Townsville & Magnetic Island

Thursday, May 17^th-

I rode the bus into town and then the train to the airport.  This weekend, I have off Thursday through Monday to visit a family friend, Michelle, in Townsville. I’m going to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef!

I made it to the airport and then went straight through security without having to show my id or weigh my bag.  It took 10 minutes max to get to the terminal.  I thought that was rather painless and even enjoyable. I could get used to this.

Then I read in my kindle and waited. The plane was running late, but when it arrived, I nuzzled into my window seat and watched the clouds.  I love flying.  I saw a controlled fire below when we reached Townsville.  The smoke was mingling with the clouds above.  Quite interesting.

I took a cab to Michelle’s work and the dive shop next door.  I talked with the dive master and he said they were not doing any dives this weekend due to strong winds.  It’s a 3-hour boat ride each way from Townsville to the reef, so the ride would be dangerous and seasickness would probably ensue. Woe is me. What to do? Is my dream going to die due to high winds?  I don’t know if I’ll get another chance to come up here… I told Michelle about the cancellation but she was quite the problem solver.  She said we could just drive up to Cairns if the weather is better and dive and stay the night there.  Cairns (pronounced “cans”) is about 4 hours north of Townsville.  It is known for the Great Barrier Reef and its rainforests. 

So, the plan was to spend Thursday and Friday in Townsville and Saturday and Sunday in Cairns.  Bullet dodged. 

Friday, May 18^th- Townsville

We took the ferry out to Magnetic Island, a lush paradise surrounded by splashing topaz.  As we hiked up the mount, two other hikers went out of their way to show us two wild Koalas in the treetops just a few meters up the path.  (Yet further proof of how nice Australians are, as well as how incredible the wildlife is here!)  So we climbed up and in the woods to find a couple of tree huggers, literally.  They were adorable.  And sleeping.  They tend to do that a lot.  It was fun to see not one, but two Koalas in their natural habitat.  Michelle said in her whole life here in Australia, this was only the second time she had seen a Koala in the wild.  How fun! 

The views from the rocks on the top of the island were breathtaking.  After absorbing the pictorial views, we began our descent.

Once to the road, we hitch hiked a ride back into the town.  People are so nice here! First hitch hiking experience- success!  At the local pub, we downed delicious burgers, lavished with beetroot and caramelized onions  (surprisingly amazing) and the usual toppings.  We enjoyed a few beers with the sun setting on the beach as our backdrop.  Because I’ve only been to the East coast of Australia, I haven’t seen the sun set actually on the water until now, because we were on the west side of the island.   I walked along the sandy shore, snapping shots of the illuminated clouds smiling down on their glistening mirrored image on a rolling blanket of blue.