Animals are always ...

So today the day trip to 'Magnetic Island' was on the agenda. The island was named in 1770 by Captain Cook on his research trip. Near the island, the ship's compass of the 'Endeavour' went crazy, which Cook blamed on the iron-rich island. In reality, magnetic anomalies on the seabed were the cause. That's how it goes with confusion. Ask the Indians ...

This morning, after waking up, the top story on all TV channels here was that after a long dry spell, a rain area was finally passing by the east coast. Among other places, it was also supposed to rain in Townsville and the surrounding islands today.

But when we left the harbor by ferry, it was clear that hardly anything was left of the clouds in the direction of Magnetic Island ...

Like almost everywhere before, I had only roughly thought about what I wanted to do on the island. The ticket included a day ticket for the buses, so I could get on and off wherever and whenever I wanted. So I wanted to first go to the farthest bay and then make my way back to the ferry throughout the day.

Shortly before the first bay, as we drove past with the bus, I noticed the 'Bungalow Bay Koala Village', which offered tours of the local wildlife. It was 9:30 a.m., the first tour was supposed to take place at 10:00 a.m. ... I'll go there ... I don't know how to describe this place. Maybe with the advertisement on their website:

'The only resort in Australia with its own wildlife park on site'

So it was also a hostel, people were constantly checking in and out, and in between there were other people who seemed to be waiting for something. In any case, a big hustle and bustle ... At the reception, they told me that the tours can only be booked online, but I was lucky, there was still one spot available. Then they handed me a tablet, I had to enter my name, address, email and credit card number, and 10 minutes later I was already on the printed 'guest list' that the tour guide greeted us with ...

It was really interesting. Since the size of the nature park is limited, you can only see animals that naturally move less, but all of them come from Australia ... So there were no kangaroos there, for example.

This animal was there though. Unfortunately, I didn't understand the name ... Most of the animals were allowed to be touched gently, which of course was a great fun for the children.

I understood the name of this animal, it's a blue-tongued lizard.

And here's the colleague that so many signs warn about. The freshwater crocodile. It doesn't look so dangerous ...

And this young man here is a wombat. In the front ...

But the highlight, of course, were the koalas. Somehow you can see that they sleep almost 20 hours a day ...

And for a small additional fee, you could also purchase a 'Meet and Greet' with a koala. I didn't want to miss out on that either ...

After this unexpected stop and nice experience, I visited some beautiful beaches on the island. As often in the last few days, the paths are often sweaty until you reach the places you want to visit. I can't even count how many 'stone stairs' I have walked up and down in the last few days. Today alone, almost 3 kilometers, and most of the time it looked like this ...

... or like this ...

... and going down sometimes like this.

But you were rewarded with such great views.

In the evening, I took the ferry back and once again had a nice day in the fresh or rather very warm air ...