Farewell new friends, hello Magnetic Island

Monday, November 17th

Happy 20th birthday Alex!

Once again I was one of the first to wake up.  I must not be getting that much sleep, but the sun keeps me energized.  We started with breakfast cereal, fruit and toast again before we snorkeled at Blue Pearl Bay.

The water was calm and low tide, so perfect conditions for snorkeling, minus the slightly overcast skies.  Eddie and Terry took some bread to feed the fish.  It was a way better option than sick.  Eddie and Terry were nice enough to give me half of their bread.  So Bernice, Steph and I was able to snap some good photos with the underwater camera.  Hopefully it will show up.

We saw lots of bigger fish, but we were told to look for Elvis.  He is a huge roundish green fish living in the bay.  After snorkeling for a while, we got cold and were ready to leave...but we still didn't spot Elvis yet.  As we were climbing back into the raft, one of the guys asked if we saw Elvis.  Sadly we said no...he looked puzzled and said he is right under you.  Yes he was huge and we did spot him!  So cool!

Back on the boat we just sailed back to Airlie Beach.  It was relaxing.  We all tried to absorb the last bit of sailing we were doing.  Really appreciating the sea.  When we arrived back to Airlie, it was a bit sad to say farewell to all.  I did get everyone's email to stay in touch via facebook.  We grabbed lunch at a fish and chips place, and then swam in the manmade lagoon for a bit before heading to tribal travels for our backpacks.

Our bus to Townsville was 30mins late  Something to do with traffic and construction on the road.  We got to Townsville after 4.5 hours, just 5 mins after our ferry to Magnetic had left.  And the next one was 2 hours later, so we went to the casino nearby to grab dinner.  I was starving on the bus, since all I had for lunch was a grilled barramundi and some pasta salad.  At the casino we got a meat pie and a veggie filo pastry...and of course it came with fries again.  It was good value for AUD4.90 ($3).

Our ferry to Magnetic Island was a quick 20mins.  We took a 5 min bus ride to base backpackers.  Lucky us got a room to ourselves.  We got a steal deal to stay for 3 nights with one free breakfast, one day snorkel rental, one hour kayaking, and buy 1 get 1 free drinks for AUD118 ($78).  The room was nice and clean.  Shortly afterwards we all went to bed.  Pretty pooped from the snorkeling and traveling.