MAGNETIC ISLAND

So it's our last night on Magnetic Island and here's the low down on what we have been up to for the last couple of days.

We arrived on the ferry from Townsville on Thursday and just had a day chilling out by the pool. We are in a hostel called XBase which is right on the beach and we are sleeping in funky little huts which don't have the best aircon.

Friday morning we got up and went to pick up our moke for the day, I was very pleased as it was PINK and just like a Barbie car!! For those who don't know what a moke is, its a very small car and we went for the topless one! Our first stop was a Koala sanctuary which I (Zoe) as one of the drivers drove over to. We got to see another snake, Koalas which are just as cute as they look and a couple of birds. We paid extra so we could hold and have some pictures taken with a Koala.

Next we cruised the Island which only takes about 15 mins to get from one side to the other. Stopped at all the different beaches and had lunch. It was so fun driving around the Island beeping at every moke we could see! Michelle even had a little drive and I was quite impressed as she stayed on the road and actually drove better than Alexandra hehe!

In the evening we decided to sample various Aussie beer (No they DON'T sell fosters!) as you can see from the pics we drunk a fair bit in jugs with straws, which I don't think is the way to do it!

Saturday...We got up first thing and had a real hangover breakfast which was free! We then decided to try out sea kayaking. We were actually ok and even left the beach once we got the hang of the team work!

At 3 we had horse riding booked at Bluey's Ranch. They kitted us up with some very sexy jeans and off we went. My horse was called Honey and Michelle's was called Toffee, they were mum and daughter just like Michelle's Guinea pigs except Toffee was the mum. This was to be an 'experience' especially as I have only ever been on a horse about once in my life! It was a 2 hour bush and beach ride. We went through the bush, at first it was a nice slow walk, we then trotted and even cantered!! The horses were very good although Toffee kicked occassionally.

When we got to the beach we got off our horses, put our stinger suits on and rode bare back in the sea. The horses loved the water as it probably cooled them down. We were in up to the horses neck when we did some 'tricks' in the water, we did around the world, managed to stand up on them before jumping off and getting in the sea. Michelle decided that she didn't want to get wet, Toffee had other ideas and decided to roll in the sea! Michelle was worried she had hurt the horse, so got off and instinctively tried to rescue her. Toffee was fine and once Michelle got back on her she got back up. We enjoyed the rest of our ride back to the ranch and even spotted some wild Wallabys!

We have discovered we actually have muscles we never even knew about and are currently sitting here in slight pain with bruises! The ride was great especially as there was just us two with the two instructors who had great pleasure in taking the mickey out of us 'posh' (can you believe it!) pommes! We would love to do it again and to ride on the beach and in the sea was just amazingly fun!

Magnetic Island has been great and there is lots to do here. Tomorrow we are heading further down the coast to Airlie beach where we will be on our boat for a few days from Monday cruising the Whitsunday Islands!