Today I take a trip back to when I lived and traveled in Australia, to an island called Magnetic Island. Magnetic Island is a beautiful island approx 8km of the coast of Townsville in Queensland and I visited in Aug 2012 on my east coast adventures. Magnetic Island was named by Captain Cook in 1770 as his compass went beserk in the area and he assumed that the island had magnetic properties. Of the little that I had heard about the island, palm trees, long sandy beaches and croc free waters (after spending 5 weeks further north where you cannot swim in the sea), I was on a boat as soon as possible with two new Irish friends who I had met white-rafting in Cairns, Aoife and Sandra.
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| New friends |
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| Coming into Magnetic Island's harbor |
Basing ourselves at the infamous Base hostel on the island, site of full moon parties, which we had just missed, we set out to make the most of our time there. Base was a great hostel, comfy dorms set in A-frame cabins, right on the beach with nightly activities, free snorkels and decent food.
Magnetic Island is one of the best places to spot wild koalas and so one day, we availed of the free snorkels, went to the other side of the island to the beach, with intentions of koala hunting en route back that evening. Once we reached Horseshoe bay, we met some more people from the hostel who told us the water was so murky that snorkeling was pointless. A quick check confirmed this. So realistically we took our snorkels for a walk (which later became a catchphrase between our little group).
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| Horseshoe Bay |
Determined to 1) Not miss the last bus back to the other side of the island and 2) to find a koala we set off to a lookout which is notorious for having wild koalas on the trail. Now for those of you who don't know, koalas are very sedentary animals (down to their diet of eucalyptus which is very low in nutrients) which, surprisingly enough makes them difficult to spot! Luckily we were accompanied by eagle eyed Matt and he spotted a koala napping high up in a tree.
Quotes from my time on Magnetic Island:
"What did you guys do today?" "Oh we took our snorkels for a walk"
"Here koala koala"
"I've goon in my eye"
Magnetic Island looks like so much an island from southeast Asia. :) It's more green and good for hiking.
ReplyDeleteIt really is a beautiful island and has a perfect combination of socialising and relaxing and nature.
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