Magnetic Island
- Nicole W
- May 30, 2021
- 5 min read
Happy Monday!! I hope you all had a great weekend! I am looking forward to the week ahead. I have a few days of work and then will be flying out to Adalaide on Friday! I will checking out South Australia, and a few wineries in the hills while I am there. Its pretty cold there at the moment, SO I hope the Canadian in me can keep me warm since I brought zero warm clothes!
Magnetic Island also know as Maggie Island. A 30 minute ferry ride from Townsville. Located in North Queensland the Great Barrier Reef extends and touch most of Magnetic shoreline!
This island itself is magnificent. When you look at what the island is, boulders on boulders rock and granite. Like most islands it all started with a volcano Almost 300 million years ago granite was pushed to the surface from a volcanic force. It is said that It got its name from James cook because his compass was acting off and he thought that the island was giving off a magnetic field and messing with it!
Now after that brief history, lets get to the nitty gritty.
How to get there
Fly or drive to Townsville. Take airport shuttle or uber to ferry terminal. Take ferry to Magnetic island. Now, if you were driving you can take you car on the car ferry, it's usually a few hundred dollars to get your car across but can be worth it if you have your own 4x4. Otherwise take the passenger ferry, they have many times that can accommodate travel at any time of day! Go and checkout the sea link website.
Where to stay
So many options. Hotels, airbnbs, Beach houses and even hostels! I choose to stay at a hotel to save a few dollars. Plus hostels are a great way to meet new people! I debated over two different hostels XBase and Bunglalow Bay hostel. Base hostel was located just off one of the beaches and was known as the party hostel. Bungalow was a short walk to one of the main bays, a little more quiet but had free daily bird feeding and also has a little animal sanctuary. Hostels are not only for backpackers, You can get small private rooms. I chose to stay at XBase just to stay on the beach! They had great food, a bar that opened at 10am and friendly staff. Now hostels aren't as busy as they normally are because Covid and the lack of travellers. If you normally use Hostelworld check out the direct website for great deals including free meals!
Lets eat some food
Early Bird Cafe at horseshoe bay and Scallaways near Nelly ferry. I am a huge fan of picnics, always have. I am so excited that picnics are a HUGE thing here. Pack a lunch, and spend a day at the beach, go hiking. You can enjoy a bite to eat in a secluded place with just nature. Does it get any better than that?
Getting around
Every where I looked it said hire (rent) a care or 4x4 to get around. As convenient hiring a car is, it can get expensive. I have also heard MANY horror stories of people getting terrible hardly drivable cars. This island is very hilly and you need a bit of power to get around. Now, I rented a topless jeep for MIRentals, and it was so much fun!! Honestly driving around the island in a topless jeep going beach to beach I felt like a QUEEN. Something I probably won't be doing again anytime soon. The most common rental that people get is from tropicaltopless. These are the barbie inspired topless cars, but they are old and some look super dodgy. I had good customer service at Islehire as well. The average cost for a car hire is about 100-200$/day. Don't forget to take note that a lot of cars are manual transmission!! Also if you decide to stay at a hostel some places don't let you keep your hire there overnight due to security reasons. Most of the 4x4 roads on the island don't allow care hires for legal/ damage reasons.
Now you can also rent a scooter, this can make all your island dreams come true. I was terrified. After being in an atv accident a few years ago not being in the protection of a car makes me nervous. But I was so happy I did it, I reckon after a few hours of driving you get used to it and can really enjoy the experience. I rented the scooter from RoadRunner. It cost about 40$/day. They go over the scooter with you and the locals are used to the tourists driving the scooter around the island.
The bus is cheap and goes around the WHOLE island! Something I didn't even consider using until I arrived. Now the times don't match with the ferry times which I did think was odd. And its hard to predict how long you'll be on the bus. You think you are almost at your destination but the bus takes a random turn and you will be on the bus for another 10 mins. The island also has taxi if needed! But you have so many options!
What to do
Everyone like to do something a little different. You can lounge on a beach all day everyday, and this won't be hard to find.
If you want to adventure, go do some jet skiing! Now given the location of the island you are in Great Barrier Reef territory! GO SNORKELLING! Go and try everyday, the water won't always be clear. It is better to go in high tide as well. You can go on a tour and leaves on boats, see some areas that are only reachable by boat. Near the hostel XBase is a snorkel tour you can do.
Hike the forts walk at sunset and see the sunset on the entire island. Keep your eyes in the sky and see how many koalas you can spot! I spotted 4! Along with the Aussie famous bird kookaburra!
The long-ish hike I did starts at Horseshoe Bay, walk about 1.5 km to Radical Bay, feel free to stop at Balding Bay, this is most of a mountain hike. From Radical bay you will walk 1.2km part in bush and most on the 4x4 road to the stunning Florence Bay (this was my favourite) form there you can walk another 1km to Arthur Bay, then you finish the hike at the Forts Walk! Make sure to bring your hat, sunscreen and snorkel!
There is a place literally called Wallaby feeding. It is near Geoffrey Bay, you go down this road that was an old port, on google maps its called Rock Wallaby's. GO with some food, you can buy at any corner store. If you are lucky maybe you will be able to spot a little joey!
Such A beautiful island full of blue beaches and a variety of animals! Definitely a stop while traveling Australia
xo Nicole
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