Mission Beach & Magnetic Island, Australia

  Magnetic Island, Queensland, Australia
Friday, December 5, 2008

Mission Beach & Magnetic Island
 
We got to mission beach last Saturday afternoon and the campsite we had planned to go to turned out to be quite far from the town centre so we decided to stay in the state-run caravan park right on the beach. It was the cheapest van park we've stayed in yet but it was also the one with the worst facilities. Kitchen was non-existant, toilets were filthy and Lydia wouldn't use the showers they were so bad. One thing it had going for it though was its location. Between our van and the sea was just a few trees and some white sand, a nice scene to wake up to in the morning. There wasn't much to do in Mission Beach so, half out of boredom and half just to see Lydia's reaction I shaved off my beard and just left on a stupid looking handlebar moustache. The month of November in Australia is called Mo-vember to raise awareness for prostate cancer and all the blokes grow ridiculous moustaches to raise awareness. We had been looking at the moustaches since we got to Oz and commenting on how stupid they looked.

Handlebar Moustache

Magnetic Island Scenery

Anyway Lydia was well impressed, said I looked like a cross between one of the village people and trailer thrash! That night we went into the town centre (moustache and all) and had a few drinks but there wasn't much happening so we were back at the van by 9pm. A couple of Welsh in the van next to us invited us down to the beach as they were gonna have a few drinks and light a fire. We went down with them for an hour or two and were joined by an English bloke and a local chap. Stayed there for an hour or so. Wasn't much craic so decided to move up to another campsite on Mission Beach the next day.
Our plan up there was to rent a bicycle out for the day and cycle through the rainforests but it was one of the hottest days since we got to Oz so we quickly scrapped those plans. We didn't want to waste the day so we spent about 4 or 5 hours stripping out the van and cleaning it from top to bottom. Had a dip in the pool after that and razored off the tash and went out to Scottys Bar for the night. It was really good craic there, there was Irish everywhere and we spent the night with a couple called Ema and Dan, she's from Boston, England and he's from Sydney. Had a good laugh with them and arranged to meet them the next day in Magnetic Island.

Karl, Lydia, Ema & Dan

Karl with Snake

So the next morning we drove to Townsville and took the ferry across to Magnetic Island. The scenery from the ferry port to our campsite at Bungalow Bay was really nice. We met Dan and Ema as soon as we got there and we hopped straight into the pool as it was roasting. Me and Dan drove to the shops and got steaks, beer and wine and cooked dinner. As we were eating dinner the camp kitchen became surrounded by possums. I didn't even know what a possum looked like before then but I soon found out. They look like little kangaroos, but furry. Lydia didn't like them coz she thought they looked like rats. But after a while they were eating out of our hands and sitting on our laps. The same thing happened every night in the kitchen!

Possums

Golf

It was another scorcher of a day the next day and we spotted a deal for a round of golf with clubs balls and tees included for only $20 so we decided to go for it. The four of us set off in the van and as we played golf we were looking for koala bears the whole time. Apparently Magnetic Island is one of the best places to spot koalas in the wild. Needless to say we didn't see one but when we got back to the pool at the campsite we decided we were going to go on a koala hunt that evening. So at about 4:30pm (the best time to spot them is dusk) we drove to Radical Bay on the island and started our walk looking for the koalas. It didn't take long before we spotted our first one and we had the added bonus that she had a baby koala holding onto her back. We stayed and watched her sleep and scratch for 10 minutes or so then continued on with the rest of the walk. Saw another two koalas on the walk and on the way back we stopped again to look at the mother and baby. This time they were both wide awake and it was clear that the mother was blind. She was climbing branches with no leaves looking for food, reaching out at empty spaces and her eyes were a grey/white colour instead of the usual dark colour. It was sad to see. When we got back to the camp site we mentioned to the receptionist about the blind koala and she told us that the park ranger knew about her for the last 8 months and is monitoring her situation, good to know. That evening there was a pub quiz on in the camp site, it was really good craic and we won a pitcher of beer for finishing second.

Blind Koala & Baby

Us at Fort Walk

Next morning we spent some time online and booked our trips to the Whitsunday Islands and Fraser Island. We tried to book a horseriding trip on the island for that afternoon but it was booked out so we booked it for the next day instead and spent the rest of the day in the pool with Dan and Ema drinking goon (4 litre bags of wine).
Went on a wildlife tour the next morning and it was really good. It was in the wildlife conservation centre attached to the campsite and we got to hold a baby crocodile, a python and a koala. It was really good value for money and I'd definately recommend it. Towards the end of the tour it started lashing rain though, it was to be the start of three days of rain. The rain eased of by the time we went horseriding with Blueys Horseriding Adventures. There was a group of 12 of us and apart from Lydia we were all beginners. There were only 2 instructors for the 2 of us and this kind of ruined it. The other ten people doing the horseriding were 18 year olds celebrating having just finished school and they were all idiots. They thought they way to control a horse was to shout at it and just didn't listen when the instructors tried to give instructions. The whole thing was very badly organised though. They should have know that 2 instuctors wouldn't be able to handle 11 total beginners and one intermediate. It's something I wouldn't recommend! It could have been so much better with smaller group sizes. Spent the rest of the night drinking goon with Dan and Ema.

Horseriding

Horseriding

Next morning it was totally hammering it down, never seen heavier rain in my life. The campsite was like a river. We learned later in the week that a cyclone hit the mainland not far from Magnetic Island and thats what caused it. By midday it had cleared up a bit and myself and Dan went to try to better our scores at golf from the last time. No such luck though, we both did worse and blamed the goon! Ema (who's a hairdresser) did Lydias hair in the afternoon and we went up to the town that evening. Had some food there but the bars were dead so we went back to the campsite and sat chatting with three Irish girls that night. Took the ferry back to Townsville the next morning and left towards Airlie Beach. We really enjoyed Magnetic Island despite the rain. Seeing koalas in the wild is something even most Australians never see so we are very lucky. The island was really scenic too and we had a great laugh with Dan and Ema.

Karl with Koala

Lydia with Koala