Magnetic Island

Affectionately known as "Maggie", this is a small island twenty minutes by ferry from Townsville. It has been developed as a holiday resort but it has a certain number of permanent residents. It is also home to the world's largest colony of free-roaming koalas, although a local was telling us that after Yasi many of them died because the eucalyptus trees which provide their diet were stripped of their leaves during the cyclone. It appears Maggie took quite a hit. Although it is quite a distance from the eye of the storm, it is to the south and the winds continue to be very destructive because of the direction in which they are coming. Sand was piled metres deep on one of the beaches and it has taken quite an effort to put the island back in shape. There are many small secluded beaches all around the island. Some are accessible by walking tracks, but for many it is necessary to have a 4WD vehicle. Others again are only accessible from the sea. There is also a large colony of rock wallabies. We were fascinated to see them come to meet a car which they obviously recognised in the car park. It heralded the arrival of an old worthy who seems to have taken it upon himself to come nearly every day to feed the in spite of huge notices telling people not to. He put out bowls of water (Maggie has had no rain for thirteen weeks) and an assortment of fruit, vegetables and dried corn. A huge variety of birds exists on the island. It seems the cockatoos left after Yasi but we did see some black ones so with a bit of luck they will come back. It was interesting to find the place we stayed in 17 years ago. It is undergoing extensive refurbishment and will be very nice when it is finished.

This is Mum and Baby although the baby was difficult to see

Hello! I'm here! This rock wallaby joey did not want to be left out when there was food going.

We did a lot of walking, and a lot of beaching but we also went to the races! Bearing in mind this is North Queensland, it was not your normal horses or dogs that were racing. No, it was cane toads!! We just had to see this. It is organised weekly by an elderly man, a bit of a character, who gives all the proceeds to local charities. He has been doing it for about 20 years now and over that time has donated hundreds of thousand of dollars. It was difficult to believe until we watched how it all happens. He comes with eight toads, all wearing different coloured ribbons, and he "auctions" them. The highest bidder is the owner of that particular toad for the race. People were bidding madly on the things and some paid up to 60 dollars for a toad. Then he would offer up to 150 dollars plus a t-shirt as the prize for the winner. He put them in a container divided into 8 sections on the middle of a large circle painted on the ground. The first toad to cross the circumference of the circle was the winner. It was a riot, especially trying to catch them again. Some of the moved very fast, while others just sat there, much to the disgust of their "owners".

Radical Bay, a beautiful secluded beach which we were able to get to because we hired a 4WD one day

The far end of Horseshoe Bay, also reachable by 4WD

Looking down on Florence Bay from the Forts Walk. There are some old WWII fortifications, built when there was the threat of invasion by Japan and now it makes quite a good and strenuous walk to get up there. This is where one tends to see the koalas.

"What will you bid for my beautiful purple toad?"

Come on, orange toad. Jump!!

The huddle in the middle is not in a hurry to go anywhere.

It was a very pleasant interlude and we came back to a van duly serviced and repaired. We are now on our 8th tap in 10 months! The taps are made by Dometic, the camping wing of Electrolux and are just cheap and shoddy. The problem with ours has also been a fault in the water pressure in the van when we hook up to mains water, and the tap just breaks and water leaks into the drawers below. It is a real pain when it happens. We met people in Cairns who were on their 3rd tap so it is not just us.