Townsville

A 3 hour coach journey South brought us to Townsville - the third largest town in the state of Queensland. One thing we are starting to notice the the sheer size of Queensland- it really is massive. The locals seem not to be bothered about a mere 6 hour journey along the coast, but for us that is like travelling to Scotland!

Townsville is probably the liveliest place we have been thus far. We are stayed at a really central hostel called Globetrotters, and experienced our first taste of dorm living. We shared a 4 bed room with a guy from York called Stephen and a Danish lad called Simon. The hostel is generally really friendly with lots of people out and about in silly hats for St Patricks day.

On our first day here we ventured into town and thought we should learn something abou the reef habitats we had been to explore whilst in Cairns. The Reef HQ in Aquarium in by the harbour was really informative and had some great demonstrations of reef life and shark feeding. We then hopped across to the Museum of Tropical Queensland - the main focus of which was a huge exhibition on the plight of HMS Pandora and the famous 'pandora's box' escapdes of the 1800's.

On our second day we took a ferry out to Magnetic Island - about a 25 minute trip. The Island is renowned for it's quiet secluded bays and beaches as well as beautiful views back to the mainland and fantastic opportunities to spot wildlife. We braved the heat and did some walking in the bush, but didn'tmanage to spot any wild koalas unfortunately! We did see some impressive birds however, and the views were well worth the walk in the heat.

We say good bye to North Queensland now as we head down to Airlie Beach next - a beach resort about 4 hours by Greyhound Bus down the Whitsunday Coast.

Rest assured we'll keep you posted!

Andy n Kate x