MAGNETIC ISLAND: CHILL OUT AND AUSSIE WILDLIFE
After spending a few days at Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands (read more on this leg of the journey here) we drove North to Townsville, which is a 3.5hs-long, pretty unexciting journey. We were actually surprised that the way between two popular destinations looks like you've gotten lost somewhere in the Outback. The rare towns that break up the endless sugar cane fields reminded us of Western movie sets with one main street and a few old Western-style buildings on the sides. And there's nothing else. So when we finally saw something relatively interesting, we got overly excited! It was - what else - one of the famous "Big Things" that are planted across the country at points like this, where there's not much else to see. We passed by the Big Mango in Bowen, a 10-meter high fruit along the Bruce Highway which commemorates the first type of mango grown in Australia (Kensington Pride), which is still the most popular variety.
Once in Townsville, we walked along the pretty promenade which is said to be the thing to see in the city. After Airlie Beach, we were once again impressed here by the public facilities for cooling down in the heat in Queensland - there's a great shady waterpark with slides, water mushrooms and other fun toys for children, surrounded by barbeque facilities for families. No surprise that it was packed with people even late in the evening!
A fun fact is that it's not recommended to go into the water along the promenade here either - this time it's not only to avoid an encounter with poisonous jellyfish but also with salt water crocodiles that live in the area! We wondered how much of this is just for precaution or a real risk, but I don't think anyone wants to test this question. We know the answer since: these days, just a month after our trip, there have been huge rains in Townsville, causing floods in the area, and one of the biggest dangers are the huge crocodiles swimming in the water on the streets!
This is a good opportunity to clarify that crocodiles do live in salty water - the ocean - too, not just in swamps and rivers as we might remember from Crocodile Dundee. Actually these are two different species, the sweet water crocodile being much smaller (1-3 meters) and "friendly" - as classified by Australian standards -, so if you want, you can go into the water and swim with them without losing a limb, as long as you don't provoke them. The saltwater crocodile (informally called "saltie"), however, is a different beast. It is the largest of all living reptiles, and is said to have been around since the dinosaurs. Males can grow to 6-7 meters and weigh 1000-1200kg which indeed makes sweet water crocodiles cute pets next to them. They mainly live in saltwater deltas, mangrove swamps and lagoons, but can swim up on rivers too. We've heard that they're a real danger in Northern Queensland and in the Northern Territory, but we were a bit surprised that there have been sightings in cities too...
MAGNETIC ISLAND
The following day we took a ferry to Magnetic Island from Townsville. It's a short, 8 km journey, and there are two ferry companies to choose from (both operating several times a day):
Sealink, that takes over passengers in 25 minutes without cars
FantaSea, an option for travelers with cars, which is a 40-minute journey
Magnetic Island, or "Maggie" is a relatively small, mountainous island (52 km2) with half of its territory being a national park and with only ~2500 permanent residents. The name of the island comes from the "magnetic" effect it had on the compass on Captain Cook's ship as he passed the island when sailing up the east coast of Australia in 1770. It's still a mystery what could cause this effect, as nothing has been found on the island.
It has been a tourist destination since the early days so there's a well-established and wide choice of hotels and low-cost accommodation options. One thing is common in all the options: people go to Maggie to relax, so it's not a typical party island - except occasionally: this is where the Full Moon Downunder Party was organised in the past, and since then it has grown itself into the annual Island Life Beach Festival.
Matching the easy-going holiday feeling, you can rent a barbie cabrio to drive around the island - a creative idea for tourists, but it doesn't seem to be too practical in the heat! There are a few different colours to choose from in case you don't fancy baby pink,
There is just one main road around the edge of the island with a few smaller roads leading to hidden bays which can only be accessed with a 4WD. We could easily drive with a normal car between West Point and Horseshoe Bay, but we could only reach Arthur Bay in the Northwest corner on an unsealed road which stopped before the bays further to the North.
WHAT TO SEE AND DO
The island is most famous for its abundant wildlife:
It's a haven for fish, which makes it a great place for snorkeling and diving. Many of the bays surrounding the island are marine parks to protect them. Unfortunately jellyfish also live in the water, so in the summer you'll need a full body stingsuit. Organised boat trips take you to the best marine spots inside the reserves.
The island is home to more then 800 wild koalas, which can be spotted on the trees. This is a rare sight elsewhere in the country!
Rock wallabies and kangaroos are much easier to see, so drivers needs to be especially careful.
Life is centred around three villages:
The island center is Nelly Bay with a port, a heath center, most of the hotels, grocery stores and restaurants.
Another popular point is Horseshoe Bay, where water sport is common, and where one of the island's two stingnets is located, meaning that you can swim without a wetsuit.
The third village is Picnic Bay, which used to be the first settlement on the island when it became a tourist destination. Ferries arrived here at the time, but it has relocated to Nelly Bay after a number of natural disasters destroyed the port. There is still a jetty here to watch the sunset from, but the beach is less appealing than on Horseshoe Bay because of the seaweed that's washed ashore. In both Horseshoe and Picnic Bays you can choose from a handful of restaurants and cafes.
Our TOP 5 highlights of Magnetic Island:
The Koala Park is located in Horseshoe Bay and it's also a backpacker hostel for those who want to stay close to nature. There's a guided tour three times a day to give an introduction to the Australian wildlife, where, for instance, you can see the difference between salties and sweet water crocodiles and hug a koala (for an additional $25). This is not permitted in some states, e.g. in New South Wales (to avoid stressing the animals out), which makes this exceptionally popular. It's a touristy conveyor belt-like program, and you only hold a koala for a few seconds (by law the koalas are only allowed to work up to 30 minutes / day to minimise the stress), but you will end up with a great photo of the fluffy cutie, which is on the bucket list of many visitors for Australia.
You also have the chance to hold one of the resident snakes - which is meant to be a good cure for fear from snakes-, but don't worry, the ranger told us that none of the snakes have hurt any visitors since he's worked in the park. It was exceptionally reassuring to hear later on, that he only started two weeks beforehand!
2. Beaches and bays
Around the island you can choose from a number of picturesque, tiny bays, and you can have them for yourself if you're lucky and early. Some of them are good for snorkeling too by just walking into the water, if you're not put off by the full-body wetsuit that you need to pull on every time you want to go in. We visited pretty Alma Bay and Arthur Bay - both lay between round-shaped boulders, and especially the latter one is secluded with hardly anyone else around!
As previously mentioned, there are also a couple of beaches with jellyfish-free enclosures on the island - one in Horseshoe Bay and another in Picnic Bay. A bonus is that the water temperature is just perfect, it's much warmer than in Sydney! In Picnic Bay we even spotted a green turtle in the water from the beach!
3. Walking trails
The island has a network of walking trails with stunning vistas on the main coast and other islands. You can even walk between settlements on these trails if you can avoid the heat. We definitely suffered from the 30C+ temperature and had to escape inside to the AC each day in the hottest hours. Talking to our hosts, however, we realised that heat isn't the worst of it, in the "wet" season humidity can reach 100%, which means that your body can't cool itself down because your sweat doesn't evaporate - people don't even bother using a towel when getting out of the shower because they'll be just as wet 2 minutes later. After a couple months of that, even locals go a bit crazy, they call it going "tropo". Good to keep in mind when planning a trip to here.
We got up early one morning to do the best known walk before the heat, the Fort Walk. It's a couple of hours' hike up and around the Forts that were used in WWII with nice sea views, and it's also the most likely place to spot wild koalas on the trees. Don't expect an easy task though, ask people walking backwards if and where they have seen any to increase your chances! Funnily, people often mark the tree where they saw one with a broken branch on the trail, but these often stay out for a while, by which time the koala, although not too fast, can long be gone. This is part of the fun, just like watching people constantly looking up at the branches, without noticing much else around them is! We were luckily to spot one in the end close to the trail, adorably sleeping on a gum tree. Later on he climbed further down, so close to us, that we could have easily given him a hug, which was hard to resist, but wildlife has to be respected to be protected.
4. Sunset at West Point
An unsealed dirt road takes you to the northwest point of the island which is the best for watching sunsets. There are a few accommodations here as well, which must be a great, hidden away from the world experience, however, when we did our research we found that some of them even lack basic utilities, which would have been too much of an adventure for us this time... It's worth the drive to enjoy the sunset though!
5. Wild rock wallabies at Geoffrey Bay
Every day at dusk at the North end of Geoffrey Bay rock wallabies come out from the boulders and take the food that visitors bring to them. It's best to let them find natural food for themselves, but if you want to feed them, you should bring the right food - carrots, sweet potatoes, paw paw. So many hopped out after one another from hidden rocks, even the smallest babies! Rock wallabies are extinct in the southern part of the country and are protected today as their numbers have declined due to foxes and competing herbivores, mainly goats and rabbits.
Overall, we had a relaxing few days on Magnetic Island before kicking off the new year back in Sydney, and we recommend visiting the island if you're after a similarly chilled few days.