Can anyone in Townsville advise if I should bring big or small gear up at Christmas? Also there has been news of a lot of j fish lately, is anyone sailing there anymore?

Scot, a couple of years ago I spent christmas on Magnetic island.

My advice, get into Scuba diving. We got no more than about 8 to 10 knots for the full week up there, so I managed to get a lot of diving in along with being a general menace on a moped.