Magificent Magnetic Island

Beautiful Horseshoe Bay

Saturday is the first day of the school holidays and it is obvious that Magnetic Island is reopened for business! Many boats cruised in during the morning, the JetSki and hire boat business is doing a roaring trade and there are kids frolicking in the swimming enclosure. After breakfast we took the dinghy to shore and walked the 2.5km stretch of sand to the northern end of the beach. We returned to Manookatoo for lunch and a lazy afternoon, watching the world go by - and happy to be out of the thick of it!

Picnic Bay

The Sunday markets were just starting when we took the dinghy ashore in the morning, and after a look around and a small purchase, we boarded the bus across the island. Our first stop was Nellie Bay, where the ferry comes and goes from Townsville. Being school holidays, there were lots of passengers. We wandered around Nellie Bay and stopped for a delicious coffee at "Scallywags" before boarding the next bus and continuing our journey to the end of the line at Picnic Bay. This used to be where the ferry terminal was, but it is now a sleepy village with a lovely pub overlooking the old jetty. We enjoyed lunch there, watching the world go by, before boarding the bus again for the trip back to Horseshoe Bay. Magnetic Island is mostly National Park, very mountainous and undeveloped on all but the south-eastern side. The bus chugs up and down the many hills between each town; there are walking tracks, but none of them are very easy!

Enjoying the views

The view over Arthur Bay

On Monday we tackled a more challenging walk, we caught the bus to the Forts carpark and walked down the hill to Arthurs Bay. From there we walked up the next hill, enjoying the view on the way, before descending again to Florence Bay. The old road continued around past Georges Bay and along to Radical Bay, where it finished and the "real" hard work began! We climbed up the boulder-strewn hill and crossed the saddle before heading off the main track and down to Balding Bay - another rocky track! After a refreshing cup of tea we retraced our steps up the track and continued down until we reached Horseshoe Bay again. It was 6 kilometres of quite picturesque but reasonably difficult walking - although we passed a runner on the road and he overtook us on our way up the rock-strewn track, so maybe it wasn't as hard as we thought it was! It was good to get back to the beach for a well-earned swim before returning to the boat for a rest.

Horseshoe Bay wetlands

On Tuesday we chose a new walk, to the wetlands behind Horseshoe Bay. It was a tranquil scene, away from the busy beach and streetscape and we wandered along the boardwalk and through the bushland, emerging onto Horseshoe Bay beach well north of the village and wandering back along the sand. Very few tourists venture up this far on the beach, which stretches for more than 2 kilometres. A horse stud runs occasional tours with gallops along the sand, fortunately not while we were there!

Nellie Bay to Arcadia walk

We boarded the bus again on Wednesday, travelling to Nelly Bay and walking the streets before taking the main road back over the hill to Arcadia. The path is right next to the road, separated by a steel fence and extending out over the cliff edge. The views are spectacular! The walk continues over the mountains, through the bush to Horseshoe Bay, however we have done that before and know how tough it is, so we waited for the bus to take us back. The road is so steep that standing on the bus is banned - at busy times they have two buses following each other so that everyone can have a seat.

Boat cleaning day!

 We decided to have a rest day on Thursday, enjoying a stroll along the sand south of the village. Three boats had come into shore on the high tide and were now resting on the sand, their owners busy cleaning under the hulls before the tide came in again. This is not something we can do on Manookatoo but it is a cheap way to clean a catamaran or other flat-bottomed vessel. Some boat residents live on very little money, anchoring offshore permanently and only going ashore to buy supplies or cart water or fuel in jerry cans via their tender - we admire their resilience and resourcefulness!

 

We boarded the bus again on Friday morning for the short uphill trip to the Forts car park. The walk to the Forts is one we have done before, it is a steep climb up an old road to see the ruins of the first lines of defence during the Second World War. It also offers spectacular views over the bays and headlands. On the way up we saw a koala and baby nestled in a tree and heard kookaburras laughing at us from the nearby canopy. A large group of people were flying a drone around the vantage point at the top, the noise was like a thousand mosquitoes coming into land, so we didn’t linger! We walked back down the hill to Horseshoe Bay, then freshened up for a lovely long lunch at Barefoot Gallery with Yvonne and Andrew from Tranquility Base; we have enjoyed our time together in the bay but they are continuing north tomorrow.

Farewell Tranquility Base

Tranquility Base left early the next morning, but many boats soon arrived to take its place. This is a long weekend in Townsville, so many locals have taken advantage of the island’s close proximity to come and visit! The local tourist venues were doing a roaring trade, with speed boats towing screaming kids on tubes, kayakers, paddle boarders and jetskis as well as the “Island time” tour boat doing the rounds. We spent very little time ashore over the weekend, preferring to enjoy the serenity as best we could away from the crowds.

The wild side of “Maggie”

Approaching Townsville 

On Monday, Townsville show day, we raised the anchor to head around the island anticlockwise and cruise across to Townsville. The western side of Magnetic Island is wild and remote, with rocky cliffs stretching down to the water. The passage between the island and the mainland is not deep enough for large vessels, so for us it is a nicer trip than the main shipping channel, where the ferries also run. After twelve days on Anchor, most of those on the island, it is time to restock the boat and get a couple of repairs done.