Townsville and Magnetic Island

B*gger, I’ve just been done for speeding and Karen has quite rightly berated me for my lame excuse: “I was trying to get to Townsville before dark, officer”. As she quire rightly pointed out, what I should have said is: “are you sure you have the right car officer? This is a 1996 Ford with over 300,000 on the clock, 140 kph seems unlikely.” Anyway I am actually clocked @ only 125 kph so $250 seems a bit bloody steep and I’m quite hacked off. We now decide to keep to the speed limit which over 10,000 kms which means about an extra 24hrs driving – oh well the scenery’s good.

We check out The Strand or beachfront as well as Flinders Mall and we even get the kids to stay up happily eating Tapas until 10pm before taking the ½ hour ferry ride to Magnetic Island. This is a very small island that we nip round in an hour and we’re booked in for 3 nights. There are plenty of interesting bays and we enjoy a beautiful sunset @ Horseshoe Bay made particularly relaxing by the children’s excellent behaviour playing quietly by the beach. We also enjoy a day by the hotel’s pool as the kids chase me during an extended game of swimming ‘tag’ using their superhero alter egos ‘Purple Lightening and ‘Blue Thunder’.

The next day we unsuccessfully go koala spotting in the wild at Radical Bay. Not a single bloody eucalyptus chewer in sight and the road is more cratered than the moon so we head for the easy option at the Koala Park. Not only do the kids get to cuddle koalas again, we also all get to hold a croc. (mouth strapped shut of coarse), use a python as a makeshift scarf and feed the parakeets (scariest of the lot as they really do dig their claws in whilst pecking the muesli-like stodge off your hands). Tony the guide is also full of amusing anecdotes such as the fact that crocs only go for tourists and mosquitoes much prefer hot-bloodied women with smelly feet to frigid men with sweetly perfumed toes (quite frankly I’m surprised they bother me so much).

Next morning there’s just time to pop down to Picnic Bay and reminisce with an old codger about how the place has changed over the last 20 years (or 44 years in his case) before heading back to Townsville to pick up our passports left at the Rydges Hotel (oops schoolboy error). We upgrade to a luxury apartment for 1 night only which is fantastic and in the morning we head south out of Townsville for Airlie Beach. Where are the signs of these ‘worst floods in 120 years’ I keep wondering until I realise we are travelling in a northerly loop. We get back to 100m from where we started ½ hour later. Still not many signs of damage or high water levels and we arrive at the gateway to the Whitsundays unscathed several snail-paced hours later.