Magnetic Island

At Cool Waters Campsite, some Australians told us we must visit Crystal Creek and swim in the pools and rock slides there, so we decided to cut short our trip to Townsville and I booked us into the Crystal Creek Caravan site.  Having to detour t sort out a duff purchase Amber had made plus lots of roadworks meant we did not arrive until 4. We drove to Big Crystal creek but there were some noisy youngsters there so we decided to walk to the rock slides but the dusk descended too quickly so we had to abandon that and return to the van.  We set off at 7.40 to drive to Townsville for a trip to Magnetic Island to see wild koalas.  Again Road works held us up and we only just caught the 9am tug ferry as foot passengers.  We waited for the bus but it was full before we got to the front of the queue, so we ordered a taxi and went to Horseshoe Bay – well named and beautiful! From there we decided we did not have enough time to walk up to the forts to (hopefully and with lots of luck) to see wild koalas….. so we went into the koala sanctuary and got to handle a red-tailed black parakeet, blue-tongued lizard, baby crocodile and tickle a koala!! Then it was a dash back to the ferry for the onward drive to Airlie Beach.  I had not booked a campsite for tonight as we thought we might bush camp, but as it was getting late and we did not expect to arrive before 5-6pm I de died to phone up to book a campsite.  This proved quite difficult due to the reef festival taking place here this weekend!! I managed to get what, I think, was the last place in town and it is crowed and we are right next to the toilets and dump point!!!  I have not yet booked any campsites for the rest of the trip as we are hoping to find one or two bush, or free, sites near or next to beaches on the way south.

We have just had supper and are now ready to turn in.