Calibrating to Cairns, Mission Beach, Magnetic Island and Airlee beach!

 

On Septmember 22nd, we finally said a heartfelt goodbye to Asia and boarded our plane to Cairns.

 

We stayed in Cairns for a week and spent all of our time at a famous hostel- Gilligans. On our first night we met two girls in our dorm who go by the names of Skidz and Poppy. We have travelled most of the coast with them since meeting and we now reside with them in Brisbane. Arriving at 10pm on a Friday night, we were blown away with the size of the hostel and how crazy it was. The hostel was not just based on accommodation but also contained a few bars, a nightclub and a 24/7 poker lounge. It’s fair to say that we all felt slightly out of our comfort zone when we first arrived, but we quickly got into the spirit of things. On our first morning in Cairns, we went to a booking office to see what we would be able to do. Within an hour we left the booking office with our next 3 weeks completely planned out and booked, and our bank accounts looking rather miserable. Looking back, we’re really glad we did this as it’s much harder to organise things last minute in Australia, whereas in Asia we could arrange anything at any time.

 

The two main excursions we did in Cairns were the Great Barrier Reef and Cape Tribulation.

 

Me and Sam opted to dive at two sites on the Great Barrier Reef while Connor did an introductory dive and some snorkelling. The reef was quite special given the size of it, but we were slightly disappointed at the lack of animals we saw and I was also shocked to see how much colour and life had vanished from when I saw it in my first trip to Australia. Also, being so spoilt for snorkelling opportunities and wildlife encounters in SEA probably made us a little harder to impress.

 

The Cape Tribulation trip was good fun. We spent most of the day being driven around the Daintree rainforest and also had a brief boat trip where we saw many crocodiles and a snake. Unfortunately we did not see any Cassowaries in the forest, but we were given a lot of information on how important they are to the survival of the rainforest.

 

Aside from our two excursions we spent a lot of our time at the public swimming lagoon and seeing the local attractions.

 

From Cairns, we caught our first of many greyhound busses to a place called Mission beach. Mission beach is a very small town that is well known for two things, skydiving and wellness retreats. None of us opted to do a skydive, but we did stay at a retreat. The retreat was very nice, nestled away in the mountains and away from society. We spent two nights here and we did a couple of nice treks, only really leaving the accommodation on one occasion to watch the Aussie rules final, where Collingwood beat Brisbane in a thrilling game, even if we didn’t quite understand what was going on.

 

Our next stop was then Magentic island, a small island located a short ferry ride away from Townsville. ‘Maggie’ island is famous for its wildlife, having the largest population of Koala bears in the north of Australia, and also being home to a colony of rock-wallabies. Due to Connor booking his tour slightly later than myself and Sam, Connor spent an extra day in Mission beach, where he hired bikes with the girls and saw some of scenic spots. As we didn’t want to do the koala walk without Connor, me and Sam opted to play our first round of golf in Australia. The course was basic but very quiet, so we had a great time tearing it up in a buggy and occasionally hitting an acceptable shot. Our hostel was also located right on the beachfront, so we spent a lot of time playing catch with a skim-ball.

 

Upon Connor’s arrival the next day, we tackled the heat and set off towards the ‘Fort wall’ which takes you through a national park full of Koalas. We saw 4 different Koalas, all within an arms length- which was great. We also rented e-scooters and headed towards Geoffrey bay. Armed with leftover carrots, we hand fed dozens of wallabies. Overall we had a very wholesome and relaxed time on the island and we all enjoyed it thoroughly.

 

Next up was Airlee beach, where we would spend a couple of days either side of a Whitsundays sailing trip. On the first couple of days we went for walks around the beach, the parks and spent time swimming in the fantastic public lagoon.

 

We then woke up early to commence 3 days sailing through some of the most picturesque islands and beaches in the world. We opted for a more adventure based trip, rather than a tacky booze cruise. We sailed on a yacht called Broomstick. The crew were very keen to inform us of its history. Apparently at its time, it was one of the best sailing boats in the world for its class, and won many races convincingly before being converted into a tour boat. Throughout the course of the 3 days, we stopped at beaches. The most impressive beach was Whitehaven beach, the second most photographed spot in Australia. It was also used in the pirate of the Caribbean films and our guide talked us through how hundreds of palm trees were helicoptered in for the set and then returned again after filming. The beach was also full of stingrays, who roamed carelessly around us, which was pretty cool to see.

Aside from beaches and treks, we also snorkelled at 3 different spots and had full on sailing experiences where the  low side of the boat would be touching the waves. We had a great group on this trip which really added to the experience and when we returned to Airlee we went on a completion night out with most of the group, before all going our separate ways. With the trip being quite full on, we didn’t get up to much on our final days, but it was a lovely place to relax.

 

Favourite memory- swimming at Whitehaven beach.

 

Beer choice : Great northern lager (425ml schooner), $8 (£4).