Great Barrier Reef + Brisbane
From Sydney, it was on to the town of Townsville. Not a town as iconic as most of the other Australian towns I visited, but it was the gateway to Magnetic Island, an island in the Great Barrier Reef. I didn't feel it would be a trip to Australia without a visit to the Reef, so I researched the best place to go (that was the farthest south). The reef is long! (1400 miles to be exact). Most people I met were flying clear up to Cairns to do their reef trip. I'd heard Cairns, as a town, was not all that great, and I wanted to spend a few days wherever I went to. After a night in Townsville (a terribly HOT, HUMID and uninteresting town), I ferried out to Magnetic Island. While still very hot, the breezes really helped cool things down. It was a fairly small island, with regular bus service to transport you from location to location. I stayed in a YHA that was so cool! It was like a mini resort- large open deck bar, beautiful pool, palm trees everywhere, these small a-frame cabins ...
