Day 1: Up bright and early to catch my first OZ Experience bus. Almost a nightmare start as it nearly went without me after I went just around the corner from the actual meeting point. Luckily, the driver got my attention as I was walking past and I got on. It was only about a minute after the meeting time so it was probably a good time for me to learn this lesson before heading down the coast - if you're late, they don't hang around.
Once onboard, I met our driver (Bud) and also Dave (Manchester) and Kat (Sheffield) and that was it, the rest of the bus was empty. The OZ buses hold up to 21 people so I was expecting more but I'm sure it will be more full as we move down the coast. Thankfully, the 3 of us and Bud all got on right away and had a good laugh as we started our journey down the east coast.
A lot of travellers on the east coast tend to either use OZ Experience or Greyhound Buses. Whereas Greyhound is purely a bus service going from A to B (something I'm very used to), OZ Experience offers more of a guided tour and stops off at lots of different destinations on each journey. Given I've only got a month over here, this was what I was looking for.
We saw the benefits straight away as Bud took us across the Atherton Tablelands and gave us lots of information about the area. After this, our first stop was Lake Eacham - a picturesque sight where we stopped and took a break. From here, we went to check out a cool Curtain Fig Tree that was as interesting as it was unusual.
The final stop before reaching Townsville was a stop at The Milla Milla Waterfall, famous for being the scene for Peter Andre's "Mysterious Girl" video. None of us were expecting to go here so it was another added bonus given it's a really nice place. After some initial hesitation (it was freezing cold), we all went in for a dip (Bud included) and then got as close as we could to the waterfall. Pretty hard considering how powerful it is and Bud had to quickly turn back after thinking he was going to drown - I think he was being a bit of a drama queen to be honest and we had a laugh about it afterwards. The rest of us stayed in the water and posed for some Peter Andre style photos in front of the waterfall.
Then it was straight through to Townsville and to catch the ferry over to Magnetic Island for the evening. We were joined by another english girl called Kelly, who had something going on with Bud. We caught the ferry over early evening and had the night over there before continuing our trip south the following morning. No time to explore the island unfortunately so we spent our night getting drunk instead. Once again, Bud was fully involved with this, which I think is another advantage to OZ Experience. We were hoping he wouldn't get too wasted though, considering he would be driving us to Airlie Beach the following morning. All in all, an enjoyable and very boozy evening, enhanced by Bud getting us all numerous free drinks. A shame we didn't have any time to see the island but we're all on a tight enough schedule as it is.
The following morning, myself, Dave and Kat got an early ferry back to Townsville to go check out Reef HQ, a small aquarium with an artificial reef inside. It was a tiny place but loads to see including a Nurse Shark, Leopard Shark, Hammerhead and a big Sawfish. We weren't there long but it was well worth checking out. Will be nice if I can see something similar when I'm next diving.
After Reef HQ, we met Bud, Kelly and some others back at the bus and embarked on the next leg of our journey south. This time, it took us all afternoon to get down to Airlie Beach - gateway to the famous Whitsunday Islands. There wasn't as much to see on the way but it didn't stop Bud talking to us and dishing out the banter for most of the journey so we all had a good laugh. There's something like 10 different drivers for OZ Experience on the east coast so here's hoping they are all as entertaining and friendly as him.
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