Magnetic Island

We have been on Magnetic Island for 8 days now. Such a beautiful island we are finding it hard to leave. Magnetic Island is a big island near Townsville with approx 2,500 people living here. The National Park, beaches and bays here are probably the most beautiful and scenic we've seen so far. The marina here is absolutely fantastic- If you are coming by on your boat, you really should drop in to the marina and explore the island, very beautiful. Or if on land it's a short trip out from the mainland by ferry.

Darren love's his beaches, and the beaches here have to almost be the most beautiful he's seen.

Bush walking through the National Park

Horseshoe Bay

Nelly Bay

Alma Bay

The Forts walk through the National Park

Arthur Bay

One of the locals

Townsville and Magnetic Island

We are now at another Marina on Magnetic Island after spending a week in Townsville.

Townsville is a really nice town. It was fantastic to have unlimited hot water, power, food, etc, etc. The second day in Townsville we had a seafood platter at The Rockpool Seafood Cafe. WOW- fantastic platter- highly recommend it- bugs, prawns, oysters, fish, calamari, chips, etc, we were full for what seemed like days.

Darren went to find a gym to stem the weight loss due to the "healthy" boat diet!! The best gym he has ever been to, Muscle and Fitness Hyde Park. He counted 6 Bench Presses for goodness sake! And a few pics of big Arnie!!

So with awesome seafood platters and awesome gyms, we are thinking of moving to Townsville!

Susan enjoyed the shopping and the real coffee. We climbed the mountain (Castle Hill) one day, a great view of Townsville and the Coral Sea. We did some fishing in the marina, and the fish must be massive, they kept eating our lines. So Darren tried a metal trace on the end of the line the next night. Darren hooked a big fish, it was so big he couldn't lift it into the boat. After a few attempts, his line broke and another one got away :-(. So we are now in the process of upgrading our fishing gear.

We've been on Magnetic Island for a couple of days now, from what we've seen so far it's a beautiful Island. Will update in next blog post.

Walk just north of Townsville- Cape Pallendra National Park

Our Seafood Platter- Rockpool Seafood Cafe- YUM!

Castle Hill

The view from the top 

Dunk to Townsville

We arrived in Townsville Marina yesterday afternoon after a 2 hour drive down from Orpheus Island. Our Chaparral absolutely loved cruising on the plane at about 24-25 knots. We have been "at sea" for 3 weeks and we are loving our endless hot water showers and endless electricity here at the Marina!!

We stayed another few nights anchored off Dunk Island. The weather up here now is awesome! 26-27 everyday and there are NE winds coming up in the afternoon. The SE wind that was blowing for months has calmed down from 30 knots to a nice 15 knots- So things on the water are very comfortable now after a few rocky nights.

After leaving Dunk Island we headed for Goold Island. Here we had a tropical beach all to ourselves for a few days. A Westerly wind came up during the night, we couldn't believe how big the waves can get at 2am in the morning that seemed to be coming from the mainland. We swear someone is on the mainland following us South with a wave making machine!

After Goold Island we were running out of fresh food and running a little low on fuel. Cardwell was the next stop. The Marina here was devastated by Cyclone Yazi and has not re-opened. Mick from "Port of Call" in Cardwell was an awesome help to us. He still had fuel on the water, which was a booming business when the Marina was open. We offered him $50 if he could take us to the IGA in town for food and he let us borrow his ute to drive ourselves into town and back- thanks Mick! Food, fuel, water and we were good to go again for another week!

Next was Hinchinbrook Island, a very big island just off the mainland. We had to decide on going around the island where there would be swimming and beaches, or the inside route where there would be calm water, mosquito's, sand flies and crocodiles. We chose the latter and took the inside route as we heard the scenery is very beautiful. And it did not disappoint. Very big beautiful mountains and lot's of creeks that supposedly has lots of fish- not that we could catch any. And Susan had to get out the antihistamines for the mozzie bites!

Orpheus Island next. Again another beautiful tropical island where we had the beach to ourselves!The reef surrounding Orpheus is very spectacular.

Dunk Island- Gorgeous day!

Goold Island- A tropical beach to ourselves 

Susan's very own pool

 Behind Hinchinbrook Island

Orpheus Island - Again another tropical beach to ourselves

Sunset off Orpheus Island