Liquid hot Mag-netic Island.

Magnetic Island is 8 km off the coast of Townsville.  I missed the long distance open water swim in July, so I had to take the ferry across.  Over half of the island is part of the Magnetic Island National Park, so it is a haven for wildlife.  Only 2,100 residents call the island their permanent home.  The island has 22 beautiful bays, some of which are a bit secluded and require trekking in or visiting by boat.  Here’s a view of one of those bays:

Because the island is a protected place, it was my mission to see as many species in the wild as I could.  I planned out my day to hit the spots where I would most likely see certain species.  First up: rock wallabies.  We headed to the rocks at the end of Geoffrey Bay.  Tracking skills put to the test.  Here’s a good sign:

Then, I spotted one in the rocks!  And then another one joined the first!  I was so proud -- I could check that off my list!  At the moment, I did not realize that just up the road was a spot where some people were feeding rock wallabies.  There were about 20 wallabies hanging out.  It is a common occurrence.  There are posted signs asking people not to feed them, but if you must feed them, give them only certain foods.  As attempting as it was to have a cute little wallaby eat out of my hand and to be able to pet one, I didn’t feel it was right for me to do it, so I just took photos.

We hiked some of the trails on the island, and I made sure that we did the most popular trail, the Forts.  The island was an important defensive outlook position during WW II, so you can see the remaining infrastructure from that time.   However, I was more interested in this trail, because you can often see koalas.  And I did see one!  (super happy, checking off another item on my list!)  He was sleeping when we first saw him – koalas spend most of the day sleeping or resting in trees.  When I came back on that part of the trail, he was more active, and there were some great photo opportunities.

 

I also saw little bentwing bats, kookaburras (they laugh), and many other colorful birds whose names I don’t know yet.  We finished up the island visit with sunset sea kayaking around Horseshoe Bay.  When we were setting up the kayaks, we spotted a whale far out in the water.  Unfortunately, by the time we kayaked out there, it had moved on and we saw no other signs.  So we floated along the coast where we saw the fins of reef sharks and the heads of green sea turtles popping up all around us.  It was a good day =)