A Weekend Exploring Magnetic Island

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August 2021

The day we arrived on Magnetic Island we dropped anchor in Horseshoe Bay about midday ready for a week of exploring. When we arrived Horseshoe Bay was packed with boats anchored everywhere, but this didn’t faze us too much. With our small size and shallow draft we motored our way through the crowd and found the perfect Allagai sized clearing to drop the anchor in. Once anchored we spent most of the afternoon on board, heading ashore only in the late afternoon for a short walk along the beach and foreshore.

The following day after a good nights sleep we were feeling well rested for the first time that week and were ready for a long walk to stretch our legs. From a little research we had found out that there was a 5km walk from Horseshoe Bay where we were anchored across the headland to Radical Bay. So that afternoon we headed ashore in the dingy and found the trail head and started the walk. It felt good to be stretching our legs after so many days of sailing. Once again this was a walk through a dry and rocky open woodland and it took us about an hour to reach Radical Bay where we had a brief stop on the beach to cool down and admire the scenery. However it was getting late in the afternoon and we wanted to be back on Allagai before dark so we didn’t dawdle too long before turning around and heading back.

After our walk we were keen to see what else Magnetic Island had to offer. So the day after our walk we decided it was time to get the bikes out to help us explore the island further. At the time this seemed like a brilliant idea, little did we know how hilly the island was though. We set off from Horseshoe Bay about mid morning aiming for Nelly Bay. To start our ride out of the town was easy, the roads were wide, nice to ride on and there was little traffic, however just outside of town we encounter “The Hill”. The hill was about 100m high and was windy and narrow, filled with blind corners and no way for us to get off the road to allow cars pass. By this point we were beginning to think we had bitten off more then we could chew as the gearing on the bikes just wasn’t up to such an ascent which left us walking the bikes the whole way. This wasn’t so bad but trying to keep out of the way of the motorist was challenging meaning that we were resting in the scrub as needed and walking off the side of the road whenever we could. Although despite the challenges we kept going and made it to the town of Arcadia in one piece. While in Arcadia we visited Geoffrey Bay and found a short walk along a small rocky trail known for its Rock Wallaby population. We spent about half an hour on this short trail admiring the wallabies as the hopped amongst the rocks and ate carrots which had obviously been left for them by a tour guide or friendly local. Following our stop in Arcadia we jumped back on the bikes and continued on to Nelly Bay. To get to Nelly Bay we had to take on yet another hill, however this one was not nearly as steep and had a foot/ bike path which meant we weren’t on the road. Thankfully we were able to ride up this hill and so were flying down the backside of it in no time and arriving in Nelly Bay.

In Nelly Bay our research had uncovered a small public aquarium run by a local that studies marine life. This left us intrigued so our first stop in Nelly Bay was to this small aquarium to have a look. When we arrived we weren’t disappointed by what we saw. For the price of a donation we entered the small aquarium and were greeted with seven tanks filled with various types of reef fish including the famous clown fish (Nemo) and blue tang (Dory) from Finding Nemo. Again we spent about half an hour admiring the fish, fascinated by what we saw and the way they followed us around and watched us from within their tanks.

Following our time in the aquarium it was getting quite close to lunch so we left in search of something to eat. In the end we ended up continuing past Nelly Bay and stopping at a pub just outside of Picnic Bay. Originally we had intended to continue all the way into Picnic Bay but following our rather filling lunch the thought of cycling up yet another hill, which was between us and Picnic Bay, wasn’t all that enticing. So instead we decided to call it a day and turned around and headed back to Horseshoe Bay and the boat. That day we had ridden a total 23.5km and gone almost from one side of Magnetic Island to the other. Our day out had left us feeling more then a little exhausted from riding up so many hills but we’d had a very enjoyable ride and felt that we had seen more this way then if we had just used the buses.

The following day we decided to hide out on Allagai, the ride from the the previous day was catching up with us leaving us feeling a bit slower then normal. However we did decide to go on a short walk along the beach that afternoon to keep us from seizing too much. This was set to be our last night on Magnetic Island as we had decided that the following morning we would be heading off for Townsville. We knew that there was much more to explore on Magnetic but our fresh supplies were dwindling and with no major shopping in Horseshoe Bay we decided it was time to leave but were already planning to be back soon.

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