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Cairns to Sydney, Australia

More on the Road More Travelled

Theinversespoon
2005-11-10 17:53:54

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13 September 2002

From Cairns I rolled in to Townsville. On the bus I met Maria, the 21-year-old Austrian girl who had guys walking into poles whilst staring at her. She also had a way of being direct that made them trip over their charm and chew on their lips trying to think of something else to say that might hold her attention. And at the same time, she had no idea of the effect she had, which was both funny and refreshing.

For the next few days we walked and swam many kilometres in each other's company. Without stopping in Townsville, we headed straight for the ferry and on to Magnetic Island. An apt name for the island, I spent 4 wonderful days there hiking as many of the trails as I could fit in, that led from one secluded alcove to the next deserted bay. The paths passed through forest, rivers and forts where we spotted koala in the wild – my one and only sighting. We snorkelled and swam in the warm sea.

On the mainland again we headed for Airlie Beach which has a great lagoon to swim in. From here we said our goodbyes as I went out to sea on 'Reality', the catamaran that would take me around the Whitsundays. Since Cairns the weather has been working against me, but it let up for a few hours each day, the clouds moved aside and let the light on in. Over three days bobbing on the ocean we saw whales, snorkelled, dived, survived boom netting and got thrown about until our eyeballs were swimming in that morning's breakfast cereal. At night time we stayed on Long Island, at a rather swish resort where we hogged the table tennis table, the pool table, the tennis court, the jacuzzi, the sauna and the microphone on karaoke night – and no, I NEVER karaoke, I only wince and laugh!

Being one of the top 5 beaches of the world, Whitehaven Beach was spectacular and whiter than my very own legs – usually an excellent benchmark! The sand is so fine that it's a good place to buff your ...