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Katie's Travels
I'd already told myself that my couple of days on Magnetic Island I would be doing very little and just using the time as a complete recovery period to get over the craziness of the past 5 days in the Whitsundays. It would be an opportunity to completely detox of alcohol and catch up on the sleep I so desperately craved.
The bus pulled up at the ferry terminal in Townsville and I bought my return ticket to the island and hopped straight on. After a 25 minute crossing we arrived and I jumped on one of the Magnetic Island buses bound for Horseshoe Bay - home of my hostel, Maggie's Beach House.
After a pleasant 15 minute drive over the island - the utter beauty of which completely struck me - we arrived. I checked in, and was disappointed to discover I was sharing a room with the very rude german guy who'd sat behind me on the bus up from Airlie. I'll just say now that over the next few days, he did nothing to redeem himself and in fact left me thinking he was the rudest, most opinionated and downright selfish person I'd ever had the unfortunate luck of meeting! I'll say no more......
Got chatting to a nice English guy and a bloke from Belfast however, who I had dinner with that night. Whilst sitting in the room talking to Chris (the English lad) I asked who was sleeping in the bed below the german jerk. He said it was a guy called Simon from Birmingham but without a Birmingham accent. NO WAY!! It was Simon! From my sailing trip! When we went down for dinner, sure enough, there was Simon, chatting up two young ladies! Haha.
Then as we ate, who should walk up to us but the two Sarah's - I swear I'll never see the back of these people - not that I mind!
That night, after a shower we all had an early night. Simon advised that I do the Forts Walk while I'm here as he'd done it that day. So that was my plan for the following day.
Upon waking up after a nice long lie, I had a nice healthy breakfast of muesli and yoghurt. I then jumped on the local bus to Nelly Bay, so I could visit the Kodak shop - the only place on the whole island where I could put my photos onto my iPod. However I missed my stop in Nelly Bay - I was looking for the main street, there is no main street! - and ended up in Picnic Bay. The driver drove me back though and let me off outside the shop. When I went inside the guy was pretty unhelpful and the stupid pc wouldn't recognise my iPod and made it freeze! So in the end, I had no choice but to put my photos onto cd - for $8!!!!! Then I headed back to catch my bus back to the start of the Forts Walk, only to realise I'd left my camera cable in the shop and had to run back! Finally got on the bus and hopped off at the start of the Forts Walk. I'd timed it well actually and would reach the summit in time to watch the sunset. Just took it easy on the way up and was able to spot 4 wild koalas in the trees (FINALLY!) including a wee baby one - so cute! Also saw what I think was a possum, but may in fact have been a tree kangaroo! The walk itself was interesting as you could see the foundations of a WWII settlement which was built here to keep watch for any attacks on Townsville from the Japanese during the war. The old buildings are still visible and at the top is a lookout which was manned 24 hours a day during its time of operation. I left my mark, by way of my name and the date on the wall and watched the sun go down - stunning! I then made my way back down just as the light disappeared. At the bottom I sat at the bus stop and then a couple who'd walked back down with me, drove up in their Moke (a cool little roofless jeep thing) and offered me a lift back to Maggies, beats taking the bus that's for sure!
That night I got talking to a girl who'd moved into the room with me and jerk boy. Her name was Sarah and she was Canadian. Turns out he'd insulted her as well and she was moaning about him to me! This guy is a piece of work!
Next day, we had a nice breakfast together and she was telling me how she'd lived in Canberra for 6 months and worked at the Canadian Embassy. She was impressed when I said my Mum's cousin was the Canadian Ambassador in Switzerland! After breakfast she went off for a walk up into the hills and I walked up and down the beach at Horseshoe bay for an hour and a half. Then we met to catch the bus at 12:15 back to Nelly Bay, where she was meeting a friend who'd come over from Townsville for the day and I was catching the ferry back to the mainland to catch my bus onwards and upwards to Mission Beach - my penultimate stop.
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