Early start today as we are off to catch the barge at 8am to Magnetic Island. We have a full day planned with our return barge at 5pm.

We arrive at Nelly Bay and have decided to tackle the island but heading the furthest point first this is West Point. One good thing about taking your own 4WD is you can get to places that most people can’t.

West Point – Magnetic Island

West Point is a 4WD only track and there was water over a lot of the track.

But the payoff is a beautiful private beach that not many visitors get to see.

Picnic Bay – Magnetic Island

From West Point we head back to Picnic Bay, we take a walk along the bay and onto the jetty, the water is clear and calm and we enjoy the beautiful scenery.

We find a walking track to Hastings Point which is a 1.2km return trip and is a moderate grade. due to an earlier fall in Townsville I am unable to make the trek so Maarten and Little Maarten head out on the trail.

Today is very humid and by the time they got back they were very hot. We decided to spend sometime in the car and drive to Horseshoe Bay with he intention of having lunch at a local fish n chip shop.

There was not a parking spot anywhere even take photos.

Horseshoe Bay

So we head back to Nelly Bay and the SOS Takeaway. We pick up our lunch and head to Bright Point and find a lovely park.

After lunch we decide to tackle the second 4WD track to Radical Bay. We take the drive up the hill towards Horseshoe Bay and turn off at the Forts Walk. Chuck a hard Right and head down a steep hill.

We start off thinking of wow there is a lot of pot holes but there is blacktop, we can handle this…….. Every was there a time for the quote “famous last words”

This was defiantly a 4WD road and the pothole felt like they were going to swallow the car whole…

I stressed about every hole and if I could actually do this, when a Suzuki Vitara came the other way.

Gee if they can make it I think my Holden Colorado with lift, all terrain tyres and a locker should be ok. The end of the tack yields yet another beautiful bay.

From Radical Bay we travel back along the 4WD track and the next stop is Florence Bay and Arthur Bay. Both are small walks to more picturesque bays. Magnetic Island is a nature lovers paradise.

Next stop on the whistlestop is Geoffrey Bay, this is the place that most surprised me. As we pulled into the carpark there were Rock Wallabies feeding everywhere. Obviously this is very common as they weren’t too worried about cars or people.

Thinking that 5pm was going to be too late to travel back to Townsville, it became apparent it was time to get a move on or we would miss the barge..

Magnetic Island turned out to be an experience we were not expecting. Beauty, nature, 4WD tracks and walks that can keep you busy for a lot longer than 1 day.

Magnetic Island you took us by surprise…