Student Bloggers
Magnetic Island
Date
August 10, 2017
One of the best things to do while in Townsville is take a boat ride to Magnetic Island (Maggie). Today, a few friends and I decided to do just that. Maggie is absolutely beautiful, with aqua blue ocean surrounding it, an insane amount of wildlife and extraordinary views. The boat to get over to Maggie is only $22 return for students, which is a great price because ordinarily, it is $33.
The ferry ride was about 25 minutes and it dropped us off at Nelly Bay. From there, we took the public bus to “The Forts.” This is a hike that, if you take your time, takes about 2 hours. It is completely worth it though. This walk leads to a set of forts that were used during WW2 to help prevent the invasion of Townsville from the Japanese. On the way to the forts, we saw at least five koalas in the trees. One koala was even holding a baby!
After the forts hike, we took the bus over to Horseshoe Bay. This is a nice place to relax, with an incredible beach, and many shops and restaurants. When we arrived at Horseshoe Bay, we stopped by one of the restaurants to pick up some fish and chips and ended up making friends with all of the local Rainbow Lorikeets. I think they just wanted to be friends so that they could steal our chips. Today, there was a market going on as well, in which the locals were selling homemade goods. It is also possible to hike to even nicer beaches from Horseshoe Bay, but we did not have time to do so, as we spent much of the time swimming at Horseshoe. That will be saved for my next trip over to Maggie!