townsville on Tuesday 14th October and booked into a campsite for two nights. It was bit of a let down as it was a good five kilometers from Townsville and it was set on a very busy A road but we made the most of it.

We took a drive into Townsville…… It was not what we where expecting! The town centre is getting ready to be rebuilt so most of the shops where shut or closing down. There was very little to do other than walk along the esplanade and look at the sea.

We where up early on Wednesday and took a drive out to Charters Town, one of the many mining towns in Queensland. It is also the site of the very first "Stock Exchange". The original Stock Exchange building is still standing today but is being used as a small mall consisting of a café, book shop and a beauty salon.

After Charters Town we headed to Ravenswood. Ravenswood was once a prosperous gold mining boomtown, now almost a ghost town with a population of around 100 who service the surrounding area and cater for the growing tourism. It has two hotels, both serving as pubs, there is also a post office and a little white church sat on top of a hill. It's was a very quant place but far to quiet for us so we took another long drive to a place called Burdekin.

Burdekin is famous for its Sugar Cane, mangos, melons and also the Burdekin Bridge.

We left Townsville on Thursday and headed south to Airlie Beach. It is totally different to Townsville. We are in a campsite just out of town. The town itself is full of backpackers and this seems to make the place more fun and exciting. There are bars and restaurants galore; it has a beach and a marina. There are also lots of people offering tours to the Great Barrier Reef.

We booked ourselves onto a tour and went to the Reef on Friday. We where taken to the marina to board a boat to the Reef. Part of the tour took us through the Whitsunday Islands and then out to Knuckle Reef. This is where we went snorkeling, took a glass bottom boat and also a helicopter ride round the reef. We where in the helicopter for twenty minutes and they took us out to the famous "Heart Shaped Reef" and also over lots of other reefs. We where totally blown away by what you could see 500 feet above the sea. It's difficult to describe it but hopefully the photos will do it justice.

We will be leaving Airlie Beach on Sunday 19th October and heading south to Rockhampton.