Maggie Island

So after the thrill of the jump, it was back in the car for our next trip which was to a place called Townsville. From there we were getting a ferry over to Magnetic Island. Can't even remember how long this drive was, think it might have been about 4 or 5 hours but I managed to do all the driving on this trip. We did manage to make a quick stop off on the way though for some food and we were in a small little town with some crazy people, especially the woman who served us our lunch.
On the way, we passed a National Park so we drove in there for a look. The main feature was a rock pool and waterfall. We got some cool photos in there, alas, gone forever, but we also had to put the car through some tough terrain tests. Every so often there was a ruffle in the bushes too but we werent sticking around long enough to find out what the hell was doing it. We managed to see a few small animals in there which was cool though.

We got to Townsville without any problems, it looked like a really nice place but we weren't staying there, we were just parking up and getting the evening ferry. The town was focused around the marina and there were pklenty of impresive yachts docked there. We were going to be on Maggie island for 3 nights so we were parking the car up for a while, the parking meters only took coins though so we hadn't got enough. We left a little note in the window to say we hadn't got enough coins and we begged them not to towe or clamp the car and that we would pay when we got back. A little worrying but it worked and the car was safe.

Maggie island was a really quiet place too, and the nightlife didn't exactly last long. The place we stayed at was called Base. The rooms were huts with 8 beds in them and they were fairly squashed too. The showers and toilets were communal here, and there was lockers provided in our room. We shared the room with an English couple, a Swiss girl, German girl, and some annoying Israeli people but they left on our second day. The view from the bar was pretty amazing to be honest, like something you would only see in the movies.

At night, there was always something happening in the bar, but it was never really that busy and there wasnt much else on the island to do at night. We were fairly cut off from everything too with a 30 minute walk to the nearest shop. We ventured out on our last night to see a football match in a sports bar on the island, which meant getting the bus there. We watched Liverpool beat West Ham and even picked up a Scouse season ticket holder on our way there. We knew the last bus home was 11:50 which was just as the match was ending so we ran out to get it, and it was just after pulling away. We didnt know at this point, but it was Saturday night, which is the busiest night on the island for taxis, and the best part......There was only 4 of them on the whole island. We began the long walk home on roads that were completely pitch dark, but eventually, and thank god for this, we saw a taxi picking up a couple a few hundred metres ahead of us on the road. Luckily enough, he waited for us and we all shared the cab back. The night before in Base, was a Karaoke night so that was pretty cool, but again, it all finished up relatively early by our standards.

As part of our trip we had booked snorkling gear and a kayak so we managed to kill some time on the island with these activities. The snorkling was nothing like it had been before and the reef looked colorless and dead when we were out. It was still pretty cool to be snorkling in clear water with some cool fish still on view.

After the three days, it was back on the ferry to Townsville, and off on our next adventure to Airlie Beach, 300k from where we were.