In the morning (6th April) I had been intending to go early to investigate the Omnimax cinema, the only one in the southern hemisphere, but was delayed when I got talking to a French girl called Delfine who was planning to check out of the hostel to head to Magnetic Island (as I was intending to later in the day). Eventually we got a ride down to the port – Delfine got her ferry to Magnetic Island and I went to the nearby Omnimax Cinema.

Omnimax is like Imax but with a wraparound screen – all you can see is screen, even in your peripheral vision. It wraps 180 degrees horizontally, and from vertically above, down to 20 degrees down. It was a phenomenal cinematic experience, with sound to match. One of the 2 documentary films I saw was an Imax film about the Niagara Falls, and the other was a “made for Omnimax” Australian film about life on the Great Barrier Reef. Having dived on the reef the previous day I decided that the Omnimax experience gave at least as much as the real thing, and without getting wet.

After lunch I caught the next ferry to Magnetic Island and got a little bus to the Rock Wallaby Hostel. It was a very peaceful and pleasant hangout – best of all it had a swimming pool that contained Delfine! She was getting a little bored with the pool, and was wanting to go for a long walk, so she hopped out, dried off, and we soon headed off over the nearby hills for a 2+ hour hike.

Then we found a fish and chip shop (hardly haut cuisine but we were starving) went back for a swim in the hostel pool, and then got a ride with the hostel owner to Picnic Bay at the southern tip of Magnetic Island.

Magnetic Island is so called because James Cook, the English navigator who originally explored this area, noted some strange behaviour of the compass on his ship, the Endeavour, and decided that the island must have magnetic rock.

At Picnic Bay, we ran into Sally and Jacky (from the Thursday diving trip) and we all went for a drink at a bar on the beach, before Delfine and I walked back the 2 km to our hostel.

The next day (7th April) I had to wake Delfine up – after breakfast we investigated windsurfing at the nearby beach (a “come and try it” session was advertised), but no windsurfers were available. So we walked to Rocky Beach which was small, deserted and required some scrambling down over rocks to reach. A pleasant morning was spent there, swimming and chatting.

Finally it was time to head back to the Rock Wallaby hostel – Delfine had to head back to Townsville that afternoon. Once she’d gone I got busy with some letter-writing, to let people back home know about my adventures on the Great Barrier Reef.

In the late afternoon some new people showed up – including 3 “Sloanes” – posh West-End London girls – called Kate, Melissa, and Tor. I got talking to 2 rather more approachable northern English guys and I went to get some food with them. When we got back to the hostel, the Sloanes, and a like-minded Londoner called Nigel (with his friends) were organising a little party by the pool, to which all were apparently invited.

A bottle of port appeared from somewhere, and some silly games started. One of the Sloanes introduced a “challenge” that involved running round a broom stick (using this as your axis of spinning and looking down at it). This was to be done at the far end of the patch of grass alongside the pool, and then after it was considered that you had spun enough, you had to then run down the grass to where everyone else was sitting. It turned out that the dizziness caused by the spinning was supposed to make you run straight into the pool, however hard you tried not to.

I tried it, knowing what was going to happen, and deliberately ran away from the pool. However I still almost fell in the pool – it was as though a magnetic force was drawing me to it! After this we all had a go at solving lateral thinking puzzles, while listening to some rather curious and energetic music, that I did not recognise. It sounded a little like Spanish flamenco, but with much more lively melodies. I asked someone what it was, and I was told that it’s a group that has recently become popular in the music charts worldwide. They are apparently called “Gypsy Kings”.

Everyone agreed that they liked the Gypsy Kings, but since the songs were in Spanish the only person present who could actually understand some of the lyrics was me!

The lateral thinking game was won by a bespectacled English girl called Helen, who was either an expert at lateral thinking, or happened to know all the answers beforehand.

I slept until late on 8th April. There had been mention (amongst the Sloanes and the “Nigels”) of a plan to share the rental of a couple of open topped Mini-Mokes to tour the island. However in the morning they didn’t seem so keen, and in fact were not particularly friendly. I decided to head back to Townsville later that day, and so checked out of the hostel. However I figured that I would tour the island a bit by bike first, so leaving my backpack at the bike rental shop (which was also a fish and chip shop) I pedaled off.

I reached Horseshoe Bay fairly quickly, where I realised that the grinding noise from the bike was due to a worn chain. I kept the pace a bit slower after that since I didn’t want to break the chain and go flying over the handlebars. At Radical Bay I met the Sloanes, who did at least acknowledge my presence. Back at Nelly Bay, I returned the bike to the chip shop, ate some chips, and collected my backpack. I was able to get a ride to Picnic Bay from the hostel owner, where I walked into the Mini Moke rental place just out of curiosity. Having owned and maintained 4 Minis in the last 12 years, and being aware of the rare Moke variant, I was curious that there should be so many Mini Mokes in this one place.

I got talking to the owner, who was (like me) something of a Mini enthusiast. He said that despite the fact that the Moke is open topped, and looks more like a Jeep, it is mechanically identical to the original Mini in almost all respects.

I went for a climb to the nearby headland to enjoy the late afternoon sun and then headed for the jetty to catch the next boat back to Townsville.

I decided I had seen enough of the east coast of Australia and went to obtain a bus pass that will allow me to travel relatively cheaply across Australia. I was able to secure a seat on the next day’s bus westwards. While doing this I happened to meet Helen – the lateral thinking champion from the previous evening. After checking myself into the Transit Centre hostel for one more night, Helen joined me for a meal at Andy’s bar, where a couple of people who I knew from Magnetic Island joined us for a drink or two. Eventually I walked Helen back to the hostel she was staying at, and by midnight I was back at the Transit hostel for my last night in Townsville.

It’s time to explore the vast expanses of Australia that are not near the coast: The Outback.