After a stint in home quarantine, what could be better than a trip to an island? Magnetic Island sits just off the coast of our old home of Townsville. With much of the island heavily vegetated and protected there are walks, wildlife and amazing beaches everywhere. Best of all, our visit was in the off-season which meant it felt like we had much of the island to ourselves.
We went without much of a plan just wanting to see a couple of the highlights; Koalas in the wild, take the kids snorkelling, a cane toad race to watch and to see some of the remote bays. Other than that the pool, the beach and general relaxation beckoned.
We saw a Koala (actually two) in the wild on the Forts Walk. Not only did that walk give us our Koala fix, but also some amazing views from the WW2 fortifications. Another highlight was the Bungalow Bay Koala Village. There we did a wildlife tour which allows you to get up close to a few native Australian animals. It is definitely well worth a visit and while you are there grab some food for the Rock Wallabies. They can be fed at a couple of locations on the island, but be warned they don’t like to share and will bite the hand (or specifically the fingers) that feed them.
The walks on Maggie are everywhere, pick a destination and there is usually a path or a track to take you there. We choose to walk to the remote(ish) bays. Now only accessible on foot or by boat, they are very secluded. Being the off-season we had entire bays to ourselves. The only problem with our timing was the stingers, after a fairly hot and humid walk you are staring at the beautiful blue waters. Without a stinger suit, a swim could end with a trip to hospital. Not worth the risk, but something to come back for another time.
