Grey fuzzy bums and the mystery of Capt. Cook’s spinning needle

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02/12/06 - 03/12/06 Magnetic Island

The Lonely Planet guide’s description of Magnetic Island is that of a beautiful landscape of granite boulders and ferns, and being the largest national koala sanctuary in Australia, “spotting grey fuzzy bums in trees is a mandatory pastime” - we decided to go check it out.

Be booked in at the Townsville ferry terminal and had about 50 minutes to kill. Amazingly the Imax cinema just 5 minutes away was just starting a 40-minute under sea life film so we were able to watch it all and then leg it back to the ferry as soon as the end credits appeared.

The short journey across to Magnetic Island saw us arrive at the developing Nelly Bay. A ‘Peppers’ marina resort is under development there as well as other marina berths and apartments. There are only 12 km of sealed roads on the island, mainly traversed by; the regularly running buses, the topless beach buggy style ‘mokes’, and extremely keen cyclists that can be seen pushing their bikes up the steep hills!

The sealed road rounds the island to Horseshoe bay, where we stayed on the opposite side. We were advised by some other tourists that koalas could be seen just 5 minutes away around the corner, and sure enough we spotted one with her baby on a tree about 6 meters off the ground. We couldn’t round the tree to see it’s face or get it’s attention by calling to it, so my first wild koala picture is just a koala hip and leg!

The small copse area was more like bat world than koala world and there was a lovely bright moon to watch the bat silhouettes. I wandered how long it would take to get a shot of a bat wingspan silhouetted against the moon - probably a lifetime - hence the lack of one included here!

We planned a morning walk to Radical Bay but went the wrong way and then couldn’t be bothered so never found out what was so radical about it! Instead we took the bus to Arcadia to see the ‘kissing rocks’ that seem to feature on all the islands postcards. Years ago, the ferry terminal was at Arcadia and the road passed through the gap in the rocks. An old black and white photo that I saw in an island history book even showed a bus squeezing through the gap.

Of course the name Magnetic Island intrigued me, so I questioned a shopkeeper about its history. Allegedly Captain Cook wrote in his journal that on passing the island his ship’s compass spun wildly round and round. Tests have been conducted on the island’s granite and there seems to be no logical geological (unusual alliterative phrase!) reason why it should have happened and it has never been replicated. Sill, the name stuck.

We only stayed a night, and the next day headed south once more (if my compass was still working correctly) to Airlee Beach, Gateway to the Whitsunday Islands.

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