Magnetic Island
The much-awaited day finally arrived – it was Friday, April 5, the last day of term 2! Dale’s family had all arrived the day before and the house was a buzz with excitement. The campers were both packed and ready to go, the house was tidy and cleaned ready for our house sitter – it was time to hit the road!
Check out Mackay to Cooktown Part 1 HERE!
Our first destination was Magnetic Island off Townsville which was about a 4.5hrs drive. We didn’t have too much time to meander as we had to catch the 4pm ferry across to the island. Our first and only stop was at the Big Mango in Bowen. We took a few photos, tried some of the mango ice-cream, and enjoyed home-made sandwiches in the park across the road. It was a beautiful sunny day, and t
he glimpses of water looked amazing. We were a bit disappointed we didn’t have time to explore Bowen a bit more, but being only 2 hours from home we knew there would be more opportunities later on.
Travel Tip: We usually pack sandwiches for lunch stops. Have everything already chopped up and assemble at picnic spot while the kids run around and stretch their legs. You then avoid soggy sandwiches, and you save a bunch of money!
We made it to the ferry with just enough time for toilet breaks. The ocean was quite choppy, but the kids enjoyed going up to the viewing deck and then hanging off our cars and getting wet from the spray. About halfway through a couple of our kids began to feel a bit off, so Hayden asked to sit in the car with me for a bit to rest. I was also struggling to control the motion sickness and was concentrating hard on looking out at the horizon.
Next thing we knew, Tayla was throwing up all over the ground next to the car. Thankfully Dale and his brother Darren, who is a nurse, were outside to help her. A few minutes later Hayden came to the front seat looking terribly pale. I quickly sent him out of the car as he proceeded to throw up all over the ferry floor! By now I was just about ready to join them both!!
Travel Tip: When travelling on water, always ensure you have sick bags on board!! We learnt the hard way!
Back on solid ground, we made the short, but picturesque drive across the island to Bungalow Bay Koala Village. By now it was getting late in the day. We were all tired and hungry and wanted to do a quick set up for the first night. The powered sites weren’t the greatest for group camping, however after a bit of deliberating we agreed on a spot. Darren quickly parked his Patriot Camper while Dale got ready to park our Jayco Swan. Dale soon realised that with the angles and slope of the land that spot wasn’t going to work for our van. The sun was setting, and the kids were restless, so we sent Nana and Pops with the kids to go and get pizzas for dinner. Dale tried the next spot over, but we soon realised that the tree branches around us were too low. After multiple attempts we were up to at least plan D or E! None of us were impressed. We ended up having to settle for an extremely awkward set up, but we would make it work.
Travel Tip: Avoid setting up camp just on dusk when everyone is tired, hungry, and decision weary!
While on the island, we enjoyed doing some four-wheel driving across to Radical Bay. We set the cars up right on the beach while the kids enjoyed splashing around in the shallow water with their tubes. We were even fortunate enough to get a fresh coconut from a guy who was picking them right near us.
Travel Tip: Don’t forget to check out the piano on the beach at Radical Bay…we completely forgot about it and missed out much to my disappointment.
A big highlight from our few days was the walk that Dale and the family did up to The Forts (I stayed back at camp to rest as Sophia had a few restless nights). They saw multiple koalas in the wild, and even managed to pat one! The view was well worth the sweaty, steep walk.
Horseshoe Bay was just a short walk from the campground, and over a couple of days we enjoyed fish and chips with sunset views, Sunday markets, swimming in the netted area, spotting turtles from the shore, and some did jet skiing.
We had two full days on the island which was enough to explore only a few of the sights. We had a morning ferry to catch on the Monday as our next destination was Cardwell. Thankfully the ocean was calm, the ferry was empty, and we had a much more pleasant ride back to the mainland. We even got to enjoy watching a huge cargo ship being guided into port.
