We headed back to Townsville and ended up staying at a hostel not too far from the ferry (and bus terminal) for three nights. The next day Sandra and I went to the aquarium. It was very neat and informative. A lady taught us about the differences between soft and hard coral, which I did not know before. Sandra left the next morning to head to Mission Beach while Joe and I worked for most of the day. We did do one 'hike' up Castle Hill to an amazing view of Townsville and Magnetic Island.
The next day we decided to check out Mission Beach also. There were supposed to be some neat rain forest walks. We got there and found out that most of the walks were closed because of Cyclone Yasi. It hit that region really hard back in the beginning of February. You could definitely still see traces of it. Not only from some of the homes that were torn apart but from trees down and broken.
We didn't do much around Mission Beach. We met up with Sandra for some really good Thai food, but that was about it.
We arrived in Cairns this afternoon and Joe has us booked on a snorkel trip for the morning. Joe still has his cold and he has managed to pass it off to me, so hopefully we still feel good enough and have fun tomorrow.
-Miranda
Wallaby!
Close-up wallaby!
Lion fish at the aquarium.
View of Townsville from Castle Rock.
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Once Sandra's bus arrived, we hopped on the ferry to go to Magnetic Island. We had already booked a deal with the YHA (an international hostel that we're members of now) there. The deal included 2 nights stay, half a day snorkeling rental, a guided tour of the koala sanctuary, a photo with a koala, along with a few other things.
The first day we went for a swim in the pool, but that was pretty much it. On Monday, we got the snorkel gear and headed to where the snorkeling was supposed to be best. At first, we had didn't find any reef, but we ended up finding an area where Black Tipped Reef Sharks apparently liked to hang out. They were all pretty small, but it was exciting to see them. That and seeing a sting ray were the highlights. The coral and fish were nothing much. Plus the water was really murky. Visibility was awful.
We were planning on doing another hike that was at the top of the road (and hill) that we had to walk up to get back to the bus stop, but it was simply too hot and we were too tired. So, we just headed back to the hostel.
Next was the guided tour. It was almost like a guy that had some animals in his back yard, but it was pretty neat. You could tell he took good care of them and really cared about the animals, including the Australian animals. We got to hold basically everything while he talked about them. At the end he brought out wet bread and we fed the rainbow lorekeets. It was so loud and pretty crazy.
Today we're going to head back to Townsville to stay a couple nights. On our way back though we're going to do the hike we skipped yesterday. We've been told you can see wild koalas along the hike, so hopefully we get to see one.
-Miranda
The sharks!
CLICK FOR VIDEO:SHARK
Me holding an echidna.
Joe holding a freshwater crocodile.
Joe holding Barney the koala.
Sandra with a rainbow lorekeet on her head.
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We hopped on the 9pm bus from Hervey Bay to Airlie Beach. It was a 12 hour journey, so Sandra originally planned to do it overnight. Which definitely makes sense. However, we hadn't slept well for the last two nights on Fraser and now we knew we weren't going to sleep well on the bus. We got to our break stop and not long later, the bus driver told us that we couldn't go anywhere since something got up in the engine and tore a belt up. The delay ended up being two hours.
We arrived in Airlie Beach, found our hostel and started figuring out what trip we were going to do. Joe and I wanted to do a bit more snorkeling. Sandra was more excited about seeing Whitehaven Beach, so we split up for our trips.
We left at 8am and headed to the beach. There was a short hike up to a lookout, then down to the beach. Joe and I just walked around some before heading back to the boat for lunch. Next we went to a snorkel spot. The snorkeling was all right. The coral was neat, as were the fish, but the visibility was awful. So, that was a little disappointing. It was a fun trip though.
We left early this morning for Townsville. We'll be heading to Magnetic Island and spending a few days there. Hopefully it's relaxing.
-Miranda
Whitehaven Beach
Mangroves growing in the intertidal zone.
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The stay with Baz and Tasha was great. We had a good time and they were very friendly and helpful. Joe focused last night on trying to get Fraser Island figured out. We're meeting up with Sandra (the Swiss we met in New Zealand) which should be fun.
When we checked out the bus schedule to get to Gympie (where we'll catch the Greyhound to get to Hervey Bay) it was almost 4 hours of travel, transferring 4 times. Dee, a friend of one of the people we were staying with, offered us a ride to Gympie. He took us on a slightly scenic route and even drove through an area known to have a lot of kangaroos. Unfortunately, now is the worst time to see them. They normally come out in the morning or evening.
So, we're currently hanging out in Gympie at the bus stop waiting for Sandra and the bus.
By the way, the photo I took of the koala did not turn out at all. I could post it, but I'd have to circle the koala and you probably still wouldn't be able to see it. Haha. Oh well.
-Miranda
Super cute lizard that was in the bathroom one morning.
We finally threw Joe's hat away. We had been using it to hold the ice (in a plastic bag, but still) for my ankle, and the moisture apparently made the holes worse.
Very neat looking Strangler Fig.
A koala sign!!!
Baz and Tasha.
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We left Marcoola Thursday morning and headed for Noosa. My ankle still hurts, and I'm still hobbling some, but I can walk. Joe has to carry both packs though.
We made it to Noosa Heads and found a great place for lunch, Quenchers. There was a backpackers nearby, so we booked a room for the night. I hung out and worked some while Joe went to the beach to check out the surf. Unfortunately, the waves were tiny, but at least he got some time in the water.
The next morning, we asked about staying another night and they said they were all booked up. We left and headed back to Quenchers for breakfast. We started looking for someplace to stay, but everything Joe checked was completely booked. We started even looking at the possibility of renting a camper van, but the caravan sites he checked were booked.. .. . He even checked inland more. They were booked. Basically it was looking like, sleep on the beach or go back to Brisbane.
He ended up striking up a conversation with the owners of Quenchers (we shared a small breakfast, hung out, then had an early lunch) and they ended up offering for us to stay in their campervan. We took them up on it. I really wanted to check out Noosa National Park and maybe see a koala, so we headed there. They had a board with a koala sighting on it! :D It was close by even, so we got to see a koala up a tree. First koala sighting, not in a zoo.
We did a short, 1km hike around a nice loop, then Joe wanted to do a longer, coastal hike. He left me in the park to read and hang out some. We met back up again later, had dinner, then headed to their house.
We chatted for quite a bit before heading to sleep. It was quite comfortable. We'll be back there again tonight. Hopefully we'll find a place for Sunday night by looking today though.
I'm using Joe's computer, so I haven't uploaded any photos to the computer yet. I'll post any, if there are any good ones, later.
-Miranda
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