Seashalia: Magnetic Island, Townsville

Yesterday was a day for our visit to Magnetic Island. With wild romantic notions about this island from childhood, we came down to earth to discover that Magnetic Island was a Quarantine Station in the late 1800's. Not many boats called in there of course, and sometimes the quarantined and their carers waited for many months to see a fresh face or to leave the island. There had been scares with Typhoid, Meningitis and the like. At the turn of the century the station was brought to Townsville and the remaining buildings are just a couple of kilometers down the road from our caravan park. Like us, I'm sure the residents listened through the night not only to the ocean rolling in, but also to the mournful songs of the many sea birds who cry throughout the night.

Magnetic island has 4 main tiny centres with about a dozen streets each. There are lots of "dead ends". Where do you go at the end of a road on an island? The island is made up of a mountain range, covered with huge smooth rocks of granite and some stand on top of each other like "The Devils Marbles", but not so dramatic. The mountains are also covered with trees. There are a few beaches, some are netted for the stingers and there are three Surf Living Clubs there. There are also plenty of wrecks there. The water has various shades of blue, which is very pretty. The beaches are mainly sandy with gentle water. We took the ute over on the vehicular ferry and this was pleasant. A trip of about 35 minutes. Last night two large trucks were loaded on with us. They had brought to the island a big crane and the cost of the transport was about $5,000, just to get the crane and auxiliary equipment there. They needed the highest tide to get the ferry high enough in the water to take the great load.

Cyclone "Yasi" hit Magnetic Island as well as Townsville (3 Feb 2011). It also took out Mission Beach and blew as far as Mt Isa - which is very far out west from here. So there was destruction on the roads (fallen into the sea) and the pier was destroyed as well. Hence the need for the crane. We saw a sleepy-looking road worker holding his "lolly pop" sign, but at night all the road workers seemed delighted to be going home to Townsville on our ferry, while teenagers and adults returned home to the island from a day at work or school.