From Airle Beach and the Whitsundays

Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore: I really should start writing down my ideas for this when I have them.

I finally manage to get somewhere with internet for less than $6/hr and I'm so incredibly exhausted that I'm not sure how much I can write. Having to check out at 10am after going out for the night does not a happy backpacker make.

We made it to the Museum an hour before it closed (things close really early in this country) and didn't want to pay $7 admission when we wouldn't get to see anything. We debated this enough in front of the guy at the admissions desk and he let us in 2 for 1. They have a really good display on the shipwreck of the Pandora, which was sent to bring home the Bounty after a mutiny. You may have heard of the Bounty, there was a movie made about it. After the museum Ching and I decided to climb Castle Rock Hill. We took the more direct goat path, which was almost entirely stairs. I hate stairs. The locals were running up and down this track without even a water bottle and we struggled in the heat to reach the top before sunset. We did, and I was worth the effort. Great view of the hills inland and Magnetic Island in the ocean.

Charters Towers was pretty interesting. It was hot and dry and dusty and we were on foot. The town is full of really elaborate buildings from the gold rush days, when Charters Towers was one of the largest cities in the country and referred to as "The World". The population has dropped drastically since then, but the area is still being mined (or mined again) using modern extraction techniques.

Tuesday morning we hopped the ferry to Magnetic Island. We had planned to spend the afternoon and evening there, and then go back to the mainland to take the bus to Airlie Beach the next morning. We got off the the ferry and onto the bus to the hostel. Every time it turned a corner, there was another stunning view of another stunning bay. The hostel near Horseshoe Bay had A-frame cabins and was surrounded by bush and you could hear birds everywhere. We checked in, regretting the fact that we only had one day. We called Greyhound and the Airlie Beach hostel and changed our reservations and stayed on Magnetic Island for two days. Tuesday afternoon we took the bus down to the south end of the island and had a picnic lunch at Picnic Bay before climbing to the lookout. We took our time because it was the middle of the afternoon and not the smartest time for bushwalking uphill, but the 360 degree view was pretty spectacular. We looked over at Castle Rock Hill on the mainland and growled at the stairs.

We had the BBQ dinner at the hostel and then walked the four minutes to the beach. I really should get a thesaurus, because I need some new words to describe things. The stars were amazing. Away from the big cities on the mainland and with nothing but empty ocean to the west, they're just so incredibly bright and sparkling. Not quite bright enough though. I discovered the location of the stinger net by walking right into it. Stinger nets are used at beaches to keep out the poisonous jellyfish and jellyfish relatives that are common this time of the year. They provide small but safe swimming areas at the beaches.

The next morning I went on a bush and beach ride. It was so good to be on a horse again. I think that one of the best ways to see any landscape is from horseback. And the absolute most incredible feeling ever is galloping full tilt along the beach, right at the water's edge. Not quite so breathtaking, but still wonderful, was when we unsaddled the horses, stripped down to swimmers, put on stinger suits and then rode bareback right into the ocean. There is simply no way to properly describe how that feels.

I met Ching back at the hostel and we spent a lazy afternoon at the beach. About 5:00pm we headed to the Forts Walk, one of many, many excellent bushwalks on the island. It led through the remains of the WWII fort and provided some more breathtaking views from the observation and command towers. There was a wild koala along the trail. So cute. Much cuter than the southern koalas, which are bigger, more grey, and, well, less cutsie.

I left a little piece of me behind on Magnetic Island. The bus ride to Airlie Beach was 4 1/2 hours long and I was stiff and sore from riding. But the driver put on Seabiscuit, which I've been dying to see, so it wasn't so bad. Airlie Beach is called the "gateway to the Whitsunday Islands". The Whitsundays are almost all National Park, and truly lovely. We stayed at Backpackers By the Bay, which I highly recommend to anyone who ends up here. Ching and I joined the nightly quiz for a free bottle of champagne. Our group lost by one question. That was ok. We were trying to decide how to best see the Whitsundays and with the ferry schedules and prices, a tour was really the only way. So Ching, Regina (a girl from Switzerland) and I went Ocean Rafting yesterday. Everyone dreams of sailing the Whitsundays on a yacht, and I think that would make a lovely honeymoon activity, but at 21, this was just fun. Fast boat, but they slowed down when there was something (like dolphins) to see. The tour took us to see some Aboriginal paintings in a cave, and then snorkelling on a fringing reef right off the tip of Whitsunday island, and then to the famous Whitehaven beach, approximately 6 km of fine, white, sparkling silica sand. Don't forget your sunscreen or that jewelery you've been meaning to polish.

I was craving pizza, so while Ching went grocery shopping for dinner, I ordered the pizza and beer deal from the bar at the hostel, and sat down with Regina and her friend. Lewis (British, from the quiz group the night before) came over to join us, and when Regina and her friend left, we chatted with Allon (Israel), who'd been on the winning quiz team the night before, and aligned ourselves with him. Kendra and Ben (couple from Edmonton) arrived for the quiz, as did Ching, and we managed to lose by 2 points. The winning team had a perfect score. After the quiz, we all went out for drinks, and then Kendra and Ben left and we went to Beaches for dancing. Allon headed out so Ching, Lewis and I stayed out. We lasted until about 1am when we realised we all had to be checked out by 10am.

And now I've come full circle. So that was the past few days in a (coco)nutshell. There's so much more to write but that will have to wait. We're going to be in Mackay this evening and then we're renting a car to see Eungella (young-gulla) National Park.

P.S. Ching and I have developed a special way to judge prices here. It can cost an arm and a leg, just an arm, just a leg,or it costs an arm, a leg and your firstborn child. The latter occurs more often than we like.