Australia. Magnetic Island.

I set off bright and early and partially sighted from Arlie on the 9th April for the relatively short trip to Townsville from where I got the ferry to Magnetic Island. The island is 8km off the mainland and a tiny island known for it's many bays. I was staying on the opposite side of the island to the girls I knew from travelling and also the opposite side from where the ferry terminal was. I hopped on a bus and made the way to my hostel. It was a super sweet bus journey and the driver stopped at the locals houses for them and seemed to know all about them. There are about 2000 people who live permenantly on the island so it's pretty small! I chose my hostel as it was in the middle of the forest and was supposed to have a lot of wildlife around. I stayed in a little three bed cabin which was so cute. I was lucky enough to stay in it on my own for the first night which was great. The noises at night were a little scary but felt very wild! Especially as there were no windows, just fly nets over the the open walls and tressel areas. 

Was a lovely view from the cabin. On my second day I set off to do some walking. I had read in my lonely planet book that the Forts walk was the best walk to do on the island if you were only going to do one so off I set! It was a walk through gum forest up to a high point on the island which had been used as a gun fort in WWII. The area had loads of enormous  boulders which made good hiding spots. I'm not sure why the fort was there as it was facing directly towards the mainland. There were lots of beautiful views of the many bays and to the mainland. 

My eye was still super sensitive to light but I could still appreciate some of the views! After this round walk left me back at my staring point I then headed off to walk between several of the bays to end up at Horseshoe Bay which was next to my hostel. The walk to hard and it was so hot! It was a really disappointing walk really as it was a lot of road and not much view. I was so hot and did not have enough water so it was a struggle I wanted to finish as quick as possible! I stopped off a a few almost empty bays which were really pretty. Such a shame you can't get in the water without a stinger suit. 

I was so glad when it finished and I ended up back of Horseshoe Bay!

The next day I was supposed to leave for Cairns so I checked out and hung out in the bar area as I was going to get the ferry in a couple of hours past checkout. I overheard a guy on the phone to Greyhound asking about the buses and I heard him say that the buses were cancelled. O no!!!! He said that they had been cancelled because of cyclone Ita was due to hit north of Cairn later that evening. Shit. So I checked back into the hostel for two nights, changed rooms because the lady in my hut snored so loud last night and got ready for the cyclone! I decided to stay on the island as I thought it would be prettier than going to Townsville, but turned out to be just boring instead! So I had a gammy eye, it was raining non stop, my kindle broke and we had a giant cockroach in our hut! It was so boring. I stayed in my room for pretty much the whole 2 days listening to the rain. I turned to candy crush in my boredom. Sad times! 

On the second night the cyclone hit and I woke up early as was planning on getting an early ferry out. I woke up the main road pretty flooded and so the buses and ferry were off. 

It was pretty wet but hardly looked like a storm had hit. The receptionist told me we were in they eye of the storm and the ferries would be off until the afternoon. The other side never came! So I re made my bed and got back in! We were told that the ferries were back on and I desperately wanted to get on it! I got a bus and found the rest of the tourists wanting to get off the island too! I found some of the girls I met on Fraser which was cool and we forced our way onto the ferry! Yeah! Escaping!!!