Queensland Pt.2- Magnetic Island and Cairns

Part 2 is just a short post, before the amazingness of Barefoot tours, but not to be overlooked because Magnetic Island was also so incredible.

My Queensland trip was a Greyhound bus package thing, kind of an Aus experience trip, very different to Kiwi Ex, but we'll come to that another time. Greyhound buses run all over Australia, as individual trips, as packages, in all sorts of formats. My Aus Ex included the bus travel from Brisbane to Cairns because that's the distance I chose; tickets to and from Magnetic Island; and a Barefoot Tour.

So I was off for my trip to Magnetic Island. I wish I'd had so much more time there. It was beautiful. I did a lot of walking and exploring; off-path-ing and scrambling down cliffs to get to deserted beaches; and scrambling up hills and through trees to get the magnificent views and sunsets; and lying in hammocks; and walking along beaches with fallen coconuts lapping the shore in the surf. It was incredible, and tropical, and just amazing. I just needed another week there, just like I needed another week in Cairns, but more on Cairns shortly...
Watching the sunrise over the ocean, snorkeling in tropical waters, again; walking out onto the sea wall for a view of nothing but blue ocean... Paradise.

Basically Magnetic Island was everything I could wish for from an island. It is what I'd wrongly imagined Phillip Island would be- Perfect!

And on to Cairns and Asylum Hostel. Asylum was about the right name for it. The hostel itself would have left a lot to be desired, if it wasn't for the brilliant atmosphere there. Friendly and sociable, and more than a little bit crazy. Everyone knew everyone. Most of the guests seemed to be European, staying months at a time whilst working in Cairns. I definitely would have. The staff were great. I was reading my book on the sofas, outside, like only in Aus, and before long I was sucked into conversation around a table, and drinking Goon, and yes, I admit it, smoking weed.
Cairns was brilliant. Goon, not so much. It is a horrible thing; cheap boxed wine. It is lethal. I drank far too much of it whilst staying in Cairns, just how much is still disputed, but it did nearly make me very late and very hungover for my Barefoot Tour.

Queensland Pt.1- My Birthday Prezzie to Myself (Dec 17-24th)

A week of Queensland, because why not?
This is a classic case of wanting to see as much as possible, in a short amount of time, on a limited budget, and being back in NSW for Christmas with my 'Aussie Family'.
I'm cutting it into 3, coz it was an epic week!

In some ways it seemed like I didn't get to do or see much because I was heading up the coast so fast. In a way that was right, but everything was so fun and fleeting and free from constraint that it didn't really matter. It didn't matter that I wasn't doing the popular things, like a booze cruise scuba trip in the Whitsundays. Yeah that might have been fun, but I didn't want to spend that much on being drunk half the time. Yes, I would have loved to go diving but I'd had a tropical reef all to myself for a week of snorkeling in paradise in WA, it just wasn't the 'Great Barrier Reef'.

My night train to Sydney was fantastic (apart from nearly missing it). I had an entire carriage to myself so I just lay down on the floor and slept for the 4 hours. Being back in Sydney was great. It was nice to know where I was and where I was going. Sydney was in Christmas mode of course. Seeing Santa's in 30'C heat will never be anything but bizarre. Santa belongs in SNOW! He'd get too hot in that get up in the sun! And sitting in a cafe drinking ICED coffee listening to Christmas songs. In all honesty I think contented was the word for how I felt there =)

 Then onto an overnight train to Brisbane (a lot of sleeping on buses and trains on this trip). A journey of 13hours, yes flying would have been more convenient but budget travel dictated train. Besides, I got some sleep on the train. Having a double seat to myself was a bonus. Not quite an entire carriage though. A guy across the aisle shared his scone with me too. Trains in Aus have an obsession with 'Devonshire Teas' (which they pronounce Devon- Shire). These are basically a cream tea with scone, jam, cream and tea.

Unfortunately the train arrived in Brisbane at 4am, a bit early to do anything much, so napping at the train station it was. Surprisingly (or maybe not so) quite a few people were doing this. Finally I went for a wander through the Botanical Gardens with my little Tig and my kindle. Luckily I travel light so only had one little bag to cart around on my explorations. I eventually found my hostel, via a wander around a small market where I found olive bread, fresh squeezed lemonade and cherries, which I intended to keep me going a couple of days. My hostel was on the same road as the one I stayed in the first time in Brisbane, finding the road was another problem...

Cloud 9 hostel was a cheap hostel, comfortable enough though, and I was given a 10 bed dorm to myself, to start with. After returning from watching Dodgeball in the hostel lounge, I was no longer alone, and thus ensued the most fun you can have in a hostel dorm I'm sure!



It started with a trip to Woolworths supermarket specifically for Pringles and continued into Duck Faces, Mattress Forts and many discussions of Doctor Who! What else do you do with 8 empty beds? Amazing fun!





Then pancakes and strawberry thickshakes for breakfast next morning after much walking to find somewhere suitable. Then it was goodbye to my American Cloud 9 Mattress Fortress friend and onto the bus for Rainbow Beach, again.

A sleepy trip with the same stops as last time, including the Commonwealth Kangaroo. I'm so glad I got back to Rainbow beach. It was like a complete circle for my trip. I do wish I'd had the time to go to Fraser Island this time but really it was just a meandering trip to Cairns.
It was another relaxing, sunsetty evening on a sand dune for me, with 'sand angels' and boomerangs. After dozens of near misses, I joined a group of people learning to throw one. Better than being a target. It's not as easy as it looks throwing a boomerang. There's a knack to it that I just couldn't learn. And, whilst on an evening wander along the Cooloola walk, I finally saw a couple of Kookaburras.

The morning was a swim, one of many this week, and another fantastic smoothie, and on to the bus to Agnes Water and to a town with a number not a name, 1770. Could do with something other than beaches by this point though.
I could have flown straight to Cairns instead of taking my meandering journey but I would have missed out on the beautiful, random experiences... A late night surfer running up to congratulate me on my moon tan; catching a cat nap (aka just sleeping) on the beach when I had a late bus; realising that 20'C felt cold, and the water was warmer; having impossibly cold feet, and not enough clothes to warm them up after midnight swims.

After an overnight bus, where I somehow managed to get plenty of sleep, It was Airlie Beach, which was beautiful. It had a tropical beach feel to it, including fresh coconut milk, still in the fleshy coconut with the top hacked off. There was a gorgeous little market on (I do like markets in this post). I started with a coffee, then a few little bits and pieces, and of course a coconut and cooee whistle from a little stall in the corner. The stall holder could only be described as an old bushman. I still can't get a decent cooee from my whistle.

The trip to Townsville was stunning, as was Townsville itself. It was mountainous, or at least hilly, and islandy and lovely. The architecture in Townsville was beautiful, a Mediterranean sort of feel, and the trees, they were incredible: covered in vines, but not like vines, more like separate trees attaching themselves to, and growing on to the host tree to create incredible walls of trees. Trees growing trees, supporting trees, being so naturally beautiful!

Whiling Away Time

So really our road trip was now over. We were heading back through Queensland, to New South Wales and 'home' to Young. It would have been nice to hunt out a bit of work along the way but that was not to happen. We were too late for fruit picking, generally too early or far West for shearing.




We didn't stop much through Qld, keeping inland and taking the direct route to NSW kept us away from the thriving tourist areas. I did finally get to see my first wild camel as we left Mt Isa behind. A broken camel and a damaged hip prevented any good pictures though. After that it was emu's. They paraded up and down the main street in Longreach as if they owned it, which was incredible. We even found some interesting places not in the book. The Tree of Knowledge in Barcaldine is pretty stunning.



And finally reaching 'home' and seeing hills in the distance.

It was good having somewhere to come back to. To feel settled, a bed, a real shower, time alone, and not having to think about where tonight would be spent. A good feeling after a while. Being back in Young almost felt like a holiday in itself, not that I was done with Australia yet. It was a nice chilled out place though; drinks in the Australian Hotel; weekends away camping; the cherry festival in Young; and time to plan my next jaunts.

The Devil's Marbles (Nov 14th)

It surprises me how few people have heard of the Devil's Marbles. As far as natural landscapes/rock formations go, they are absolutely stunning.
You travel south through the Northern Territory, past the turning for Queensland and the East. Turning, singular, you don't really have many options whilst traveling this huge country. You never really get to anywhere after you pass the turning. This really is proper middle-of-nowhere stuff. The Devil's Marbles are in the middle of nowhere. No civilization, just a few travelers who've made the effort to find them, or made the stop on the long road up through the middle of the country.

These 'marbles' are incredible. Littered as far as the eye can see. I wish I knew what erosive process had created them. They look like they've just been dropped on the land. Field of huge, rounded boulders, balancing precariously on top of one another, like elaborate sculptures ready to topple at any moment...

That evening/night was impressive. Sunsets in Australia are impressive in general. Those in the NT are more so. All that red dust. The sunset that night, with the silhouetted boulder sculptures of the Devil's Marbles was stunning. And the perfect place to spend the night- devoid of the light pollution that comes with civilization, so a perfect starry sky. There's even a little camping area at the Marbles. Nothing fancy just a few little, wooden platforms, so we took the thin mattress out of the swag, added bedding and spent the night out in the open, under the stars, listening to dingoes howl.