Koalas on Magnetic Island

Spent the day on Magnetic Island last weekend with friends.   Magnetic Island is only a 1/2 hour ride by ferry across the bay from Townsville.

We took a picnic lunch which we ate at Alma Bay.  This is a lovely bay with lots of grass and shade with a great swimming beach. It is my favourite bay on Magnetic Island.

What I wanted the most to do on Magnetic Island was the Fort Walk, because this is the track that you have the best chance of seeing koalas in the wild on.  So after enjoying the view during  lunch we the drove off to the Radical Bay turn-off as this is where the start of the walk is. This walk is rated as Moderate and takes about 1.5 hours return, we took 2 hours but that was stopping for lots of photos.   But the walk is uphill all the way there. It is called the Fort Walk because it is WWII ruins that include a lookout point, and lookouts are always on top of a hill I have found.

So off we went.  I had told everyone that we all had to walk looking up at the trees so we would not miss any koalas.  The  walk itself is nice and easy to start with on a well maintained path. Soon you a get the first view of the blue ocean  from the hill.

Up ahead we notice two girls off to one side of the track taking photos of something in a tree.  And then we saw it, our first koala just sitting there in a tree.  We would have missed it if not for the girls.  I was so happy.  He/she was too cute. We continued on down the path, or should I say up the path.  As we got close to the Fort we got better views.  First we could see Radical Bay.  On top of the hill we saw the two old ruins from WWII.  We climbed the ladder for a better view, well worth the effort and not as scary as it looked.  From here we could see to Horseshoe Bay.

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After enjoying the view and climbing all over both ruins we headed back down the path, and on the way back we saw a second koala, a bonus.  It was a great way to spend the afternoon. 

Now because we made the boys walk they said they had earned a beer so it was off to the Picnic Bay Hotel for a cold one.  What a great way to finish off the day looking out over Picnic Bay and the old jetty.

So come on up to Townsville and enjoy our little bit of paradise. There’s lots to do.