Magnetic Island’s Baby Driver

Captain Cook named the island in 1770 when sailing by because of the effect it seemed to have on their compasses. The Wulguru tribe were the indigenous Aborigines that occupied the island but migrated to the mainland each year in canoes to avoid the travelling tribes from Papua New Guinea and the Torres Strait who used the northern trade winds to travel south from their native lands in order to head hunt indigenous tribes along the northern coast of Australia.

Joan and Graham kindly picked us up to take us to the ferry terminal on Friday but they were a little early so suggested that we go for a glass of wine on the way. Again, we had a little tour of Townsville before stopping off at Jamaica Joe’s for a bottle and some snacks which was a nice start to our damp day. The rough sea and King Tide had started to erode the beach away. We arrived at the ferry point to find that we had just missed the last boat and the next one would be 90 minutes wait so we packed our luggage into a locker and headed off to the Pier (www.pierrestaurantandbar.com.au ) where the Red Barron seaplane took tourists for rides in better weather conditions.

The ferry started off slow but soon got up to full speed www.sunferries.com.au . The rain on the Island looked marginally worse than on the mainland but we were happy enough with a few drinks inside us. There is a bus that leaves about 5 minutes after the ferry arrives so don’t hang around else you might have to wait for the next ferry. Our driver was an aging hippy with long grey hair and beard that played loud rock music while he raced around the Island calling everyone “Baby”. Magnetic Island Rocks! In fact most of the male Islanders fit this description. I spoke to 3 locals on our journey and all seem to have come over for a holiday about 30 years ago and never went back. One guy was hitch hiking from Cairns to Brisbane and his lift took him over to the Island 30 years ago and he is yet to reach Brisbane.

Baby driver dropped us right outside The Canopy www.canopymagneticisland.com ; our Hotel for the next 4 nights, “Enjoy Baby” was his final remark as he shot off down the road. There is a little stream that runs by the side of our site and Ellen greeted us and showed us to our room which looked exactly like the brochure without the blue skies. They are really lovely rooms with a very high pitched roof. Each room is a chalet style detached bungalow with a mezzanine floor where the Queen bed and wardrobe is. Downstairs has an equipped kitchen, table and chairs sofa, flat screen TV with movie channels and a bathroom with laundry facilities. The bed linen is crisp and clean as is the furniture and equipment; a real good job has been made of the place with each unit surrounding the pool. There are lots of tropical plants in and around each unit which adds privacy and space. It’s a shame I kept getting rain on the camera lens.

No sooner had we dropped off the bags, we were having a drink with our new neighbours, Bill and Barb. People really are so nice and friendly over here. Bill and Barb are over celebrating their wedding anniversary and Bill remarked that they always have a disaster for their anniversary. Barb said that was because Bill had been surfing on their wedding day and had forgotten to arrange a hotel for their first night and ended up sleeping in the car. Poor Barb was suffering with an abscess in her mouth and was on antibiotics so couldn’t even enjoy a drink with us. Ellen came over to join the party and told us that the RSM over in Arcadia had food on which is reasonable and cheap; he even offered to lend us his car so we could get over there. You could never get better service than that; what did I tell you about how friendly they are over here? Thanks Ellen! We all piled in the car and set off for the RSL which somehow we missed on our way their and ended up in Horseshoe bay which is at the other end of the island. Never mind, we turned around and found it on our way back and arrived at 6pm just in time for the lights to be lowered, the music turned off, everybody stood up and saluted as some kind of remembrance speech was recited. I couldn’t work out what was happening at first and wondered if all their guests got this welcome when the arrived.

Great food at exceptionally low prices, we all had Lamb shank, mash, carrots, peas and gravy while Claire had the lamb curry but replaced the rice with the mash. We somehow managed to polish off another bottle of wine before the short drive back to The Canopy where Bill joined us on our veranda for a nightcap. Hope you feel better in the morning Barb! While we were putting the world to rights this bird came walking past giving us a good look over so I got some bread to feed it. I think it might be a Coolie, but it enjoyed our company anyway before taking a big piece of the bread back for his friends. Goodnight Baby!