Magnetic Island

Looking back at Double Cone Island

On our way out of the Whitsundays we did a brief stop at Double Cone Island. The anchorage was rolly and windy, but not enough to stop dedicated shell hunters. The island is supposed to have a lot of cone shells on the beach. Unfortunately, the shell collecting was a bust, with the beach walk still nice. Lately we've taken to blaming our friend Judy on Fair Winds whenever a beach has no shells, as she is the consummate shell hunter and is travelling ahead of us on this passage.

On the way north we sailed past Abbott Point. This pier sticks out from the land 1.3 miles. It is the major coal loading point for Queensland. There were a dozen large bulk carrier ships at anchor offshore, just waiting their turn to head to the pier, turn on the conveyor belt and load up with beautiful, clean Australian coal, headed to India.

We cut into the shallow entrance to the canal that separates Hinchinbrook Island from the mainland. It was dead calm inside and a nice motor up the well marked channel. We are well into croc country now, but didn't see any in the surrounding mangroves. We expected to see more birds, as it looks like a perfect environment for them, but there weren't many -- a rarity for Australia that seems to have an unlimited number of cool birds.

We spent four days in Magnetic Island, anchored in Horseshoe Bay (above). Really nice place. The island was named by Captain Cook. He thought his compass was messed up in the area and attributed it to some disturbance caused by ores on the island, hence Magnetic Island.  Turns out he was wrong about the island's effect on compasses, but it does have a magnetic draw for tourists and retirees. 

It's easy to get around Magnetic Island - lots of walking trails and a public bus that runs often. We took the bus to the start of the Fort Trail. This trails heads up the mountain to the World War II gun embankments.  Looking at the rusty stuff was good, but had to take a serious backseat to the free-range koalas along the trail. 

Of course I also had to deal with the continuous signs warning about the common death adders on the trail. I think there is a symbiotic relationship between the koalas and the death adders. You walk along the trail continually looking down to avoid any sneaky snakes. But then your eye catches a cute, big eyed, cuddly koala in a tree. You stare at it and start taking pictures -- this is just when the death adders strike. At least in my mind. 

This jar containing a Common Death Adder was sitting on the counter of the convenience store at Horseshoe Bay, just where you pay. 

 After we left Magnetic we headed north toward Cairns, stopping at the cyclone damaged Dunk Island. On the way the HMAS Canberra and Adelaide were anchored offshore, carefully guarding our passage north. HMAS: Her Majesty's Australian Ship. They just can't let go of the royals thing here.

The large, public, open-air pool along the strand in Cairns.

We're now in the marina in Cairns - pronounced Cans for some unknown reason. Great place to stock up, catch a movie and generally enjoy land life. Next up: the 495 nautical miles passage to Thursday Island in the Torres Strait at the very top of Australia.

Paul