Australia - Part 6

I really didn't think it was going to take me all summer to blog about this incredible adventure, but various 'things' keep coming up to 'distract' me from finishing this. The latest 'distraction' has been iMovie. This great, fun and very simple program came on our new Mac and Caleb, who loves to make movies, especially with his Star Wars legos, has been asking me to sit down with him to learn the program. It's been busy and I've been putting him off until I discovered all of the online video tutorials that Apple provides to learn their programs. Caleb (who's only 8 years old) spent about an hour (maybe less) watching each and every tutorial and now he's a pro and has taught me, which has been very dangerous! I've been busy editing our trip, adding music, sound effects, titles, oh, the list goes on and dinner has to be made each night. Sigh... And you should see the movies Caleb has made. He's so creative!

Day 16 - Off to Maggie

Sunday morning we worshipped with Dave and Joanna and their family at Grace Baptist Church in Malanda, the same church we enjoyed the luncheon at yesterday. And they fed us a delicious luncheon again after church. We really enjoyed the fellowship, but, unfortunately had to rush off to catch the last ferry from Townsville to Magnetic Island. It was about a 4 hour drive past lots of cows, sugar cane fields and banana trees in this sparsely populated land to reach Townsville. We caught the ferry and had a magnificent ride into the Coral sea of the South Pacific to Magnetic island just as the sun was setting with soft, warm ocean breezes in our face.

Day 17 - Magnetic Island

A gorgeous day as we woke up at Arcadia Beach Guest House, a kind of backpackers retreat with lots of common eating and lounging areas outdoors. Very fun, bright, cheery place to stay.

After brekkie, we set off on a bushwalk on the Old Forts Hike. The guide book listed it as an easy 1 mile hike with lots of eucalyptus trees full of koalas to the old WW2 forts. If I were writing the guide book I'd write: A grueling uphill (both ways) 20mile hike with lots of eucalyptus trees void of any koalas to the old WW2 forts. Scenic views.

All kidding aside, it was a gorgeous walk, but we were disappointed to not see any koalas (too hot, I think) and were also surprised at the length, especially with several little ones who needed carrying. We did see lots of beautiful cockatoos in the trees.

And the views as we ascended were breathtaking...

Magnetic Island was named by James Cook in 1770 when he believed the magnetic compass on his ship the Endeavour was affected by the island. The forts complex at the peak of the island was operated from 1943 to the end of the Pacific War in 1945 by the Australian Coast Artillery Units.


After our grueling bushwalk, we loaded into Moses, our 12 passenger van...

and headed over to Horseshoe Bay to cool off.

We swam within the 'stinger nets' to avoid any of the deadly box jellyfish that can lurk in the waters surrounding the island. Although, it really wasn't the season for them, we weren't taking any chances!

We were told that we might be able to find some wild rock wallabies hanging out in the rocks by the old jetties. So, we purchased some carrots and went on a rock wallaby hunt. Thankfully, we found lots! They were used to being fed by the tourists and readily came near us looking for the treats we had in hand.

A rock wallaby is basically a small kangaroo.

Mama with her joey in pouch.

We even found a wild Caleb hanging out in the rocks. That boy loves to climb!

After catching the afternoon ferry, we once again piled into Moses and set our course southward. We stopped in Ayr for a late lunch/early dinner at a great place called Yvette's. Yvette was great! She chatted with us, cooked the food herself and packed us some milkshakes to go! We finally pulled into Mansfield Park Farm Stay in Sarina around 8:30pm...

Stay tuned for Part 7...