Magnetic Island – So called because Captain Cook thought the island was messing up his compass and therefore magnetic. Half of this quiet island is national park with plenty of secluded bays, walking tracks and wildlife. Plus the favoured mode of transport among tourists on the island is Mini Mokes – something that had me grinning all day long! (For those of you who don’t know me I’m something of a Mini nut!)

Situated just eight kilometers form Townsville Magnetic Island is easily accessible and has just 2000 residents living in small suburban pockets dotted around the island. The island is small and after finding one of only two campsites on Magnetic we’d soon pitched our tent and were out in the car driving around discovering each nook and cranny of the island.

We’d camped in Horseshoe Bay so after looking around we headed to Radical Bay. Radical Bay is a little off the beaten track down a bumpy road not meant to be travelled by hire vehicles! The palm fronted beach only had a smattering of people lounging on it. This seemed like the ideal place to sit for a while enjoying the sunshine. After a ‘little sleep’ and a dip we left in search of a shop to buy some ingredients for dinner then drove down an extremely long bumpy dirt track to watch the sunset at Westpoint. We arrived just before the sun disappeared but were disappointed anyway. There wasn’t any beach to speak of just some gravel meeting the waters edge and the view was fairly uninspiring. This done we bumped back down the track to the campsite where I followed my now usual routine of dinner, diary writing and bed!

The next morning we were away early for a leisurely stroll along The Forts walking track. The track took us through some eucalyptus forests where you commonly see Koala’s in the wild. Ambling along the track looking into the trees but not spotting anything a man passed us asking if we’d seen the Koala a little further down. We hadn’t so followed him back down the track to see one incredibly cute looking Koala slumped in a tree sleeping looking as though it could tumble out at any moment. A thoughtful person had placed some rocks in an arrow shape on the floor pointing to where he was. But walking looking up into the trees we managed to completely miss it.

Continuing along the track that offered spectacular views over nearby bays we eventually came to The Forts. The Forts were designed to protect Townsville, which had been a supply base for the Pacific during WWII, from naval attack. The remains of two gun emplacements are still visible along with some buildings and the fake boulders made from concrete used to disguise the guns. Further along the track two watch towers still stand offering spectacular panoramic views of the island.

To cool off after our walk we spent the afternoon snorkeling. On local advice we headed to Geoffrey Bay as there is supposed to be a ship wreck just 100 meters off the coast and a booklet claimed the fish living off this beach are almost tame. Geoffrey Bay was certainly not the prettiest we’d seen. The sand was a dark muddy colour and much of it was wet and uneven. Small rocks were dotted along the waters edge making wading in quite difficult and once we were in we couldn’t find the wreck or any fish! Eventually we got bored of looking at sand and decided to move across to Alma Bay next door. This yielded a few more fish although not many. We spent some time snorkeling over the rocks on the edge of the bay seeing little more than common Tiger Fish, Emily saw some parrot fish but they retreated out to see as soon as they spotted her. The only usual fish I saw was black and very round. It looked like a black puffer fish but wasn’t. After a while I looked around to find the others heading for shore and joined them. Perhaps it was where we were but the snorkeling on Magnetic Island hadn’t lived up to what I had expected.

That evening I prepared my dinner in the campsite kitchen then went outside to eat finding a woman sat on the floor with tea towels wrapped around her leg. It transpired that whilst I’d been cooking she’d been bitten by a snake right beside the kitchen. The correct procedure after being bitten is to wrap the wound in a compression bandage, stay as still as possible to prevent the poison spreading and stay calm. The woman was incredibly clam as she sat on the floor chatting waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Luckily it turned out she’d been bitten by a harmless tree snake. She’d probably accidentally stood on it and it had bitten her in self defence. Whilst this was going on we’d spotted another snake lurking beneath a drainpipe near our table. To us it fitted the description of a Death Adder but we didn’t know much about it! A holiday maker assured us it was fine and not poisonous but we weren’t convinced. Once the woman had been taken to hospital a girl from the campsite took a look at it. She peered underneath the drainpipe then immediately backed away telling us not to go anywhere near it as if it bit us we could be dead in about seven hours! Clearly it was a Death Adder. She asked us to stay put and make sure nobody got too close while she got the park ranger to come and remove it.

A little while later a scrawny looking older man with sleeveless top, shorts and no shoes appeared with a box. He found a stick, calmly lifted the poisonous snake into the box and took it away. The snake was incredibly good natured and didn’t move at all as it was plucked from its resting place and placed carefully onto a bed of leaves in the box. He had brought the earlier captured tree snake with him and Emily couldn’t wait to have a hold of it.

For the rest of the evening I was a little more nervous of what was under my feet as I walked around the campsite!

* Posted by j150vsc on 21/12/2007.