Day 8 - Magnetic Island

On Wednesday June 27 the weather finally cleared for our trip to Magnetic Island. We caught the ferry around 10am and were there 15minutes later. The ferry came in at Nelly bay and from there we walked to Alma bay, one of the smaller bays flanked by large boulders. After relaxing there for a bit we caught the bus back to Nelly and hired a mini moke, which we drove to Horseshoe bay on the north side of the island. After a quick stop at one of the tourist shops to buy a headband to stop my hair from whipping my face in the topless moke, we had a relaxed lunch at one of the pubs, before wandering down onto the beach to soak up the sun for a while. We then drove back past Nelly bay to Picnic bay, which apparently used to be a tourist hub but is now only inhabited by locals as the ferry point has moved from there to Nelly. While at Picnic bay we walked out onto the pier, which offered a good view across the water to Townsville, and checked out a large curtain fig which I knew mum would be interested in. Mum would have enjoyed Townsville if only for the variety of birds and trees.

We then headed to a rocky outcrop which we had been told was inhabited by a colony of rock wallabies. These little guys were coming close enough for people to throw them food, but had enough healthy fear of humans left not to get any closer.

We headed back to Horseshoe bay to relax for a while and to catch the sunset, and watched schools of mackerel jumping close to the shore, as well as something poking its head out, possibly a turtle. After sunset we headed back to return the moke and catch the ferry.

That night we had dinner with Chris' parents. His mum cooked the mangrove jack that Chris had caught earlier in the week - beautiful!