Still No Attraction...

Day Two of Magnetic Island, my only full day. I had a great night's sleep, so hoped I was starting over fresh. I decided to do some walking through the national park that takes up over 90% of the island. Guidebooks raved about the well marked paths and the interpretive signs along the way. After an hour of hiking in 90+ degree heat and 90+% humidity, I was less than impressed. The path I wanted to take was not well marked at all. You had to know to follow the path to Nelly Bay (the opposite direction of Horseshoe Bay, where I was headed) and then veer off after 1km. Luckily I came across a couple just as I was determining where to go and they pointed this out to me. Then the path came out onto a major street which you had to follow and then catch up with the path later. This happened numerous times which was annoying and less than attractive but what was most annoying was that because the path never strayed far from the road, there was no wildlife to speak of. So I saw trees and a dirt path for 2 hours. Hm. Think I could find that anywhere! The highlight of my day was a $1 huge slice of incredibly yummy bright red watermelon. I had lunch in Horseshoe Bay and then took the bus back to the hostel to sit by the pool. I watched the scuba diving instruction while dangling my feet in the water, wincing against the salt water in my leg wound. But it's supposed to help the healing process, and it definitely worked!

Lounged around the hostel again and left early in the morning to go back to Townsville. After a few hours at the Townsville Aquarium I was on a bus to Cairns, my "almost" last stop in Australia. (I fly out of Cairns on the 15th, but am taking a 2day/1night excursion to Cape Tribulation before then.)

Magnetic Island seems like a fanstastic spot, if you're just going to relax on the beach or in the pool (but I could have done that back in Airlie Beach and saved myself time & money), if you LOVE hiking (I like it, but it was too hot for me) or if you have a lot of time to spend there, therefore making the trip time worthwhile. None of these applied to me. But like I said, I've been so lucky up to this point, I can't complain. (Although I guess I am, huh? Sorry.)