8 August
Magnetic Island
Magnetic Island ("Maggie" in Aussie speak) is largely bush-covered and its bays are studded with many lovely beaches. There's a great choice of walking tracks all over the island. We decided that before breakfast we'd walk a track over to a neighbouring bay - Radical Bay - from where we could continue on to visit a series of World War 2 gun batteries known as The Fort. That plan came unstuck fast when we found the track closed for a scheduled bush backburn. We were lucky to catch what seemed to be an unscheduled bus instead, up to the beginning of the official Fort walk. The walk itself was simple, a few kilometres along a well curated track with signage along the way describing the extent of the substantial infrastructure built there to defend the port of Townsville.
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| Some of the views from the Fort |
It's clear from the above photos that the weather was just about perfect for the last full day of this leg of the cruise. We walked the whole way (downhill) back to Horseshoe Bay and swam one last time off the beach before returning to the boat.
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| Part of the beach at Horseshoe Bay |
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| Views of the boat at anchor in Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island |
Magnetic Island sits right off from the shore of Townsville. However Horseshoe Bay is on its far, northern side. It's about a two hour motor around the island and down the dredged channel to get into the marina I'd booked for a few days. We were in by mid afternoon, sadly another leg completed.
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| More of the smooth granite boulders of Magnetic Island, here lining the shore of Horseshoe Bay |
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| Hard not to like the shoreline of Townsville - views over the channel to Magnetic Island |
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