Blogs from Magnetic Island, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

A great day on Maggie Island with Tom and Chrissie.. made even better by Koala and Possum spotting..... read more

We woke up early today on "Maggie". We have learned that Australians abbreviate the names of anything they can - Brisbane is "Brizzy", Tasmania is "Tazzy", and Magnetic Island is "Maggie". I'm absolutely certain there are numerous other abbreviations we just haven't come across yet. So, our morning on Maggie started early because we had a half day kayak trip to catch on the other side of the island. Since our car hire company did not allow us to bring our car onto Maggie via the ferry, she is parked back at the terminal on the mainland and we are at the mercy of public transit here. That may sound complicated, but truly there is only one main road on the island and two buses that spend the entire day driving back and forth, so it's ... read more

Øhm hvem råber? Jeg skulle med bussen kl. 07, hvilket var meget rart, da det betød at jeg ville få mere tid på Magnetic Island sammen med tøserne. Det var en okay bustur, den var ikke særlig lang, kun fem timer. Da bussen ankom til Townsville, var der lidt ventetid indtil den næste færge sejlede over mod øen. Det tog ca. tyve minutter at sejle fra Townsville til Magnetic Island. Jeg nåede knap nok at orientere mig, da jeg ankom til øen, før jeg hørte nogen råbe mit navn. Jeg kiggede mig forvirret omkring, indtil jeg fik øje på en hånd der vinkede til mig. Jeg skyndte mig over til bussen, med den vinkende hånd og fandt tøserne. Tøserne er for resten Amy, Vicky og Yonca. De havde lige været over ved The Koala Sanctuary. Det ... read more

Me, Jon and our new pal Q got on the bus for our next destination Magnetic Island. The bus journey was about four hours long and for the first hour the lovely Lozzie B, our friend in Melbourne, called us for a catch up and to make plans for our visit, which made the bus journey go a lot quicker. At about 2pmwe arrived in a small town called Townsville - from here we took a short ferry ride over to the island. The views from the ferry were stunning so I just couldn't wait to get there. From the marina we got on a local bus that dropped us off right outside our hostel - YHA Bungalow Bay, which was also happened to be a koala sanctuary too. After we checked in we were shown ... read more

Magnetic island Another popular pit-stop for backpackers travelling up the east coast, Magnetic Island reminded us somewhat of Koh Tao and the Thai islands. Not just because of the lack of main roads around the islands, scenic walks and spectacular coastline, but also because of the full moon party hosted once a month. The island reminded Rach of a giant campsite because of the criss-crossing and large soaces of frass in between where numerous houses were plotted in rows with no driveway or obvious separation of land. The hostel we stayed at, Base Backpackers, was the most picturesque hostel we've been to so far with the bar area and swimming pool overlooking the crystal clear waters of Nelly bay. Even the toilets afforded a photographic opportunity with the view from the window showing a drooping palm ... read more