Mission beach

So we are nearly at the end of our australia tour.....thank god...wanting to get out of the country so bad is kind of clouding our judgement onthe few places we have left to visit! We arrived in mission beach a bit late but were greeted by the hostel ....the actual hostel was only 100 meters away but we all got in the mini bus.....the hostel was nice...clean, quiet and friendly we were relieved :) we had booked a double room as it was only $4 more ! We were so excited our own room :) it was tiny but had aircon and was perfect for us :) we chilled out for the evening and then had a bit of a restless sleep due to the air con being so cold!! We turned it off and on so many times what we needed was a blanket :) which i got the next day ! 

The next day it absolutely pissed down and was blowing a gale! And it didnt get better later that day so. We stayed in our cosy little room and went through our pics etc it was actually quite nice. We just hoped the next day would be better.

We woke up to blazing sunshine :) so we sat by the pool all day it was lovely :) we wanted to go out and explore but couldnt be arsed! So another lazy day! We also ... In late afternoon watched the wolf of wall street it was epic ...bloody long but good! We wanted to see it for ages, it was a nice tv room with comfy sofas :) and whilst watching it there was some excitement outside i went and had a nose! There was a cassowary wondering at the back of the hostel! Another great siting! It was huge! Some of the others said they had just paid for a tour to see these birds in the wild and here one was at the hostel! We was very pleased :)

 ....what a great siting :)

Last full day! And we had another chilled day  ! We went down to the local beach for the sunset ....it was actually quite beautiful but we couldnt swim because of the jellyfish! It was still nice just to sit there :) luke did ask about the fishing and we were recommended to fish at two creeks but were also told at the same time that these creeks were infested with crocs! Its safe to say we didnt fish at mission beach!

....Having a wonder on the beach

So although we didnt do a lot here in mission beach, we actually enjoyed our few days here, it was quiet, the hostel was nice, the staff were nice, the kitchen was good as was the tv room, so at this stage of our trip a good hostel really makes our stay a good one! 

Next stop is the last one on the east coast.....cairns

Townsville......second time around!

So we are back in townsville after a great time on maggie island and are pleased to be back in a great hostel with wifi, aircon, a oven and freezer!! And as i sit here watching luke spinner fish off some rocks....

....I reflect .....well we have been reflecting! On how much we have utterly and truly have had enough of australia! The only thing keeping us sane at the mo is the internet and lovely hostel we are staying in! We have had a particulally stressful day or couple of days! We have had the hostel room to ourselves for 5 nights and today two girls joined us....they came in left the door wide open so when we returned there were mozzies everywhere, towels hung from the top bunk to the bottom so my bed cannot be seen, under my bed is a stupid amount of toiletries which to get to she will literally have to come face to face with me in my bed! And we can hardly see the floor now it is just so messy! Seriously how can two girls make such a mess in a short space of time! We have decided that girls are messy and leave there shit everywhere and boys have no respect for others! That our verdict on sharing a dorm! I was researching disney discounts and couldnt find what i was looking for which irritated me and we are both well and truly fed up woth oz :( infact we could both quite happily go to america right this second! Anyway rant over!

Being back in townsville was great we knew where things were, we enjoyed nice meals, nice fishing and Internet, we was able to do the blog, and also start our photo books we make jessops photo books at home and have just found out we can download the software on the ipad! So i was so excited about this! I knew this was going to be a mamoth task when we got home as we had been averaging 1000 pics a month! So i was over the moon to be able to get started on them! And it was really nice for us to look back on our past pics :) 

Whilst in townsville we didnt really do a lot ! Just chilled out spoke to family etc! And are now sbout to leave for our next destination....the verdict on townsville is we love it!

Next destination mission beach :)

Cuddling a koala....& other wildlife!

So as i mentioned on our last day we did a onsite wild life tour with a guide. It was one of our favourite experiences in australia, it lasted around 2 hours and included a guided walk around the sanctuary, with lots of info about each speacies/animal, and also included holding of some of the animals :)

It started with the turtle....there was 3 there and they had been rescued....on magnetic island there are no fresh water turtles as there is no fresh water here on the island, we got to hold the little turtle it was so cute....

 ....luke with the turtle

Next we went to the red tailed black cockatoo....i had never held a bird before i am actually not so keen on them, at primary school a man came to visit with a eagle or owl to teach us about birds and i never held it i was to scared! But this day i just wanted to push my limits and see how much i could test myself! So i gave it a go! I held it on my arm ....the minute it was handed to me i was scared and then i had to put a seed in my mouth and the bird took it from my mouth it was quite an experience!

....it was a very pretty bird tho! And i quite enjoyed holding it.

We were next led to this small enclosure where we had no idea what was in it! I quized our guide as to whether there was a snake in there! He couldnt understand why i was so scared of snakes. We went in and were told there was a wombat in there!  It was having a nap! It is a Nocturnal animal but the guide woke it up and brought it out it was like a little child being woken up it was wriggling around all over the place! He said he could let a couple of people hold it! I jumped at the chance i was the second and last person to hold him! And he was so soft & cuddly like a bear! I sat him on my lap and wrapped my arms around him cuddling him....it was the best experience and i dont think i will ever get to do it again....

....it was so amazing to be able to do this :)

......this wombat was so cute :)

We continued our tour round to the lizards! And just behind the lizards where some young crocs! And good they were scary! 

Crocs are so scary.....i didnt think it was real at first it was still for so long i watched and watched and watched and then out of nowhere it flicked its eye because a fly landed on it! They are so still and sneaky!

So the lizards ....there were lots of different species....some i had never seen before! Different shapes, colours, textures, sizes! Everyone was holding them and it looked ok so i got stuck in! I held every one apart from one as we ran out of time! I was anxious holding them but felt proud i had pushed myself, i even had one on my head called "fred"!....

....i think this one is called a shingleback lizard...it was actually quite sweet!

.....bearded dragon...."fred" on my head! With the shingleback lizard!

.....this is the one i didnt get to hold :( which i think is also a bearded dragon!

The next thing i held was a baby crocodile!!!! Now this was TERRIFYING! It was tiny and obviously a baby....but it makes no difference how big or small the croc is it was terrifying! It had razor sharp teeth and as i was holding it, it kept moving and hissing at me! I think i was holding it a little to tight! Which i think was down to me being scared of it and also thinking i might drop it! Poor luke was trying to take a picture of me with it but i couldnt stand still it was like i was doing a panic shuffle! Its safe to say i didnt hold it for very long!....

....razor sharp teeth! & look at those eyes!

....me preparing to hold it!

....look at the terror in my eyes!

The next and last animal we had the pleasure of meeting was a .......KOALA! I had been waiting for this, and couldnt wait to give it a cuddle! We were led around to a wooded area near where the koalas lived and given some info about them and how to handle them, i was so excited when it came to holding it.... i was first ! I quickly got up and got into the correct position to hold it and the koala was placed on my arms it was amazing i really wanted to give it a proper cuddle but obviously its a wild animal and probly wouldnt appreciate my cuddle so i just stroked it! And me and luke had a pic with it :) and then i had some pics on my own it was so lovely a really good experience that i will remember forever it was the highlight of australia for me :) being close to an animal like that was just amazing....and he was so so soft :))))

This whole experience has been amazing and i am so glad we stayed here :). Nothing will compare to holding and cuddling these animals :) what a once in a lifetime experience and i am over the moon we got to do it :)

Magnetic island.....land of the koalas :)

We jumped on the ferry to magnetic island at around 12.50! We had so much stuff with us, we had bought all our food shopping for the week at Coles as we had read there was no supermarket here just a small corner shop that was super expensive, so we got organised and got all our food! We clobbered on with all our stuff! It was a lovely ferry ride......around 25 minutes .....bloody windy! But good! 

We arrived at nelly port on Maggie island....from here we had to get a public bus to horseshoe bay where we staying at bungalow bay koala sanctuary :) luckily the bus was there when we arrived and it was a very short journey, we checked in pretty quick :) the hostel was in a forest setting with lots of "A" frame bungalows, a pool, a bar/restaurant and a camp kitchen! It all seemed very nice,of cors as it was in the "nature" setting there was bugs, ants, Beatles, mozzies, massive green grasshoppers, spiders etc etc but of cors there weren't just bugs we saw wallabys in the night time out side our bungalow feeding! It was a really lovely sight we were able to get quite close and take a few pics...we also saw possoms running past our bungalow we just loved spotting any kind of wild animal in its natural environment and also to see animals that we wouldn't really sea anywhere else! Luke also saw a huge frog, and we were hoping to see some wild koalas! Magnetic island has the most population of wild koalas in the whole of North Queensland :) 

....a wild wallaby we saw walking back from the beach

We had arranged to stay in a three bed bungalow with the hope that we would have it to ourselves most of our stay! The first two nights we shared with a English girl which was nice we swapped stories and tips :)...... The rest of our time we had it to ourselves :)

 ....inside our bungalow

....our bungalow from the outside

In our bungalow there was mozzie and insect netting all around it so it was quite contained! We were at first a little worried we seemed to get eaten alive from the moment we got there! But when we got into our bungalow it was fine! There were a few bugs we (well Luke!) had to kill each night but other then that it was fine! Although at night when we went out we literally had to run out the door and quickly shut it to prevent bugs getting in! It was quite funny! One always managed to get in! There was one night that we had a baby lizard in our room that luke tried to get out but unfortuantely he accidentally killed it and then we noticed a huge lizard by our door! He managed to get that one out with a broom! The bathrooms were actually ok apart from there was no door so come sunset the whole bathroom was full of all sorts of bugs and because the light was on they were all constantly moving! So when it was time to brush your teeth you had to try to brush whilst wacking them away! It's funny to write about but it really was horrible! It wasn't just a few flys......there were hundreds of the little cretins! And having a shower was just as bad, after the first night I decided that I would not have a shower after dark! It was funny to listen to the screams of the girls having showers. We could here them from our bungalow ! We heard so many girls scream whilst in the bathroom, they would scream and all you could hear was them wacking there towels or clothes on the walls and doors trying to kill the things! I was quite proud that I wasn't like that! Anyway back to my little review of our accomodation!.....the kitchen was fine, basic but ok, the bar/restaurant was very poplular and really looked lovely of a night time! We thought that we may treat ourselves to a drink one night! And the location was perfect .....the beach front was quite literally a 3-5 minute walk depending on how fast you walk! We had no air con just a fan but actually it was ok,. I was very proud of us as if before we set off for our travels someone had told us or showed us this accomodation and said you will be staying there....I can pretty much guarentee we would of said ...."on your bike" but actually travelling has definitely open our eyes and made us appreciate things more and although many would still say we moan or are fussy with our accomodation I think we have come very far :)

That first evening we went down to our local beach which was "horseshoe bay" and watched the sunset....it was one of the most beautiful sunsets we had seen....

....beautiful sunset

The first day we got up early to go fishing....we went straight to the beach we were there at around 07.30 and we had the beach to ourselves, the rods were set up we just had to play the waiting game...

....it was so peaceful

We found a nice spot under the tree to put our towel and must took the scenary in!

My rod was getting loads of bites and a couple of hours into us arriving i had a fish! I was so pleased my first catch on my new rod, it was pretty strong i reeled it in and luke was there with the video camera getting footage of my first catch! It was all very exciting :) when we got it onthe beach it was so pretty and obviously it attracted others attention! ....

.....my first catch on my new rod....a grunter

I was just so pleased, one of the locals said it was called a grunter And he was shocked we werent going to kill it and eat it! 

We fished the rest of the day and we had one huge bite on my rod but lost it :( we went for a swim mid afternoon as it was getting hot....

....there was a netted area on the beach for swimmers.

We had a really good first day and found this part of magnetic island beautiful.

We decided that for the rest of our time here we would fish in the evening when it was cooler and we could watch the sunset :) we spent the next day chilling by the pool, we werent overly impressed by the pool it was filthy!....

....but at least we could cool off.

That evening we fished but didnt catch anything....but the sunset was so beautiful we were just happy to watch that....

We spent our days on maggie island fishing, going to the beach, chilling at the pool, having a few drinks at the bar....it was really nice! And we especially loved all the wild life, we seemed to see something new everyday! We spent one evening down at the bar where we drank 3 jugs of snakebite! Which is half lager, half cider and raspberry flavour syrup! It was very nice! And its safe to say we were drunk! We had a really good night....

A few pics from our stay....

.....fishing at sunset

....horse shoe bay beach

.....the walkway to our bungalow

Our adventure on maggie island wasnt over yet....we spent our last day doing a wildlife tour....where we hugged a koala! More of that on my next post!

Townsville...gateway to magnetic island :)

As we left airlie beach it was a lovely sunny morning our bus was at 7am and we were walking to the bus stop and I decided this was a good time to take a couple of pics of the amount of luggage we have to carry!....

......Luke in front with all his luggage!

.....me with my luggage

......all of our luggage together !

Nothing was more exciting at this point then the thought of getting a suitcase ! And not having to cart around all our food! However it was all experience!

As we drove into townsville we was pleasantly surprised it looked like a lovely town :) we got dropped off at the ferry terminal this is where we would catch a ferry over to magnetic island. We waited for our shuttle to our hostel but I couldn't remember what time it was coming so we waited half hour and then decided to walk .....it was about 2kms as we got half way we found out it was much hotter then we thought ! And we were sweating! We walked all the way along the strand...it was lovely.

When we got to our hostel around 35 mins later we were quite literally dripping with sweat! And the owner came in around 5 minutes after us ....he had been waiting for us at the ferry port! We must have just missed him! We checked in......we had a four bedded dorm with aircon! It was really spacious one of the most spacious hostels we have been in actually :) we settled in and went next door to where there was a Coles (Ozzie supermarket !) stocked up....they had a oven and freezer :) Luke decided he would make me chilli con carne as I have never had it! We used quorn mince and it was delicious! The hostel also had free wifi and free computers :) it wasn't very busy at all,they had comfy sofas and a big tv, nice kitchen and lovely cold rooms :) we decided that night to walk up castle hill :)) it was around a 5 mile round trip and we decided to go In time for sunset....it would be a lot cooler then :) it looked like a bloody steep climb but compared to mount iron in wanaka we was up for anything ! ....

.....castle hill !

The start of the hill wasn't too bad...we kinda power walked up the first half! I don't know why ! But it felt great! We came to an opening where there was some stairs .....you could either continue up the hill or use the stairs ! We was going to use the stairs but I didn't think I could manage it.....

....the beginning of the stairs 

We continued up the hill and it just seemed to get steeper and steeper ! Although maybe it felt a lot steeper because we were getting more tired and just wanted to get to the top! Although it was a tough walk we had lovely views all the way to the top! People were driving up and I can just imagine what they were thinking watching all the walkers struggle up! However there were some super fit people that were jogging up this hill! We just couldn't understand it!

We were getting closer and closer to the top And I was loosing hope we would ever make it! So I asked a couple walking down how far it was other top and they said we were two 3rds of the way up ! They also said the view was very worth it....so we continued.....

 ....half way up....

.....two thirds up!

.....and finally the top! We made it!

The views were stunning ....

......we stayed up there for around 45 minutes until the sun went down then we started our descend ! It got dark super quickly and that's when all the bugs, mozzies and other huge flying things decided to come out! So me and Luke were quite literally having a slow run down the hill whilst slapping ourselves all over to kill the mozzies! it must have looked really funny to anyone walking passed us or people that we went passed!! Looking back it was funny but it wasn't at the time!

A good first day in townsville :) we were looking forward to our stay here and to go back to a room that was ice cold from the aircon was simply perfect :)

We had a good sleep and a lazy morning just chilling and using the internet.....we decided in the afternoon to go and fish off of the fishing jetty....

......the fishing jetty on the strand

When we arrived there was another bloke there fishing and he had six rods out! The limit was three! He had taken up the whole of the front and sides of the pier! Another clear example of Ozzie fishermen and indeed some fishermen in general....this is our view on fishermen!....fishermen that are obsessed with the hobbie that work all week and then fish every spare minute I found to be very arrogant and selfish, they look at you like shit when you turn up to fish as if to say "why are you fishing here"! they take everything so seriously I find it hard to believe they still find the hobbie fun! We have found a lot of these sorts of people in australia but there are also many in the uk! Some people need to lighten up a bit and enjoy it! Anyway back to the subject at hand! This jetty was quite good actually as it had cover over it to protect you from the sun.....we had recently found out that Queensland is the skin cancer capital of the world so they provide all types of shade everywhere which was nice, however the wind was pretty strong today and we were quite literally getting blown to pieces ! The wind was dragging our lines in so it made it quite difficult, we carried on but gave up after a few hours. We had a wonder further down the strand and found another great fishing spot by the rock pool but it was occupied with people just two guys that took up the whole fishing spot! Need I say no more! We had a lovely stroll back :) and lovely evening, so far townsville we are impressed :)

.....one of the artistic features of the strand!

The strand is a long stretch along side the sea front...it has various arty features and gorgeous views of magnetic island.....it also had two netted areas for swimming ....the nets were used to project swimmers from box jellyfish as it was the dangerous season....there was also a huge rock pool at the end of the strand which you could swim in...there was a sign there saying they take every measure to ensure no jellyfish are in there however its not 100% proof! 

The third day we decided to get on with our list of stuff that needs booking, researching and also look at our excursions for our cruise :) to a lot of you it may seem like a wasted day however there is still a lot that needs to be done for our trip! We booked and plan as much as we could before we left but unfortunately there is a limit on how much you can book etc for a year long trip! An example of things on our list would be.....choosing our excursions for our cruise, looking into car hire for USA, emailing upcoming hostels confirming bookings etc, we had to research fiji as we had two spare weeks there and couldn't decide on an island to visit! The list goes on....although it takes a lot of time and brain power! It is quite fun because it's giving us a little insight to our future travel!

Our days at townsville were spent wondering down on the strand and fishing in different spots it was a lovely relaxing time and of course we loved having the wifi when we came back from our days out. One day we decided to fish near the harbour we had been advised by a local that there were big fish there infact he had caught one that morning! We headed there and after a couple of hours my rod went! We originally thought it was a fish but luke decided it was a eel! It went under the rocks and regurgitated the bait! Something a fish wouldnt normally do! 

We had a great time in townsville.....we liked it so much we decided to come back here after our trip to magnetic island for a week! 

We were excited to go to magnetc island i was so desperate to see and hold a koala and we were staying at a koala sanctuary so i couldnt wait......

Next stop magnetic island :)