Magnetic Island - a beautiful and relaxing paradise for a few days

Well the decision was made to head to the island despite the not so flash weather so we got our gear organised, brought food and tickets and caught the 8.45 ferry to make the 20 minute journey to Magnetic Island, leaving George to fend for himself in the carpark for a couple of days.

We arrived at the Nelly Bay terminal and then caught a bus to Bungalow Bay Koala Village.  The Village is set amongst the bush and our dorm was an 8 bed a frame bungalow

– when we checked in they did ask if we realised we would be sharing with 6 others in bunk beds – I don’t think they have many ‘older people’ in the dorms.  Anyway we got checked in, claimed and made our beds, found the kitchen and claimed a locker for our food and then hit the walking tracks. 

Rock wallabies

Down the road to Horseshoe Bay, over the ridge to Balding Bay, over the next ridge to Radical Bay, down the ridge to Florence Bay – all quite nice little bays but none that we felt obliged to stop for a swim at.  From there it was along and up!!!! The road heading for the “Forts Walk”  This walk took us to the some ruins of a fort which operated during WWII it also had the added bonus of spotting koalas on the way. 

Command post and observation tower

Shall i leave him here?

We saw “Kingston” an eldery male and a mother and baby – soooooo cute.  After finishing this walk it was back to the Village – with Tony promising to carry me the rest of the way after 5.30pm – he was lucky we made it back by the skin of our teeth – a big day, walking appro 13km over 6hrs. 

mother and baby koala

After a shower and tea we met another couple and  joined in a camp trivia game – didn’t come last but didn’t do that great either L

Day 2 saw us buying 2 all day bus passes and heading off to find some snorkelling.  After a bit of debating we settled on what we thought would be the most likely beach and from there had to find the best spot to go in.  So we made our way around the rocky edge of the shoreline and it was here that I frightened (or maybe he frightened me) a shark basking in the shallow waters. Once I convinced Tony that it was actually a shark he threw a rock into the water to send it on its way – it got such a fright that it launched itself onto an exposed rock but after a few moments thrashing around finally managed to wriggle his way back into the sea and hopefully in a direction opposite to the one we were going.  Eventually we found the right spot and enjoyed an hour or so of snorkeling - despite the weather and sea conditions not been that great we managed to see some pretty fish and coral as well as a moray eel, a stingray and a black spikey thing like a big sea egg (yet to be identified). 

So the snorkeling over we discovered that our route back was not so easy as the tide had come in - so the decision to carry our packs over our heads and wade waist/shoulder deep or go via the boulders - hmm do you sense another 'Tony adventure' coming up?  So over the boulders it was with me at times saying .....I cant do this and Tony saying yeas you can its easy just.....  he made it look very easy but me with my crap balance, fear of heights and narrow things and ultra crap upper body strength meant it took a little longer but we made it thanks to my honey.

That night we took advantage of our free pizza vouchers and had pizza for tea and then took advantage of our all day bus pass and went for a night tour of the island. 

Picnic bay from Hawkins Pt lookout

Our thrid and final day was spent doing a couple of walks and trying to find another snorkeling spot which sadly was not to be - the visibility was pretty crap and added to that the coral were spawning so there was brown whatever in the water.

Said a fond farewell to magnetic island and caught the 4,25pm ferry back to Townsville and George who was patiently waiting for us.

A beautiful island and a fantastic time.