Townsville and Magnetic Island

The Lonely Planet Cycling Australia guide has just 2 more rides in Queensland that I haven't yet done, and both of these are based in Townsville. I travelled there from Cairns by Greyhound bus with my bike; the Bruce Highway is not a safe road to cycle, and there isn't much of interest between the 2 cities. It's a 6 hour journey on the bus.


On arrival I found convenient accommodation at the Adventurers resort, and set off right away to climb Castle Hill, a 286m outcrop that overlooks the town centre. It's a pretty good workout:

I was impressed by how busy the track up to the summit was; the local population certainly looked a lot fitter than in most places in Australia.


On reaching the summit there are great views over the city and Magnetic Island, just 8kms offshore:

Friday 4^th October 2013


Got the 0845 ferry over to Magnetic Island, it takes about 30 minutes to arrive at Nellie Bay. From there it's only about 8kms along the island's only proper tarmac road, to reach Horseshoe Bay , on the north side of the island. The road is steep, winding, and narrow in places, and there's a good cycle/walking path adjacent to it:

The route passes Geoffrey Bay which has a nice beach:

A bit further on I turned off to do a walk up to the WWII fortifications, and saw the old gun emplacements and also some koalas:

Arriving at Horseshoe Bay I had some great fish and chips, and sat on the beach for a while:

Retracing the route back to the south of the island I continued past Nellie Bay to Picnic Bay, then along a dirt road to West Point, from where you can see Palm Island, home to a large Aboriginal community:

Then it was back to Townsville on the ferry, and on arrival there was still time for a ride around the city before it got dark. There's a good city beach along the Strand, and also a lot of historic buildings. And Castle Hill certainly forms an impressive backdrop:

Distance today 55kms.