Outside of Ravenswood was a descent from the hills to the desert floor, then a 70km drive through the backcountry. I eventually reached the town of Ayr, which I had been considering as my next stop after Townsville. Once I got there, I realized there wasn't much to it, just the one strip. More a town for people spending a month or two picking fruit in the local orchards than a traveller seeking adventure. Cross that off my list. Arriving in Townsville an hour later, I drove around in the rain, stressing a bit about my lack of organization (in favour of spontaneity of course), seemingly finding every route of the city core, and finally located the Reef Lodge, the hostel of hidden cameras.

There, I chatted with my bunkmates Maddie (Melbourne), Michael (Germany), the Dutch coral guy who worked for ReefHQ (local aquarium with worlds largest indoor coral reef), and a sculptor from Darwin who was installing a show just down the street. Michael was heading to Cairns, and I told him about my experiences on the dive boat. Thinking back to the Yongala wreck, I was wondering whether doing those things at the beginning of my trip meant doing the best stuff first followed by a steady denouement. I could hear hear bass booming from the clubs on nearby Flinders St, and had been looking forward to a night on the town while I'd been driving. It was raining though, and kinda chilly, so I spent the night hanging out around the hostel, chatting with two German girls, Alex and Janine. It turns out that a few Germans actually DON'T listen to electronica!!

The next day, I got up, checked email to find the DJ hadn't contacted me. Screw him. Now I had to make a call. I had four days to kill before flying out of Brisbane to Sydney, where I'd be meeting Cousin Norm for our road trip, and was thinking of either Rainbow Beach or Noosa, both nice spots with good surfing. Rainbow? Noosa? Rainbow...... Noosa..... I decided on Noosa Heads, since Maddie had really liked it, and it had a more flexible bus schedule. It meant a 21-hour busride from Townsville, but hey, the weather was miserable, and since I'd be travelling overnight, I didn't have to worry about accomodation right?