Blogs from Magnetic Island, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 7

Meanwhile... back in Bowen, Brett was going a bit stir crazy on his crutches, trying to run the job from the couch, with his leg up. At least the skatepark is almost done and he is actually doing really well. He even snuck out in the truck a few times while I was away... The day I flew back in from Canada, our friend Tarra (a.k.a. TP), flew up from Melbourne for her 2 week school holiday. We haven't seen her as much as we did the first year we were here so will be good to catch up, plus then Brett will have 2 ladies to look after him. He is the envy of alot of people at the pub in Bowen, when we are both getting him a beer and driving him around! The ... read more

Well it just goes to show planning gets you no where!. That change of plan we had in mind of 'battling' south to our next stop, well it never happened. Although thats not to say we didn't try..... 5:30 Sunday morning,made a coffee and gave the boat one last check for anything not secured down properly. SW predicted to blow, around 15-20 knots, great. Started up motor, pulled up anchor and away we go. Winched up mainsail, and furled out heady.... Averging about 9 knots at one stage, then up to 13. Flying along. Wind slowly starts to blow SE and then the swell picks up and ......Clunk,clunk,clunk; shit, turn off the motor. That said, the boat starts to buck a little and we slow to a mere 2-3 knots. No frigging idea what it could ... read more

Day 87 - Magnetic Island Yippee, we’re off to Magnetic Island today and the ferries run from really early in the morning so guess what, we’re up at 6am again! We’re not sure what’s happening to the Queensland weather at the moment but this morning we have again experienced spots of rain. Obviously we had to send the evidence off for analysis as it’s just so hard to believe but the test results came back positive, definitely rain! We were hoping for blue, clear skies this morning but instead have overcast and cloudy - seemingly there’s been some sort of issue with our order, we hope they sort it soon! The ferry terminal is only a 20 minute drive from the campsite and we’re hoping to catch the 7.45am one so that we get a head ... read more

Frühmorgens fuhren wir mit der Autofähre nach Magnetic Island. Die Fährenüberfahrt dauerte ca. 30 min. Magnetic Island ist eine 52 km² große Insel mit etwa 2.100 Einwohnern und gehört zum Stadtgebiet von Townsville. Die Insel ist im großen und ganzen ziemlich bergig, nur an seiner Westküste sowie an den besiedelten Buchten (Horseshoe Bay, Nelly Bay, Geoffrey Bay, Picnic Bay) befinden sich flache Areale. Den ersten Tag auf Magnetic Island verbrachten wir mit Faulenzen in Horsesbay, der größten Bucht auf der Insel. Hier gab es auch einen abgesperrten Bereich zum Schwimmen. Das Wasser war angenehm warm, einzig die Wasserflöhe - wie wir im nachhinein erfuhren - die uns ständig gestochen haben, waren etwas störend aber harmlos. Die Nacht schliefen wir wiedermal im Willy, diesmal aber nicht in einem Caravanpark, sondern in einer Seitenstraße direkt beim Strand, da ... read more

Voila une autre destination vers laquelle je m'etais dirige afin d'aller faire un peu de plongee. Malheureusement, encore une fois, le beau temps n'etait pas au rendez-vous, et meme s'il ne pleuvait pas, il faisait quand meme assez gris. Du coup pas de plongee vraiment possible. J'en ai donc profite pour decouvrir l'ile et faire les differentes ballades qui s'offrent aux visiteurs, et on peut dire qu'elles valent le detour! L'ile est assez montagneuse, ce qui offre des points de vue superbes sur les differentes baies. L'ile etait un point strategique lors de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale pour defendre la cote, et un camp de commande avait ete construit sur l'un des sommets. De la haut, la vue est superbe, et on peut dire que les soldats de l'epoque etaient un peu mieux lotis que d'autres, ... read more