For once, l woke quite excited for it to be my birthday. I'm never daunted by how old l'm turning but l never really like the day itself for some reason. But this year was different. This year we were doing something special. We have been thru and stayed in Townsville many times on this trip but never got across to exploring Magnetic Island, or "Maggie" as its known affectionately by the locals. Today was the day that we were finally heading across to check it out.
I woke to Marty and the girls busily making pancakes and coffee for breakfast. The girls had set a special table outside with all the lavish spreads for our pancakes. I was very impressed that Marty was able to make them from scratch, the day was starting off well. When the girls noticed l was awake, they greeted me with excited kisses, cuddles and happy birthday wishes. Next was time to unwrap my gifts, which l was spoilt with a new tankini, camera bag, tripod bag and of course my new runners that l had already tried to wear in.... My favourite gifts by far were my handmade cards by the girls which Boo had decorated with a drawing of a sunset and dragon fly with a waterfall landscape picture. Meg covered me well with a drawing of me with a camera taking a photo. Will cherish them forever.
After our delicious breakfast we got ready to catch the 9:30am Sealink ferry across to Maggie Island. It was such a reasonable deal, only costing us $135 in total for us all to to catch the return ferry and hire a mini mote for the day to trip around the island. As we boarded the ferry, we were all excited to be out exploring a new place. As we crossed the sea, it was a little rocky and choppy, but we arrived in great time, only taking around 20 minutes. We pulled up at Nelly Bay which is the main shopping area on the island and holds the marina.
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| The Sealink Ferry.. |
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| See you later Townsville... |
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| Getting closer to Maggie Island |
We made our way off the ferry and went to pick up our mini mote. which l think Marty was really excited about, but would never admit it. The mote was a crack up! It was a mini Barbie car and when Marty got in, he looked so squished up, reminded me of High Tower off Police Academy! The girls absolutely loved being in the back, being able to climb up into their seats instead of having to open a door, and the roof off just blew them away with joy! They had never ridden in a convertible before. We set off heading east to Picnic Bay for a look and to do a walk. It only took us 10 minutes to get there, l think you can actually get around the island in half an hour, its not real big. Anyway, when we parked the car, Marty and Meg weren't really keen to do the lookout walk. But seeing it was my birthday, it was my choice on what we were doing, and a lookout walk is what l wanted. So we set off, making it halfway up the slightly step bush rock track, a small lookout viewing area where we sat for a bit to soak it up and hydrate. Even though it was mid morning, it was so warm and we were sweating so much. At this point, Marty and Meg decided that they weren't going any further and would sit and wait for Boo and l to return. Boo was so gorgeous, l don't think she really felt like going up further to the lookout, but to keep me happy for my birthday she did it for me. Such a sweetheart! We headed up the narrow rocky steep track, finally reaching the top with perfect 360o views of Picnic Bay below and Townsville out in the horizon. We could even make out tiny humans below which was Marty and Meg below, probably scorching in the heat!
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| Our Barbie Mini Mote... |
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| Family fun day out.... |
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| Stragglers..... |
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Gorgeous Boo up at the lookout, having made the
trek with her birthday mum! |
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| Selfies together....Nelly Bay in the distance... |
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| Another selfie with Picnic Bay and the jetty down below! |
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| Panoramic of Nelly Bay.. |
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| Picnic Bay panoramic..... |
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| See the tiny people down there...Marty and Meg baking in the sun! |
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| Family selfie when we got back to the lower lookout.... |
After the hike down the hill, we decided to head down and check out Picnic Bay. It was such a quiet place, with little movement of water and noise from cars and people. The sand was hot, the girls ran down to put their feet in the water. The jetty was on the right hand side, looking like it stretched for miles. Their were old tinnies lining the sand dunes up at the beach, the locals obviously trusting. We decided not to take a swim here, opting to go to a different bay as lunchtime was closing in.
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| Gorgeous Picnic Bay.... |
It was time to venture around the other side of the island with the Barbie mote, Marty totally loving this mote experience! As we took to the windy roads, the mote surprised us with how much grunt it had. We pulled up at Alma Bay for a picnic lunch of pies and sausage rolls from the nearby bakery. The day was absolutely gorgeous, the sun shining and the sea breeze aiding to keep us cool enough under the shade of the Norfolk pine trees. The girls had fun on the nearby playground and then afterwards we enjoyed a swim in the gorgeous sea. It was a beautiful bay, home of the Arcadia Surf Lifesaving Club, which had a cool mural on the wall.
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| Loving the sun! |
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| Alma Bay.... |
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| Great mural... |
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| My view lazing around..... |
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| Good old pie for lunch... |
After lunch we did a short drive up to check out the local aquarium. Now we didn't know too much but we were probably expecting a bit more than what we saw. We rocked up, the girls always excited to see marine life up close and personal, to find a self payment honesty box and an entrance way boarded with fly strips. We made our gold coin donation and went in to find around a dozen fish tanks, which l will admit, had some colourful tropical fish in, but looked just like one you would find in a house. We did have a close encounter with a huge clam which l stupidly put my hand in to see if it was alive, when it quickly closed, nearly taking my fingers off!!!! The huge splash alone made the girls freak out let alone my little squeal!! Lol...
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| Marty is loving this car! |
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| Inside the fish tanks at the aquarium... |
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The clam that nearly took my fingers off!
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Seeing the the "aquarium" was short lived, it was time to get in the mote again and make our way up north of the island, stopping off at a parking area for yet another walk. Well we did just gorge on pies, so that had to be burnt off hey! It was now fairly warm in the sun, and unfortunately the rules of the mini mote was that we weren't allowed to take it off sealed roads. Now normally we would try and dodge the rules a little, but they do patrol the island for people not obeying the rules, and the locals dob the tourists in a bit too. So, the walk was longer than expected and we had only decided to do the short one down to Arthur Bay where we had heard was an alright place to snorkel. Not only where we having to cart our snacks around but we also had to lug our towels and snorkeling gear down to the bay too. It wasn't a hard walk, mainly on a hot bitumen road that went downhill and then veered off into the hot dry bush, which lead thru a dry creek out to the bay. It wasn't very well marked, but we eventually got their and it felt like we had landed on the Survivor show. No one else was there, we had it all to ourselves! Being so hot, we all stripped off to our bathers and cooled off in the ocean. The snorkeling was pretty disappointing, the water being very cloudy with not much coral or marine life. The water was a little choppy as you made your way out further from the beach, but the coral seemed to get a little better the further out you went. The girls, even Boo, weren't liking the distance we got from the beach and the fact you couldn't see much in the water, so we headed back into the shallows. Even thought hte snorkeling was disappointing, we loved the isolation and peacefulness of the place. We even found a ready made shelter type structure out of old driftwood that amused the girls too. Having cooled off, time had gone so quickly and we had to make our way back to the car. Both Marty and l ended up with jock crotch from our swimming shorts rubbing while we walked up the steep hill. Would have looked very funny to passer by's seeing us walking with our legs spread like we had shit ourselves or something!!! lol.
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| Arthur Bay... |
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| Playing around... |
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| Looking up at us...underwater selfie. |
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| Fooling around... |
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| Survivor eat you heart out... |
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| Back in the water... |
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| Not much to look at.... |
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| Time for snacks.... |
Back at the Barbie car we were glad to be back on the road, with no other walks left to do. We made our way to Horseshoe Bay were we parked the mote and relaxed by the bay on our towels. Marty and l had gone thru the local bottle shop and got a 6 pack of ciders, which we gladly knocked the top off one. It was the perfect end to a perfect day. As we relaxed listening to the small waves rolling into the beach, the girls played pretend in the Barbie car, keeping them amused for quite some time. There were some locals, maybe from Townsville, who pulled up and unloaded a tinnie filled with eskies, sleeping bags, etc. Great way to have a luxury weekend away if you owned a holiday house here. We ordered fish n chips and watched the sun-setting over the bay, when we had to make a pretty quick dash back to Nelly Bay to drop the mote off and catch the ferry, otherwise we had to fill in time for another hour in the dark, which Marty and l thought wouldn't be too much fun.
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| My turn to drive!!! |
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| Horseshoe Bay township... |
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| Marty was hoping that l would ride topless to fit the theme of the mote! lol |
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| Cheers... |
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| Horseshoe Bay.... |
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| Plenty of boats anchored.... |
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| Girls having fun! |
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| Days starting to end.... |
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| Gorgeous.... |
It felt like the amazing race running to the nearly departing ferry, the two crewman having to hold them off from taking off with us stampeding up the boat ramp!! We made it on board and sat up top, slightly the more colder and blowier option, but thought it would be more mood setting watching the lights of Townsville become more bigger and brighter the closer we got. Marty and l got our free alcohol refreshments, which tasted worse than stale water! It was so rotten that l didn't even finish mine, now that's saying something!! We made it home by around 9pm, finishing the night off with candles and cake. Marty and the girls had made this such a magical birthday, l will never forget it. My other birthdays of late have mainly memories of fights and sad situations, but this one was filled with love and joy, having spent it with my amazing family.
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