“The best thing about a holiday is having nothing to do and all day to do it in!” Well, so reads the motivational poster at the Island Leisure Resort on beautiful Magnetic Island. But as I walked past this quote for the third time that day, I couldn’t help thinking that I totally disagree with its sentiment. Having just spent seven days in the dry tropics of Townsville and Magnetic Island with Australian Cycle Tours, I reckon I’ve found the perfect blend of adventure and relaxation, finding plenty to do and having all day to do it!
Exploring the Ross River
Flying into Townsville, I was immediately struck by the mountainous surrounds to the city. In addition to the domineering figure of Castle Hill in the centre of the city, your eye is drawn to the distant Paluma Ranges and across the ocean to the hills of Magnetic Island.
The hills, however, would have to wait for another day as our first morning began early, at 7.00am, as we met our guide, Julia. The cycle tour runs during the dry season, from May to October, and as we were getting a pre-season preview of the tour our days would be starting earlier than usual to beat the worst of the lingering summer heat. After a short walk through Queens Park, we arrived at tour headquarters to collect our metal steeds in the form of electric bicycles, equipped with pannier bags for carrying our gear.
After a quick lesson in e-bike use, we mounted up and traversed across town to the impressive new Queensland Country Bank Stadium and the start of our Ross River ride. From here on out the ride was 90% bike path, which made for a very pleasant and quiet time. The electric assistance also allowed our small group to comfortably ride and chat throughout the morning, taking the pressure off ‘keeping up’ with each other. The Ross River meanders south-west from the city, bringing the views of Mount Stuart ever closer. We saw plenty of wildlife along the riverside, with curlews, rainbow bee-eaters, egrets, wallabies and river turtles being the most frequent.
By mid-morning, we were ready for breakfast (second breakfast for some) so we stopped at the Palmetum, which holds the largest collection of palms in the southern hemisphere. Walking through the cooling shades of the palms was a welcome break from the morning heat and we followed our stroll with food and coffee at the historic Tumbetin Lodge Cafe. Refuelled, we continued along the river, before crossing over and returning to the city on the other side.
Today had been a relatively cruisy pedal up and down the river, but it was a great way to introduce us to our group, to the bikes, and to the week ahead. We arrived back to our waterfront hotel around lunchtime with a free afternoon ahead of us.
High on the misty mountain
Another early heat-beating start saw us loading up the tour truck with our bikes and driving about 90 minutes out of Townsville and into Paluma Range National Park. Called ‘Munan Gumburu’ by the indigenous Nywaigi people, which means misty mountain, it’s immediately apparent how the area got its name as we ascend the ranges into the cool and cloudy embrace.
Seventeen kilometres of winding mountain road brings us to the top, where we unload our bikes at the small settlement of Paluma Village. Today’s ride is vastly different to yesterday, as we navigate quiet roads through the forest. The route is also considerably more undulating and I’m not ashamed to say that I kicked my bike into high gear to help with some of the sections – the power’s there to be used, right!
We stopped to enjoy the sweeping views across Star Valley before continuing on to check out a huge example of a strangler fig (banyan) in action. According to our guide, there are many walking trails around Paluma, but they aren’t particularly well signposted, to say the least, so we were relying on his local knowledge as we locked our bikes to a tree and entered a narrow footpad into the trees. We were following a trail to Ethel Creek Falls, and while hiking the misty mountain air turned to proper rain, the weather was clearly keen to show us that we’d entered the cusp of the wet tropics.
Despite being advertised as a cycle tour, I was relishing the opportunity for the hike as it got us off the road and into the forest. As we reached Ethel Creek, we were met with a bit of rock hopping and a rope assisted descent down the side of a waterfall to the base of the falls. This was a beautiful spot, despite the drizzling rain and felt like a proper tropical oasis in the forest. Never one to pass up a wild swim, a couple of us took the opportunity for a refreshing dip, while our guide unpacked an excellent morning tea of scones, cream, jam and hot coffee!
Refreshed, we ascended back up the side of the waterfall, collected our bikes and returned to base. Another free afternoon was spent exploring The Strand (Townsville’s waterfront), swimming in the rock pool and checking out the local night market.
Townsville’s Town Common
All too soon we’d reached our final morning in Townsville, but don’t feel sorry for us as we were heading out for a morning ride before catching the ferry across to Magnetic Island for the next part of our tour. With our bags packed and collected by one of our guides, we cycled away from our hotel and up The Strand heading for an area known as the Town Common, aka, the Pallarenda wetlands.
As we made our way along the coastline, we got to see another aspect of Townsville as we passed many sandy beaches, although being the end of ‘stinger season’ the beaches weren’t as busy as they will be once the ocean is reopened for swimming. Nearing the wetlands, I couldn’t help but think back to my taxi ride after landing in Townsville. The taxi driver was a born and bred Townsvillian and she had confidently assured me that there are always crocodiles in the wetland area! Although I think she enjoys giving out these warnings to holiday makers as one of the other tour members had been treated to this crocodile story and many more.
Regardless, it was with some trepidation that I found myself pedalling into the Town Common as it certainly had a croccy feel to it; marshy wetlands that looked like prime stomping grounds for a croc or two. As we pedalled, I was acutely aware that my eyes were constantly scanning the undergrowth, while also watching for bumps on the dirt trail and again looking in the trees for wildlife. Not the easiest of rides.
After calming down a little, I began to enjoy the area, which apparently was a lot more overgrown than usual, with many more reeds and greenery in the usually open wetlands. We stopped for another morning tea of homemade snacks and coffee, before exiting the wetlands and cycled to Cape Palleranda Conservation Park. Here we visited an old World War II command and observation post, with sweeping views back towards Townsville city, Castle Hill and across to Magnetic Island.
We cycled back to the city, with time for lunch and another swim in the rock pool, before collecting our luggage and catching the ferry the short distance across to Magnetic Island.
Maggie Island and West Point
Switching location mid-tour helped make our time on Magnetic Island feel like a holiday within a holiday and I found myself getting swept up in the holiday spirit of the island. Waterfront restaurants, backpackers and open-topped ‘Barbie’ cars certainly added to the tropical island feel to the place.
Magnetic Island is 75 per cent national park and home to around 1000 koalas. So as we began our cycle tour to West Point my eyes were no longer worriedly searching the undergrowth for crocodiles, but scanning the tree tops for a glimpse of grey fur. After a short pedal along the road from the harbour, we quickly passed by three of Magnetic Islands 23 beaches, Nelly Bay, Picnic Bay, and Rocky Bay, before detouring to Cockle Bay. Here you can look back towards Townsville, watch the large birds of prey circling and look across to the S.S City of Adelaide – a famous shipwreck lying in the bay. Best enjoyed on a boat or kayak tour, is was still cool to catch a glimpse of the shipwreck from the beach.
The road from Cockle Bay to West Point was a quiet stretch of dirt road, that tourists aren’t allowed to bring hire cars down, so we mostly had the track to ourselves. The road wound along the coastline, with plenty of shade on offer by the lush forest. We didn’t see any koalas, but there were several creek crossings to navigate, adding an extra splash of fun to the ride. After a brief stop, we returned to Picnic Bay to explore the jetty and the beach; it was a little windy otherwise we’d also have enjoyed a swim within the stinger net. Meanwhile our guide was preparing our final morning tea as this was the last bike ride for the week.
Coffee fuelled and e-bikes turned on to full power, we sped back to the harbour to wave goodbye to our guide, already making plans for our next day and a half of ‘leisure’ on Magnetic Island.
The Forts Walk
With a free afternoon ahead of me, I decided to head out to tackle the Forts Walk, having heard from several friends that it was an absolute must-do on the Island. There’s only one major road on Maggie Island and the receptionist at Island Leisure Resort had advised us against cycling to the Forts Walk as you’re competing for space on the roads with the local bus and tourists. Instead, I further embraced the holiday spirit and for about $50 hired a scooter to get me around the island.
With a big smile on my face, I set out towards the Forts Walk, detouring to Geoffrey Bay along the way to see the local rock wallabies that congregate on the headland. After spotting a couple of wallabies, which wasn’t difficult as there were plenty of tourists enticing them out of the rocks with carrots in hand – people are advised against feeding the wallabies, but carrots are among the food recommended for those that can’t resist the ‘need to feed’.
Seeing the wallabies was fun, but it was the koalas I was truly excited about, so I hopped back on the scooter and motored to the top of the hill and the start of the Forts Walk. The trail is a 4km round trip that trends upwards to a high point of the mountain where there are remains of World War II forts, constructed as early warning from the threat of Japanese bombers. After slowly scanning every tree I passed on the first section of the track, I then asked a friendly fellow tourist on their way down whether they’d spotted any koalas. Happily, they had, and they directed me another kilometre up the trail where they assured me I’d see an arrow marker made of sticks on the path, directing me to their koala sighting.
Despite the helpful arrow to narrow down my search, it still took me a while of tree gazing to spot the koala, a sleepy adult and baby up the tree were the reward for my endeavours. Koala spotting satisfied, I continued the walk up the hill, enjoying wide reaching views across the island and down to the many bays visible from the summit. This was probably one of the high points, quite literally, of the entire trip and I was glad to have had the opportunity to check it out.
Too windy to snorkel, so sailing it is
The next day, our final one of the tour, we were scheduled to spend the day with Aquascene on a snorkelling tour of the island. As Maggie sits within the Great Barrier Reef, this was due to be a magical experience, but unfortunately the winds were too high to make snorkeling an enjoyable and viable experience. However, Australian Cycle Tours were able to arrange an evening sailing trip instead, so I whiled away the day finally relaxing as the resort sign suggested and reading my book by the pool.
By evening, the winds had died down a little and we were collected from Horseshoe Bay by Pilgrim Sailing. They took us aboard their impressive sailing boat for a very memorable evening. We began with drinks in the bay before the captain dropped the sail and took us out towards the open water. As soon as we cleared the headland we were met by strong winds and the boat was soon zipping along, splashing water up the sides and giving us all a wild ride. With the sun setting behind the clouds, my hike along the Forts Walk was being heavily challenged for its title as most memorable part of the trip.
Nothing to do and all day to do it
As we caught the ferry back to Townsville the next day, ready to fly home, I reflected once more on the week gone by. I’d come to Townsville to enjoy a cycling holiday in a part of Australia that I hadn’t visited before, but it turned out to be so much more than a cycling holiday. If anything, it was a multi-sport adventure, coupled with a relaxing resort holiday all wrapped up in a beautiful tropical location. And I will be coming back.
The writer was a guest of Australian Cycle Tours. For more info on this tropical adventure, click here.
