THIS IS WHY AUSTRALIA IS AWESOME (wallabies + world class diving)

I felt like we were on some kind of like naval mission. Like we all hopped in this boat on the beach that was being pulled by this tractor, drove 45 minutes out to the dive site, rolled in backwards off the boat.

That was the coldest dive slash boat ride of my life.

Left side of the road. Left side of the road.

We're hanging out with wild wallabies right now.

Tip done.

Normally I wouldn't be excited to be up at this time, but we are about to drive an hour south to dive what could be one of the best dive sites in the world.

Probably see some big sharks down here, right? Yeah, they did go down that day. I think the other boat.

The weather that we're having right now is reminding me of when we got certified to dive for the first time.

Freezing.

We were camping in Florida and we literally woke up with ice on our tits. And we were supposed to go get in the water that morning. It's not that cold here, but it feels like it.

All right, here we go.

We have to secure all our equipment close to our body. That way we don't have any dangly bits smacking on the wreck on any of today.

We're diving one of the top 10 dive sites in the world, the SS Yongala shipwreck. But it's not exactly easy to get there. We got in the back of a truck and drove to a deserted beach where a tractor and a boat were waiting for us.

After getting launched into the waves, we had a 45 minute boat ride through 2 meter swells before we finally arrived at the famous dive site.

Because it is so big with so much to see, we did two dives here.

And as we descended, we quickly learned that our rough and cold journey to get here was totally worth it.

Over 100 years ago, the SS Yongala sank during a cyclone with 122 passengers on board.

And it wasn't found until 1958.

It's about 30 meters deep and the ship is 110 meters long, making her one of the largest, most intact historic shipwrecks in the world.

The wreck has now become an established artificial reef, providing a beautiful habitat for a diverse range of marine life, which is what makes the staff site so special.

Sam.

All right. I think my body temperature's finally at a normal level. That was the coldest dive slash boat ride of my life. But it was so worth it.

I felt like we were on some kind of like naval mission. Like we all hopped in this boat on the beach that was being pulled by this tractor. Drove 45 minutes out to the dive site, rolled in backwards off the boat.

Two liter swells.

It was intense.

But it's also my favorite part of diving because it's like wah, chaos. Like tanks hitting each other. Jump in the water and then as soon as you go under, it's just like, I'm calm. Bubbles. Fish.

And the dive site itself was just one of the most incredible dive sites we have ever been to. It was just so alive. And it was like all of the marine life that we saw was on steroids. Like the by far the biggest fish I've ever dove with.

And the shipwreck didn't even look like a ship anymore because there was so much growing on it.

It was just as alive as a coral reef. And it was our first time scooting scuba diving with sea snakes, which was pretty cool.

Right before we got in. They're like, they are venomous. And I was just like, oh gosh. But I found myself getting like really close to them being like cool because they're like mesmerizing underwater. And then I was like, I would never be this close to a venomous snake if it was on the ground.

For some reason, when you put on your dive gear, you feel invincible.

I feel like it can't see me. And I just was like.

They said they weren't aggressive at all. Like one just swam right over this guy's head. That and the ball of fish, the bait ball of fish was probably the coolest moment that I've ever had underwater.

I will never forget being in the middle of it. I just laid on my back and I blew up my bubbles and all the fish were just swimming through my bubbles and I couldn't even see the surface because there were so many.

It just, it was so good though. We're pretty much staying in like this campground tonight. We're sleeping in one of the trailers that are back here. But apparently there's a big rugby match tonight. I think it's Queenlands versus New South Queen. Queenland.

Queenland.

And apparently it's a big deal because there's, there's a parade driving around the.

Campground and the dining area is all decorated with cans and lights and balloons.

So we're going to hang out, watch the rugby game tonight.

New South Wales.

Queensland.

Got, got to have a guide to blue one up here.

She's cheering for Queensland.

Bye. Bye.

I think the biggest thing to take away from that is he was driving a four wheeler drinking a beer.

Thank you very much.

This morning we jumped on a bus, drove Back to Townsville. Dropped our stuff off at our hotel. And now we are on our way to the ferry port to catch a boat to magnetic island.

The island sits five miles off of the mainland, so we have a 30 minute ferry ride to get there. And it's not raining yet.

I'm flying, Jack.

I'm flying.

All right. 30 minutes later, we have arrived at Maggie island.

Yeah, I'm thinking pink. It's like a life size Barbie car.

Left side of the road. Left side of the road. All right.

We have hired this topless car for the day to explore magnetic island. This sounded like a much better idea. We thought it was going to be warm and sunny, but we're going with it. Here's our fun.

You look so good in my pink car.

Yeah.

Not to blinker. That's the windshield wipers.

All right, quick update. We've been on the road for two minutes. We've already gotten lost and turned around and it's starting to rain.

Off to a great start.

So there's supposed to be two different animals on this island. Koala bears and koalabees. So our mission for the day is to find those two animals. I really hope we can find some. It's really raining. It's like actually raining now. Not just raindrops. Oh, dear.

You get close to the windshield, then you go get in the wet.

Oh, yeah, they planned. This is not the dreamy Barbie car day I was Picturing.

It's only 10:30.

We heard that wallabies like carrots and I like chips.

To the wallabies.

Go around the mirror just in case. Dang it. Backpack.

According to google maps, we should run into some wallabies somewhere along this trail.

They're called rock wallabies.

It's like a miniature kangaroo.

There's a whole family of wallabies right here. They're so.

He's thinking about it.

Should I talk?

Hi.

He just took it left.

They're super skittish, but if you sit still for a while, they just all kind of slowly gather around you. They're really curious. I feel like this is the most Australian thing. See, one wrong move and they're gone.

Hey.

Hey.

Hello.

And now we are off to find the koalas. I've heard they're a little bit harder to spot. I don't think they'll be jumping out in front of us in the parking lot like koalbees.

So we've just started the fortswalk trail, which is the most popular hiking trail here on the island. And it's because this is where the koalas are supposed to hang out.

I heard that people will lay sticks in the middle of the trail wherever they see them. Because they're, like, up in the trees and hard to see. So we're looking for sticks. We're looking for koalas.

They introduced koalas back to the island in 1932. They brought 13 koalas here. And now this island is home to the largest colony of koalas in northern Queensland. There are up to 800 koalas on this island.

I just read a sign that one of the deadliest snakes in the world is on this island.

It's called the death adder.

Said to watch out.

We just passed two hikers that told us that they saw a koala up here on the left. So I hope he's still there. Lady told us he's having a bit of a munch.

Oh, he's just sitting there chewing on the branches. He's big.

All right. Mission accomplished. We can go home now.

I could stand and watch that little cutie for hours. We finally pulled ourselves away.

There was a local woman who was there, and she was really excited about it, like, how low he was and that he was active and eating. So I think we got really lucky with that sighting. All right. There's a lot of steps in front of us.

We made it to the tippy top of the island. It's very windy up here. This actually used to be a fort during World War II. So we're at the top of one of the signal stations right now. So beautiful up here.

That is a wrap on Maggie Island. And we're getting back on the ferry already. Today Flew by.

We are scheduled to be on a.

Sunset sale right now.

It got cancelled.

Robbie is rewalking back to the mainland.

Totally worth getting down here and braving the cold.

I'm proud of us.

I'm proud of you.

I'm proud of me too. Very important.

Three.

So they're supposed. Oh, I just got a range off on my face. Yeah. Tennessee. That has a pouch.

One of us is definitely gonna fall on our face because we're both just, like, looking straight up like this.

It's not exactly a flat trail. We played with the wallabies and looked for the koala bears for too long. And we kind of ran out of time for lunch. So we just grabbed a quick gelato.

All right. That's a wrap at Maggie Island.

The funniest part about this weather is that I decided that today was a good day to wash my hair and blow dry it and.

Been like this since I walked out the door this morning.

I washed. I didn't dry. I washed and fixed my hair this morning.