Cape Tribulation & Magnetic Island

'Life is what happens to you while your busy making other plans' - John Lennon

How true. We talked about going travelling for years and now we are finally doing it the feeling is fantastic. The freedom, the time to think, dream, remember.....it is the best thing you could do.

Saturday September 22nd
We got up at 7am as we were getting picked up at 7.50am to head to Cape Tribulation, where the Daintree rainforest meets the ocean and the Great Barrier Reef. We stopped for breakfast at a small town called Mossman that was quintessentially Australian and then went on a crocodile spotting tour along the Daintree river for an hour, but we only saw a small one as they were all sleeping in the shade somewhere. We did see a huge colony of fruitbats flying overhead which was really cool.

Later on we stopped for a short walk through the rainforest and Lynn tasted a green ant - bush tucker! I'll stick a photo on flickr in a few days after our Whitsundays sailing cruise.

We arrived at our accomodation and booked in, immediately ditching our bags and heading for a lovely walk along the beach. We crossed a hillside path to Myall Beach and saw a snake on the path! It slithered off into the trees though - phew! We had a nice dip in the ocean and then headed back for dinner which we made ourselves in the small kitchen attached to our room. We shared the kitchen with two other rooms but we practically had it all to ourselves the whole time we were there.

It was nice to have Lynn cook for me for the first time in a few months! The simple things in life are usually the best!

Sunday 23rs September
After a quiet night we got up at 8.30am despite the alarm going off at 8am, we possibly had too much sleep. We had toast and checked out, leaving our bags at reception to go on a 10k hike to Emmagen Creek swimming hole. We walked along a country road with the rainforest one one side and the ocean on the other, it was scorching hat, as it has been since we arrived in Oz - too hot for sunbathing, we now shade-bathe!

After 5 k we came off the road and into the forest and followed a path along to the swimming area. I went in, only after throwing a rock in to check there were no crocs! It was lovely, a beautiful setting to swim in and as it was so hot the cool water was very welcome.

We walked back to the guest house and caught the bus back to Cairns, stopping at Alexandra Range Lookout where we could see the area where Steve Irwin last went swimming and then the Mossman Gorge - a lovely area and then a brief stop at Port Douglas.

We went out for dinner to a restaurant called Rattle and Hum and treated ourselves to a lovely bottle of Rothbury Estate Semillion Sauvignon Blanc - nice!

Monday 24th September
Up at 6.30am to make sure we got the 7.25am bus to Magnetic Island. We both dozed for the first part of the journey and then watched 'Free Willy' with our nano's on - you hardly need to listen to the dialect! We did watch and listen to the second film played on the journey - Top Gun - an 80's classic.

The journey passed by pretty quickly and we arrived in Townsville at 1.15pm, just in time for a bus to the ferry terminal and then the ferry over to Magnetic Island - affectionately known as 'Maggie' by the Aussies. We got the 20 minute ferry across and got another bus to our backpackers - Base.

We checked in and went to our room, opening the door to discover we had been booked into an 8-person dorm that stank! We quickly upgraded to get our own beachside bungalow. We will be staying in dorms at times (indeed we are tonight (27th) but as we were staying for 3 nights we wanted our own space. It was a wise decision.

We walked along the beach to the local supermarket and bought some fresh pasta and other goodies to cook dinner for ourselves at the communal kitchen. We also ended up buying 6 Heinekens at the bar and enjoyed drinking them on our balcony, watching the sunset and the moon reflect on the ocean yards from our feet - very romantic and very relaxing.

Tuesday 25th September
A pretty lazy day. We had breakfast on the balcony and decided to use our 1 hour free kayak hire. We kayaked round from our beach to a beach that could only be reached by the sea and had a pleasant paddle and splash around before kayaking back to our beach to go snorkelling. It was nice to go snorkelling together as Lynn usually goes diving. The reef was nowhere near as spectacular as the one off Cairns, but we saw plenty of fish and enjoyed a good hour or so in the sea.

At night we walked to the supermarket and bought a cooked chicken and potatoes and salad for dinner - someone had pinched our bread from the food area! Bloody backpackers!

Got another few beers and sat on the balcony listening to music on the min speakers we bought for our nanos. Splendid!

Wednesday 26th September
We had a great day driving round the island in a moke - check www.mokemagnetic.com

We checked out Horseshoe Beach and several others, also visitinga Koala sanctuary where we got our photo taken with Lynn holding a koala. Lynn also had a snake draped around her and we both held a baby croc! Photos will be up in the next few days!

We headed back to Horseshoe beach to watch the sunset and then got a massive $25 AUS supreme pizza and a bottle of wine and went to our balcony, listening to more music and admiring the full moon shining bright above us. The wine was $18 AUS Kalleske Barossa Valley, Clarry's Barossa White - lovely.

Thursday 27th September
We are now in Airlie Beach and tomorrow we will be going on a 3 day/2 night sailing expedition around the Whitsunday Islands - it's a tough life! We met a nice Irish couple on the ferry back from Magnetic Island and we may meet them again later in the month.

The yacht we are sailing on is called the Appollo http://www.seethewhitsundays.com/opp/tours/apollo3/index.html

It should be quite a nice few days. We are staying in dorm accomodation tonight, but it is a million miles nicer, cleaner and generally better than the dorms on Magnetic Island.

I'll update our bog when we return, before we head further down the coast to Fraser Island. We do have an overnight bus to take to get there - that should be interesting.

Keep on keepin' on
Murray and Lynn
xxxx