Townsville and an island paradise.

After spending time in Airlie it was time tome on, naturally Townsville was next. My brother lives in Townsville but serving in the army new were not able to stay on base with him so we had to settle for another caravan park. We were little reluctant at first as the caravan parks in town were quiet expensive but not having to much of a choice. We were pleasantly surprised with the quality of caravan park though. Excellent cooking facilities and ammenities, and a tv room with free wifi was quiet helpful and well worth our money. We spent our time in Townsville catching up with my brother and some of his friends and we had a great time. There really is not much to do in Townsville especially photography wise.

castle hill sunrise is my favourite thing to do in Townsville.

Once the weekend was over and my brother had to go back to work we decided to go explore one of our favourite places. Magnetic island, this place is special to us for a few reasons. We actually got engaged on a secluded beach here. We were lucky enough to leave our trailer at a friends house in Townsville so that we could catch the ferry across to magnetic island and live out of our car for the week. It cost us roughly 100 dollars to take our car across including as many passengers as the car could fit. It was just us 2 but if you were ever going there with more then 3 people it would definitely be worth taking your car and splitting the bill. Our time on magnetic island was spent walking a lot of walking tracks and hanging out at all of the gorgeous beaches. The weather wasn’t exactly awesome the whole time we were here but that just made the good days even better. Magnetic island is rich in history and wildlife, so if that interests you you will love it. The beaches are great to just relax and watch a sunset at so it really has everything you could want and I highly recommend to experience it yourself. Being just out of the Whitsundays Magnetic island often gets forgotten and is considerably cheaper than its more popular tourist islands. But that just adds to its already amazing atmosphere and vibe. We had absolutely no dramas camping in our car in fact we got encouraged to camp on the main beach and watch the sunrise by locals. If you have ever tried to camp in your car in a touristy destination you will know what I’m saying when I say its hard to find a good spot to stay the night. You will more than likely get kicked out by security or the police and if you allowed to camp there it will most likely be occupied. So magnetic island really is an amazing place to go if your trying to live on a budget out of a vehicle.

the elusive east coast sunset. mad possible by the beach on the side of the island.

Our 3 favourite things to do on magnetic island

1

picnic bay jetty is so nice. Weather you just want to hangout and watch the sunrise, go fishing, swimming or animal spotting this is our favourite spot. The first time we went here we were celebrating our engagement on the jetty after a few drinks and a bloke caught a 2 metre lemon shark. Another night I saw a dugong a sea turtle and a whole range of sting rays and fish, all in the one night. The jetty is also a great place to take photos.

picnic bay pier, my favourite spot on the whole island.

2

Watch the sunrise or sunset at one of the many gorgeous bays. Being a small island with bays all around means you can catch the rare east cost sunset on the western side of the island. Or start your day right with a sunrise. One of my favourite parts of this trip was getting up really early and hiking to balding bay for sunrise, were I was greeted with a great sunrise and then I saw a massive school of fish feeding of the rocks. On this morning the water was so clear and put the Whitsundays to shame. Watching the fish feed from the top a big rock was something I will never forget.

balding bay sunrise, this morning will stay with me always.

3

Soak in some history and go on the forts walk. Magnetic island has a small museum with all the history you could imagine including pictures of the picnic bay jetty before it was revamped. Then hike to the old forts that were built during the war. A moderate hike into the untamed magnetic island wilderness, you will be greeted with an amazing view over the whole island.