“If you actually look like your passport photo, you aren’t well enough to travel”
–Sir Vivian Fuchs
Magnetic or Maggie Island, as the Townsville locals call it, lies a 1/2 hour boat ride off Townsville. It got its name like most things by Captain Crunch…err…I mean Captain Cook. The story goes that his compasses went crazy as he was coming around the island so he thought it was giving off some kind of magnetic pulse. Anyway, I was boarding a huge Catamaran which meant I would not experience the sea sickness I had experienced in Hong Kong or Dunk Island.
From all the reading I had done I knew I had to do the 6km Forts Walk hike. This was supposed to give me a look at Koalas in the wild and a look at an old Aussie defensive fort. Funny thing about Oz, it seems that there always seems to be warning signs, In most cases, its a snake or a spider or a croc. In this case it’s a powder keg that contains Vampire Bats….Neat ! It’s actually the Death Adder snakes ya better not step on in this particular location. This was an amazing hike. I had no idea that the Aussie’s had a fort here. I was completely enthralled at the gun placement outlook over looking Townsville harbour. A construction worker on the trail told me that Koalas can get quite mean when yank them out of their trees. Shit…did that make us both laugh hard.
