Ryan’s Journal: Days 68 – 72

Day 68

Distance travelled: 203 (plus 8km on ferry!)

Today, we wanted to get to an island, Magnetic Island, so we packed up and headed for Townsville. But before we left, we had to do the walk down to the bottom of Australia’s longest falls. So for an early morning walk we went down the 2km track to the base of the falls. The falls were huge, and the spray incredible! But, sadly, we couldn’t swim, so we headed back up the steep track.

We drove to Ingham, another sugar town that in the old days, was an Italian town. We went to the cemetery where all the Mausoleums are. Some of them were huge, and colourful!

Our next stop was at Little Crystal Creek, where there are a few rock holes. We all went for a swim there and jumped off a few rocks. Even Mum joined in!! After lunch and a swim, we got to Townsville where we drove straight for the Ferry terminal to see if we could get a ferry over to Magnetic Island. We booked a ferry across with the car. Magnetic Island is a big island that is mostly inaccessible national park. We stayed at the one campsite on the island and booked for three nights.

Day 69

Distance travelled: 39km

We were exploring the island and drove out to West Point on a 4WD track. We walked along the beach there, but didn’t swim because it was too windy.

We drove to Picnic Bay, one of the many bays on the Island and went in search of a drink, but we were unsuccessful because everything was closed on a Monday!

We had lunch at Nelly Bay were we bought pies. We were going to keep looking around but decided we wanted a relaxed afternoon so we went back to camp and relaxed!

Day 70

Distance travelled: 38km

Today we decided we would check out the bays along a different rough track. We also hired snorkels because there is a big reef of coral around the Island.

Our first stop was Florence Bay, where we started to snorkel but the visibility was very poor and instead we decided to catch the biggest (and only) waves on the Island!! We stayed there all morning but did leave eventually to Radical Bay, the last bay on the road. It was a nice, sheltered bay, but it was really windy when you weren’t in the water and there were many waves. So we moved on and headed back the way we came to try and find Arthur Bay, which we had missed on the way in. We did find it after a little bit of walking. We didn’t swim here either but we climbed up the rocks and sat down for a while.

It was a late lunch, but we got pies again and went to Nelly Bay and got the snorkels out again. We snorkelled for a while but there wasn’t a huge amount to see in the shallow water and we couldn’t see much in the deep. So we went to the pub and played pool.

After relaxing again in the afternoon, we went up to the Forts, old forts built in WW2 to protect Townsville. The views are great, IF you get there before dark. Dads plan was to walk up and get there for sunset. So we left camp just before sundown, but the thing Dad didn’t know was the walk was a steep 2k. So we made it to the top and it was already dark. The walk home was fun though....

Day 71

Distance travelled: 42km (plus 8k on ferry)

After three nights on Magnetic, we packed up and headed for the ferry. We were really early though so we went and got a drink. We got back to Townsville and wanted to look around the interesting city, so we made it to the Museum which has a huge replica of the HMS Pandora that sank after hitting the reef out from North QLD. It also had an exhibition on Illusions and North QLD in general.

We got lunch from a bakery and went to the beach where we ate. Then we went to the Aquarium. The Aquarium has coral, as well as lots of coral fish!  And a croc! We went on a couple of free tours, fish feeding, and dangerous creatures and turtle hospital. The turtle hospital is where the aquarium cares for injured or sick turtles. They had three turtles there, two huge turtles, one that came in very recently and another that was almost better, and a small turtle that they were going to release soon.

We drove up to Castle Hill that gave us a great view of Townsville.

We then drove out to a service station that had free camping and Nick, Jackson and I couldn’t be bothered setting up the tent so we set up out sleeping mats and bags on the tarp and slept under the stars!

Day 72

Distance travelled: 396km

We all woke early, Mum and Dad at their usual early times and Nick, Jackson and I woke at sunrise, because we were sleeping under the sun, and it was bright. So we were all up at about 6:30 and packed up by about 7:30.

We drove to Airlie Beach and looked around town. It had everything. We went to an information centre and asked about the Whitsunday Islands, and booked a 2 night sailing trip around them!!!!! We then drove out to Dingo Beach and looked around the beach there, and walked out onto the beach and around for a while.

Hydeaway Bay was our next stop, all in the same area around Airlie Beach, and got a drink at the pub there. They also had a pool table that was free, so we played a few games, and, again, I beat Dad...

We went back to Airlie Beach and set up camp at a caravan park there. We’re all excited about leaving for a cruise tomorrow.