So a quick stop off to break up the 9 hour drive to Airlie Beach turned into a four night stay at Magnetic Island. This was basically because I’m too tight to turn down a free nights’ accommodation. My stay on the island also helped me slow down my pace even more.

‘Maggie’ is situated 8km off the coast of Townsville, half the island is a national park and the other half is littered with either huge grey boulders or stretches of white beaches. There wasn’t an awfully lot to do during my stay here but then again the whole point of Magnetic Island is to simply relax. A couple of walks up The Forts and to Nelly Bay were separated by sun-soaking trips to Alma and Geoffrey Bay. Evenings were spent playing on the Wii or watching the very strange Toad Racing. Here was also were I encountered my first taste of Australian wildlife including koalas, wallabies, fruit bats kookaburras, possums (we found two rummaging around in our room at 2am one night) and kangaroos. The roos were road kill though which was a bit disappointing.