6 September 2011

A very good nights sleep in the van, which was literally parked on the beach in Saunders Bay I enjoyed a chat to the family as I watched the waves rolling in, the sun rising up in the sky with the white sand pouring through my fngers.

All aboard the morning Ferry!Magnetic Island's dark outline became clear as the Ferry advanced full steam ahead. The tiny white sandy bays started appearing from all angles.As soon as our feet hit Maggie's (the locals call Magnetic Island by the familiar name of Maggie)Peer were on the bus hedding to Picnic Bay - for of course, our very own picnic of home made sarnies.Lunch was followed by a welcomed nap on the warm sands under the sun.We enjoyed our all day bus ticket by chopping and changing our minds, ending up doing a full loop of the island!We admired Horseshoe Bay from a distance, the commerciality and jet skis ripping through the sea took away the secluded 'alone' feeling from the beach.We eventually hopped off at Gregory Bay where we caught a few more rays before a quick dip in the ocean.The sea was warm!I was stunned!The sea has been freezing everywhere we have tried to have a dip!I couldn't believe it!A dark shaped wipped from beneath our feat in the sand... I lept back.We looked closer to see it was a sting ray!There were more!About 2 or 3 were moving along the ocean floor!I've never seen one close up before!

We embarked on the Forts walk and we spotted 3 Koalas!The first one decided to have a big stretch while we were watching him!You can see from the photo above how he ended up stetching both his arms and legs around the tree!I was squeeling with excitement!On the bus ride back to Arcadia for dinner we saw about 6 tiny Kangaroo faces peering through the long grass waiting to cross the road to reach the greener grass for dinner.We chatted to the bus driver who told us some horrificy realities about how the Cyclone on February 4 2011 had really affected the island.From out an outsiders perspective the island looked settled, as though almost nothing had happend, how wrong we were.The eye of the cyclone had hit Tully and we had seen some of the buildings still without rooves and the trees which were ripped to the floor.For Maggie though, 50% of their pre-exisiting trees were gone.Completly.Some of the tree speciies would never come back.The Koalas starved because there were no leaves for them to feast on.Thankfully, only one house on the island had been destroyed, but that was more than enough. Sand dunes formed 20m from the currently exisiting beach, at least 4m high.These did help to protect some of the buildings from the vicious waves that later hit the town.The island had no electricty, money or food for 1 week.The ATMs after all are run on electricity.Our bus driver lived off the water he had managed to store in his bathtub and all the weird tins in the back of his pantry.

His story really made us think.One of the guides from Paronella Park talked about those on the East Cost of Australia fear the Bush fires those on the West expeirance, and vice versa.We in England fear all.The fear temperment of nature really hit home.

We enjoyed our first proper dinner out on the island before hedding back to the mainland and parking on the street to sleep.We induldged in some Red Empeor and Coral Trout with Chips and salad, and the most devine seafood pancake for starters.umm.An Agile Wallaby hopped right past me with some serious speed - god, what an amazing day for wildlife!