23 August – Saturday
Today we undertook a sea voyage to Magnetic Island. Fortunately, it only took about 20 minutes and the big cat handled the smooth conditions without trouble. We then took the local bus from the ferry terminal to Horseshoe Bay. Magnetic Island is just beautiful, with fabulous rock formations and stunning sandy (real sand!) beaches. Horseshoe Bay is very sheltered, with lots of yachts anchored close to the beach. (We talked to one yachtie who spends 6 months of the year on his boat at Magnetic Island, then sails it to Gladstone and returns to Melbourne for the other 6 months.
There are lots of watercraft for hire – catamarans, sea kayaks, skidoos, peddle boats, even rides in big rings towed behind a boat. After much thought and discussion, we finally settled on a ride in a peddle boat. The nice man told us we might see some turtles, but he completely forgot to mention the large number of green ants residing in the craft! Evidently crocodiles aren’t a problem here, only stingers, and the surf club had the stinger net out so tourists could have a swim in safety. Even though the weather was sunny and hot, I did consider a water temperature of 21 to be a little too cool.
We did consider walking to Balding Bay, but the track was about 2 kms of beach sand and extremely hot, so sat on some rocks and talked to a young Swiss lady for half an hour. I think Les probably enjoyed this more than he would have the walk.
The return journey to the ferry terminal took us through some of the local houses at Arcadia. It is surprising just how many people live on Magnetic. I’m sure Captain Cook was impressed too.
Today we undertook a sea voyage to Magnetic Island. Fortunately, it only took about 20 minutes and the big cat handled the smooth conditions without trouble. We then took the local bus from the ferry terminal to Horseshoe Bay. Magnetic Island is just beautiful, with fabulous rock formations and stunning sandy (real sand!) beaches. Horseshoe Bay is very sheltered, with lots of yachts anchored close to the beach. (We talked to one yachtie who spends 6 months of the year on his boat at Magnetic Island, then sails it to Gladstone and returns to Melbourne for the other 6 months.
There are lots of watercraft for hire – catamarans, sea kayaks, skidoos, peddle boats, even rides in big rings towed behind a boat. After much thought and discussion, we finally settled on a ride in a peddle boat. The nice man told us we might see some turtles, but he completely forgot to mention the large number of green ants residing in the craft! Evidently crocodiles aren’t a problem here, only stingers, and the surf club had the stinger net out so tourists could have a swim in safety. Even though the weather was sunny and hot, I did consider a water temperature of 21 to be a little too cool.
We did consider walking to Balding Bay, but the track was about 2 kms of beach sand and extremely hot, so sat on some rocks and talked to a young Swiss lady for half an hour. I think Les probably enjoyed this more than he would have the walk.
The return journey to the ferry terminal took us through some of the local houses at Arcadia. It is surprising just how many people live on Magnetic. I’m sure Captain Cook was impressed too.
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