Ok…so last time I blogged I said I would write again in a week or so…well if turned into two weeks or so. Travelled 1681km since I last blogged so have a lot to tell you people! After Cairns made my way to Townsville and jumped straight onto a ferry to Magnetic Island. I thought this island would be paradise and with the right weather I am sure it is but I was a little disappointed. The weather was pretty much overcast for the entire three days I was there and I had a bit of a cold which is not fun especially when it is about 27oC outside. There was also not an awful lot to do on the island and it was quite difficult to get around on the public transport. There was a Wildlife Centre attached to the accommodation, which was fun to walk around and also I got a chance to hold a crocodile, Koala and a python amongst many other weird and wonderful creatures. Another down side of the island was the march flies….flies the size of bubble bees that bite, which you can feel and they hurt. The only way to get rid of them is to swat them and kill them…but this then apparently releases a pheromone to attract other march flies, so you really can’t win! I got devoured on the wildlife walk…ever tired holding a python and swat flies off your leg the same time, not fun I tell you! Doesn’t help that I seem to react really badly as well to all bites and ended up at the doctors after a bit on my next reacted badly. Clearly have good Welsh blood that all creatures seem to like!

I was pretty glad to get off that island in the end and stayed one night in Townsville before heading down to Airlie Beach. Townsville was a strange place, seemed really quiet but is the headquarters for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. I would have loved to have got a job with them but as it is government they don’t employ backpackers so had to settle for a trip to the aquarium instead. Got to Airlie Beach and it was fab…great atmosphere with lots of shop, bars, restaurants etc open until late at night. There was also a nice lagoon to enjoy here as once again the sea is not human friendly here.

Airlie Beach is the gateway for all the trips to the Whitsunday Islands. Majority of backpackers do a 2 -3 day sailing trip but I decided just to do a day trip as I had heard that the longer boat trips can get a bit samy after a day or so and they are notorious for picking up bed bugs, which I did not fancy! Anyway my day trip was fab but felt it was just enough for me. Started with a snorkel trip and the waters were amazing. Lot and lots of big and small fish everywhere and so much coral to see, it really was another world. This was so much better than the snorkeling trip I did up in Cairns even though this is still the same reef (it is very big!!). After that we sailed to Whitehaven Beach…think paradise and this is it. White sand so fine they used it to build the hubble telescope. It is also great for cleaning jewelry and the water was just crystal clear. We had about 1.5 hours on the beach just to relax before the boat picked us up and took us to a lookout point over the swirling sands. Really glad I got to see the islands as they were just beautiful. Many of them have resorts on them which charge around $200 a night to stay. A bit out of my budget so headed back to Airlie Beach to stay another night before heading to Hervey Bay.