From Townsville, we took a 20 minute ferry to Magnetic Island. It seems like lots of city-dwellers spend their vacations here, and I can totally understand why. We managed to see a ton of stuff for a short day trip! The island is only a little bigger than Koh Tao so it’s easy to walk everywhere. Though by the end of our time there, our feet were pretty sore. Also, both of our sandals broke! I guess we’ve really put them through the test.
We were really excited to see 5 or 6 Koala’s on the island! Sleeping up in the eucalyptus trees, just clutching onto a branch, haha. Such unusual creatures – and cute.
Some guy has apparently been feeding the Rock Wallabies at 4:30 for decades. So now they all congregate around then every day. Signs say not to feed them but no one seems to listen. Really cute little marsupials though.
This one had a joey! He jumped back into the pouch and monitored me as I approached.
Leaving Townsville and Magnetic Island, we took a 2 hour detour to Ravenswood. It’s ‘the’ original mining town of Australia, and is supposed to give a good glimpse into life in the outback. The scenery lived up to its description and the town was nicely preserved. We didn’t stay long, and somewhat regretted the 2 hour drive.
We finally arrived in Arlie Beach where we decided to do a little hike to see the Whitsunday Islands. The coast along this part of Australia is definitely breathtaking!
On our way down to the town of 1770, we rolled through Maryborough. We noticed some signs about a Mary Poppins festival. We subsequently discovered that P.L. Travers (Mary Poppins author) was born here. The town has regular festivals and a little Mary Poppins dedicated corner complete with statues, Mary Poppins pedestrian signs and murals.
While in the town of 1770, we took a 3 hour surf lesson. First time I’ve ever managed to stand on a surfboard! Besides the surf lesson, we stayed at a packed campground and met a self-described “yachty” who has lived his entire life on a sailboat. For those familiar with Tin Tin, he was basically Captain Haddock. BTW, Australians tend to shorten words and/or then add an -y or -o to the end. It makes everything sound sorta cute (Breaky=breakfast, Avos=avocados, mushy=mushrooms).
After that, it was on to Rainbow Beach via Bundaberg. We didn’t do much other than check out the world renowned Bundaberg rum distillery (they’ve gotta do something with all that sugarcane!).
We did a few walks in the area and watched the sunset over the beach. 
Rainbow Beach has the Carlo Sand Blow, where sand has piled up inland and is slowly devouring the forest. It’s a pretty spectacular site to be half a mile from the beach, at least 500 ft above sea level, on a huge island of sand that runs down into a forest.
Highlights of Magic Island and Rainbow Beach
- Trying different rums at the Bundaberg Distillery (the spiced was our favorite)
- Amazing views of the Whitsunday Islands in Conway National Park, outside Arlie Beach
- Sunset and surfing in the Town of 1770
Love the Mary Poppins don’t walk signs. What a hoot! And such a cute wallaby! Australian Spiced Rum who would have guessed…….but I bet Capt’n Haddock knew all about it.