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

Still at Dunk Island

After many weeks of wind and rain, the weather has finally come good. We sat out the bad weather here at Dunk Island. We had a few sleepless nights with the waves coming around the point, some of them seemed to be Tsunami waves in the middle of the night. One afternoon Darren just had to get off the boat it was so bumpy. After putting his mobile phone in his pocket, jumping on the kayak and rowing to shore he realised his pocket wasn't water proof and his phone had now stopped working. Salt water and electronics don't seem to mix very well! It'll be Townsville before it can be looked at!

One morning we noticed the fridge had been turned off and a lot of our food had gone bad. It's still a mystery as to which of the 2 people on this boat actually turned it off- mmmmmm.... Anyway, seems it will away's be a mystery. So, since we needed some exercise, we paddled our kayaks across to the Mainland and stocked up on food again. We found a few hours where the wind wasn't too bad and made a dash.

A few days ago we had nearly run out of food again (this time due to us eating rather than someone turning the fridge off), so we took the taxi this time to the mainland and had a look around Mission Beach. We stayed at Mission Beach approx 15 years ago so was interesting to see the place again. It's still the sleepy town it once was, in fact it seems quieter than 15 years ago with a lot of real estate for sale.

Since the weather has really come good, we are going to stay here another few nights before heading for another dash south.

Walk to the top of Dunk Island

Susan with our boat in the background anchored off Dunk

The camera doesn't do it justice!

On our way south

Well, the weather has come good again up here in North QLD. We have started our trip south.

We spent a few weeks in and around Cairns waiting for the wind to calm down and the weather to improve. All the locals were telling us the weather was very out of the ordinary for this time of year. Whilst in Cairns we did a few walks up into the rainforest and went to the Cairns show- Was a good day.

We headed out to Fitzroy Island again, then started our trip south. Our boat loved getting up on the plane at approx 22-24knotts and cruised beautifully skipping over the wind swell and waves. We stopped at High Island for a few days, very beautiful island with not many people around.

We thought we'd visit Innisfail, which is up the Johnston River a bit. The river is quite dirty and very very shallow. We had to motor in and out on the high tide. Anchoring in the river with enough water under us proved a little difficult and a stressful. Needless to say we didn't spend very long in Innisfail, the first high tide the next day and we were out of there.

Next stop on our trip south was Linquist Island and a few islands surrounding. We couldn't really find a good anchor spot out of the wind so continued south to Dunk Island. That is where we are now. Beautiful Island with a nice spot for anchoring. The resort was severely damaged by Cyclone Yazi 18 months ago and is now closed.

The Cairns Show

High Island

Our boat anchored all alone off High Island

On the kayaks again

The Reef sounding High Island

The view whilst trying to have an afternoon siesta

 High Island afternoon sun

Dunk Island

Sunset off the boat at Dunk Island

Fitzroy Island and Cairns

We are back in Cairns now for a few days. The weather/wind is looking very average for the next week or so, so we might stay in at Cairns till the wind drops a bit.

We spent quite a few days out at Fitzroy Island. We anchored near the resort and went ashore a few days for beer and lunch. Very beautiful resort and beach that's not too pretentious. It was quite rocky at night sleeping with the waves and wind curling around the point. But we are getting used to the bumpy nights, so we slept ok. We walked to the top of the mountain one day, great views. Kayaked another few days and did plenty of snorkeling- The reef surrounding Fitzroy Island is amazing!

Since we came back to Cairns we've spent more time cleaning and waxing the parts of the boat that didn't get done last week. She's looking very nice now. 

 Anchored at Fitzroy- Our boat in the background

Climbing to the top of the mountain on Fitzroy Island

Sunset looking west from our boat at Fitzroy Island

 Back in Cairns cleaning

All cleaned/waxed and looking very shiny

 The Pool area on the beach front in Cairns