Sunday, 26/08/07: After picking up my travelmates and booking our East Coast Special (339 $) we hit the highway again. Unfortunately I had to say good bye to Aneli (we spent a lot of time in and around Cairns together) . All I`m saying is that these leaving situations really suck and we're still contacting each other at least twice a day :-(
Anyway we started our journey with a nice lookout
where Jodi & Kasper pointed out a Paw Paw tree...
What's so special about it? Well you'll only know it from a local that the tree branches are hollow and some people actually use that "advantage" for their own purposes...
Due to the little delay we planed to stay in Mission Beach that night but the hostels were booked out so we kept on going south and found an even better (free! camping) spot at the Murray Falls to set up our campgear for the first common night. Jodi and Kasper prefered their own tent ;-) , Helen slept in the other 2 person tent and I sticked to FeeBee.
creating a rubbish bin so FeeBee'll stay clean
Jodi
The next morning started off...
stubbie holder I bought in Darwin which perfectly matches with the car (rough Northern Territoy car...with huge dint in the front *g)
...with a misleading information from some road workers (it really looked like some beer comercial where u ask for the way and two persons point at opposite directions)...we lost about 40 minutes.
But we finally got to Townsville to spent another hour looking for a caravan park (Rowes Bay). I discovered that Kasper had a 20m power cable extension so we connected it to the kitchen`s plug and had electricity for about 3 hours till we were kindly asked to remove our stuff.
In contradiction to the information from yesterday we found out that there is a car ferry to Magnetic Island. 4 x 26 $ per person with the passenger ferry (104 $) or 144 $ for a car (4 x 36 $).
We took the car barge, I booked the Yongala wreck dive on the way (departs from Townsville or - better cause closer to the wreck - Ayr) and we enjoyed the rest of the day at the beach. Snorkeling wasn't possible though due to the strong wind and the therefore sandy water. I spent the night in a 10 bed dorm with 8 chicks (it`s actually pretty anoying if the only bathroom is taken for ages whem you`re ready to take shower).
Jodi, Kasper and Helen decided to go horse riding the next day so we split up and I went to Geoffrey Bay, Horseshoe/Florence/Balding and Radical Bay. I spent the remaining time with creating a little donation can/box for FeeBee (I got the idea in Cairns after finding a donated foreign currency behind my wiper).
The last day`s been reserved for the 2 hour walking track to the old forts.
We heared that it`s very likely to see a Koala on the way so we`re keen to find one...and we did! 
isn't he cute?
Overall a good start for the East Coast.
We left Magnetic Island with the 1.25 pm barge,
and headed towards Ayr where I got told that the weather conditions will make it impossible to do that dive within the next 2 days...u can imaging my disapointment...last stop for the day: Bowen Caravan Park.
On the next day (Friday) we reached Arlie Beach (Whitsunday starting point),
had a swim in the lagoon, prosponed the Whitsunday Island trip to sunday (bad forecast for saturday) and partied a bit in the hostel bar and Mama Africa Club (the first desent house club so far).
such a typical Aussie characters (i just had to take a picture of him)
The following rainy Saturday was just made for relaxing...
We left Arlie on sunday at 3pm (after paying an extra 35 bucks) to go on board of the Habibi...without rain but with a lot of clouds and ankered after 3 hours (in which I already found my favourite spot on the boat...pictures are a bit further down) at Tongue Bay and had a fairly quite evening...
...and again we went to sleep praying for sunshine...but we got dissapointed again...cloudy at sunrise...but not less beautiful
Habibi ankering at White Haven Beach
Mic @ White Haven Beach
, a fantastic walk to the lookout,
playing football on White Haven beach
this perfect picture combination was taken by accident...sometimes those 're the best...
beach ornaments
about a million crabs,
nice people
and even a female Humpback whale and her kid/calve...
WOW! Just that single experience would have been worth the trip already (I still wanna swim/dive with a whale though cause it's on my life ToDo list)...we got to Mantaray Bay
where we found nice snorkeling conditions, sailed on and ankered at Caves Cove
to go for the second dive on that day...Wow again!
The evening ended up with "goon" (word for wine in 4 litre bags with a karton around). Anybody got some memories coming up by: "What`s the name of the fuxxxxx game? What`s the name? OR "Ping - Pong - Paw" (these games definately got an english orign).
During the night the people sleeping on deck ot soaking wet from the thunderstorm (that I didnt notice at all)...and it stayed that way on our last day but we had a nearly perfekt day in the middle (and for sailing instance it was really nice as well)...
Skipper Mic
We had to leave the "Habibi" at 2pm but I still could't discover the meaning behind the lower right position on the wall picture next to my room...I guess some secrets will never be revealed ;-)
later on we celebrated the successfull trip till late night...
That`s it for 2day...more to come...
Anyway we started our journey with a nice lookout
where Jodi & Kasper pointed out a Paw Paw tree...
What's so special about it? Well you'll only know it from a local that the tree branches are hollow and some people actually use that "advantage" for their own purposes...
Due to the little delay we planed to stay in Mission Beach that night but the hostels were booked out so we kept on going south and found an even better (free! camping) spot at the Murray Falls to set up our campgear for the first common night. Jodi and Kasper prefered their own tent ;-) , Helen slept in the other 2 person tent and I sticked to FeeBee.Helen, Jodi and Kasper at Murray Falls
creating a rubbish bin so FeeBee'll stay clean
Jodi
The next morning started off...packing our pile of luggage a bit more properly
stubbie holder I bought in Darwin which perfectly matches with the car (rough Northern Territoy car...with huge dint in the front *g)
...with a misleading information from some road workers (it really looked like some beer comercial where u ask for the way and two persons point at opposite directions)...we lost about 40 minutes.a bit of the not so fancy looking parts of Australia
But we finally got to Townsville to spent another hour looking for a caravan park (Rowes Bay). I discovered that Kasper had a 20m power cable extension so we connected it to the kitchen`s plug and had electricity for about 3 hours till we were kindly asked to remove our stuff.
In contradiction to the information from yesterday we found out that there is a car ferry to Magnetic Island. 4 x 26 $ per person with the passenger ferry (104 $) or 144 $ for a car (4 x 36 $).
Jodi & Mic on the ferry
We took the car barge, I booked the Yongala wreck dive on the way (departs from Townsville or - better cause closer to the wreck - Ayr) and we enjoyed the rest of the day at the beach. Snorkeling wasn't possible though due to the strong wind and the therefore sandy water. I spent the night in a 10 bed dorm with 8 chicks (it`s actually pretty anoying if the only bathroom is taken for ages whem you`re ready to take shower).
our little possum friend
Jodi, Kasper and Helen decided to go horse riding the next day so we split up and I went to Geoffrey Bay, Horseshoe/Florence/Balding and Radical Bay. I spent the remaining time with creating a little donation can/box for FeeBee (I got the idea in Cairns after finding a donated foreign currency behind my wiper).
The last day`s been reserved for the 2 hour walking track to the old forts.
We heared that it`s very likely to see a Koala on the way so we`re keen to find one...and we did! 
isn't he cute?
another one ;-)
The day ended with a partially cruel toad race where you can auction a toad and if it wins you get 100 bucks....the rest of the money goes to charity.
The day ended with a partially cruel toad race where you can auction a toad and if it wins you get 100 bucks....the rest of the money goes to charity.
Overall a good start for the East Coast.
We left Magnetic Island with the 1.25 pm barge,
some were a bit tired (I like the "hello-wake-up-look in Kasper's face)
and headed towards Ayr where I got told that the weather conditions will make it impossible to do that dive within the next 2 days...u can imaging my disapointment...last stop for the day: Bowen Caravan Park.
On the next day (Friday) we reached Arlie Beach (Whitsunday starting point),
had a swim in the lagoon, prosponed the Whitsunday Island trip to sunday (bad forecast for saturday) and partied a bit in the hostel bar and Mama Africa Club (the first desent house club so far).
such a typical Aussie characters (i just had to take a picture of him)1,90m ,
massive, with curly blond hair & beard and always having a fun time
Arlie Beach lagoon at night
massive, with curly blond hair & beard and always having a fun time
Arlie Beach lagoon at night
The following rainy Saturday was just made for relaxing...We left Arlie on sunday at 3pm (after paying an extra 35 bucks) to go on board of the Habibi...without rain but with a lot of clouds and ankered after 3 hours (in which I already found my favourite spot on the boat...pictures are a bit further down) at Tongue Bay and had a fairly quite evening...
Dan and what was her name? Don't blame it on me she just didn't socialize too much
BBQ on board
taking fun pictures
vacuum cleaner didgeridoo
taking fun pictures
vacuum cleaner didgeridoo
...and again we went to sleep praying for sunshine...but we got dissapointed again...cloudy at sunrise...but not less beautiful
as you probably noticed I like the feature improvement of my new digital camera...
(Samsung S800)
Anyway we left to Whithaven beach which is supposed to be one of the nicest beaches in Australia/the world and guess what? The clouds were disappearing and we had an awsome day/experience seeing this beautiful white beach
Habibi ankering at White Haven Beach
Mic @ White Haven Beach
, a fantastic walk to the lookout,
playing football on White Haven beach
this perfect picture combination was taken by accident...sometimes those 're the best...
beach ornaments
about a million crabs,
nice people
and even a female Humpback whale and her kid/calve...
WOW! Just that single experience would have been worth the trip already (I still wanna swim/dive with a whale though cause it's on my life ToDo list)...we got to Mantaray BayWhitsunday crew
sitting at the best pllace on the boat
where we found nice snorkeling conditions, sailed on and ankered at Caves Cove
to go for the second dive on that day...Wow again!I don't have to tell you about the extraordinary sunsets anymore...
The evening ended up with "goon" (word for wine in 4 litre bags with a karton around). Anybody got some memories coming up by: "What`s the name of the fuxxxxx game? What`s the name? OR "Ping - Pong - Paw" (these games definately got an english orign).During the night the people sleeping on deck ot soaking wet from the thunderstorm (that I didnt notice at all)...and it stayed that way on our last day but we had a nearly perfekt day in the middle (and for sailing instance it was really nice as well)...
Skipper Mic
We had to leave the "Habibi" at 2pm but I still could't discover the meaning behind the lower right position on the wall picture next to my room...I guess some secrets will never be revealed ;-)
later on we celebrated the successfull trip till late night...That`s it for 2day...more to come...
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