Kayaking Magnetic

Some time ago I had agreed to kayak to Magnetic Island with my friend Bec. In between agreeing this and actually doing it however, I was seriously deterred from the idea by the fact that a) there was a very large salt water crocodile around the Townsville coast at the time, and b) a crocodile expert at the local wildlife park made a very good case for kayaking therefore being a very bad idea!

Time has moved on though, and many people have been out and about in the sea and none of them have become a croc’s dinner as a result, so when Bec recently mentioned she was going over to the island again, and would I like to join her, I jumped at the chance.

Two other paddlers who were due to come along dropped out, but Bec and I were still really keen, so last Saturday we had a lovely casual dinner party at Bec’s place. A terrified me – I don’t really do cooking! – made gnocchi with Bec and Jen after my flatmate had showed me how, and we also enjoyed delicious homemade cheese and homemade and -grown green pawpaw salad, brought by other guests. We talked and laughed, and everyone had great fun at our expense when we told them that our plan was to get up at 4am the next day (Bec and I are both a bit famous for being late, and for maybe not being great at getting up and started in the mornings…)

I stayed at Bec’s place to make the early start less problematic, and somehow, despite not really sleeping thanks to the awful heat and humidity we are currently experiencing (90+ percent humidity with night-time lows of 28°C anyone?) we both got up at 4am.

Both a bit dozy, we still managed to work well together to load the kayaks up onto little trolley wheels for the 1 kilometre walk to the nearest beach on the Strand.

It took us far longer than necessary to get down there, as it turned out that our idea to use 2 sets of wheels was more hindrance than help, but at least that was a lesson learned for the return journey later.

Arriving at the beach it was light already, and we took a little time to double check that we had everything, make sure that we were covered up to protect from the sun, could access enough drinking water, had securely locked our trolley wheels to a handy palm tree, and were generally all ready to go.

We were both pretty excited as we prepared to launch, and looking forward to the day ahead.

The swell was against us for the journey out, but wasn’t too big to be a problem. The wind was against too, but was very light, and while the sun was fierce it did stay mostly hidden by clouds, so wasn’t too unbearable. 

We aimed for the right-hand side of the island, the south east side, and worked hard to keep paddling consistently as otherwise we would get pushed backwards – meaning further to paddle!

I kept an eye out for wildlife, and saw a flock of black cockatoos making their way over the sea to the island. Not being seabirds, this was pretty interesting to watch. I was also surprised by quite how many seafaring butterflies I saw. Several times I saw what I thought were turtles coming up to breathe, but as soon as I'd seen them they would be gone again, and I was always left wondering whether it had been my imagination or an actual turtle.

My new sun hat. It's pretty special...

For what felt like ages the island seemed to get no closer, but finally the angles started to change and we could begin to make out features on the island to confirm our progress. We didn’t land at the first town we came past, Picnic Bay, as Bec had in mind somewhere we could go for (second) breakfast and coffee.

I was quite tired by now so passing up the opportunity to land felt a bit painful, but we carried on past the small rocky headland, which seemed to take a disproportionate amount of time to pass, to the next bay. 

More paddling-for-what-seemed-like-forever took us up the length of the next beach to its far end, where we would be landing. The water in this bay was very flat and calm, giving us a bit of a break from the swell. This was ideal for me as for the first time ever in a kayak I had become a bit seasick! Looking down the side of my kayak, I also noticed that the water here was very shallow and clear, and I could see the corals on the bottom as I glided along.

Arriving at the beach, we were both very pleased with our efforts – although we were less enthusiastic about having to carry the boats up the beach to keep them safe. Our muscles protesting, we managed to get both craft beyond the sand, and then further up into the shade of a large fig tree. Success!!

Bringing the paddles along with us to avoid tempting anyone to take the kayaks out for a spin, we headed to the beach-side shower to freshen up before walking around the marina to the Peppers Resort – the same place that had hosted the Sealink Magnetic Island Race Week back in August last year.

The only option available was a buffet breakfast, so we both indulged in the good food, and sadly mediocre coffee. As we were finishing, the rain started to fall heavily, and with grey skies the sun’s heat was diminished, which was quite a relief.

We decided to spend the day relaxing on the island, so Bec bought a newspaper to read. I pretty much always have a book with me, so the two of us lounged around reading and chatting for ages, I had a pot of tea at one point, and nearly dozed off at several points!

We had returned to the small beachside park where our kayaks were, and when it came time to get moving for our return journey we got chatting to a local couple. Living on the island with their three children, they were very interested to talk to us about our kayaking. The dad in particular was interested as he kayaks himself, and he was impressed with our little adventure. He works for the Sealink ferry and was due to start work soonish, so he said if he spotted us on the route across he would give us a toot.

Time was pushing on though, and lovely as it was to chat to these wonderful people, we had to push on too. Launching into the calm water of the bay was much easier than our bumpy start from the Strand earlier, and with heavy arms we got back into the rhythm of paddling. 

As we left the bay and emerged into bumpier water, the swell was hitting us from behind, which was helpful, and a little from the side which was less helpful. Compensating for the sideways push so that we wouldn’t miss our destination, we aimed back towards the mainland and paddled steadily. Each time the swell hit you could feel the wonderful surge forwards it gave you, and I reflected on how much extra work we must have done that morning to overcome each powerful push backwards as we had paddled towards the island.

After almost an hour of paddling, I noticed that the Sealink ferry was coming towards us. I didn’t think that it normally came quite to where we were, but after a “beep beep be be beeeeeeeep!!!” on the ship’s horn and a wave and shout of encouragement from the bridge, we realised that the ferry had come out of its way to spot us. We felt pretty special :)

The ferry heading back towards its usual route

Paddling on, we adjusted course as the swell changed, and we did pretty well to get back to our starting beach with no problems (although reports from the beach made it sound as though we hadn't been on quite as straight a course as it had felt). Getting ready to try and surf the swell in down the narrow space between a breakwater and the stinger net, I spotted a lady on the beach taking a strong interest in us. As we got a bit closer, I realised that it was another friend of ours who had spotted us coming in to land. She and her partner made a great welcoming committee for us, making us feel even more special!

Of course, we still had to carry the boats up the beach, load them onto trolley wheels and walk everything a kilometre back to Bec’s house before washing everything down and getting some dinner, but it felt like we had completed a pretty cool Sunday adventure :)

The numbers:

Each leg of our trip was approximately 10kms, so we paddled about 20kms in total.

The outward journey took 2 hours 20 minutes.

The return journey took 1 hour 45 minutes.

Edit to add: Having said that I previously bottled out of doing this trip thanks to concerns about crocodiles, just 3 days after this trip I was at The Strand when the swimming areas were all closed off thanks to reports of a crocodile. Not everyone believed it, but just a few hours later and the 4.7metre crocodile had been caught! I'm glad we didn't see it while we were paddling!

ABC News article