Magnetic Island

We recently spent five days in Magnetic Island, which is located off the coast of Townsville in Queensland. Unfortunately Andy couldn’t join us as he had to work, so it was just my parents, Ella, Ollie and me. 

We were mainly looking for somewhere that would be warm and sunny where we could just chill out, as it has been very cold here in Melbourne throughout the month in June. It was also the last opportunity we would have to take a trip with my parents before they go back to Canada next week (sob!).

I'm not going to lie, taking a trip with a baby and a toddler was harder than I thought it would be. When Ella was 13 months old my mom and I took her to Noosa for a few days and it was such a beautiful, relaxing holiday. I was sort of imagining the same sort of thing for this trip! But two kids instead of one adds a lot more to the mix than I thought it would. The first night in particular was pretty trying, with both Ella and Ollie waking up multiple times throughout the night, and no daddy around to help out with Ella.  

I was exhausted the next morning and wondering what the hell I'd been thinking in trying to take a trip with two kids. My parents took Ella for a walk to pick up some groceries and give me a bit of quiet time with Ollie. I managed to get him down for a nap, take a shower and make myself a coffee. Of course, I didn't get to actually drink that coffee before he woke up!



But after that day we sort of found our groove. Ella settled down at night, and it was so lovely being in the warm sunshine every day. In the end it ended up being a good break for everyone. We got some sunshine, and Andy was able to sleep peacefully at home and have a few nights out. 

Getting to Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island is located off the coast of Townsville, in Queensland. We had to take two flights to get to Townsville (with a very quick layover in Brisbane), making the total flight time about five hours. Once in Townsville we had to take a short shuttle to the ferry terminal and then it was a 25 minute ferry ride to Magnetic Island. 

Both Ollie and Ella were very well behaved on the flights both ways, which I was grateful for. Ollie slept through pretty much every flight, and when he wasn’t sleeping he was feeding, so he was pretty easy. Ella was a bit harder and needed help being entertained. She watched some TV and used the iPad and did some colouring, but her attention span with each activity was pretty short. The in flight snack also helped distract her and kill some time. (She definitely got used to those meals, on the flight home as soon as we were seated Ella was like "where's lunch?") Luckily each flight was only two hours so they went by pretty quickly. 

We flew with Qantas, and I found the customer service on all our Qantas flights flawless, from the attendants at the check-in counter to all the staff on the flights. Everyone was so nice and helpful, which I have found every time I’ve flown Qantas with kids. They are definitely one of my preferred airlines, especially when we are taking trips within Australia.

Also Townsville airport is super small but has a cute kids area that entertained Ella before our flight home. Why isn't there anything like this in Melbourne?

Where We Stayed

We stayed in this airbnb located in Arcadia, which was less than 2km from the ferry terminal in Nelly Bay. It was in the perfect location, within walking distance to a few cafés, restaurants and the beach at Alma Bay. 

What We Did

Swimming at Alma Bay

Our airbnb was about a 10 minute walk from Alma Bay. We couldn’t have picked a better beach to be located near! The bay was very calm and shallow a long way out, so perfect for kids. It’s a patrolled beach with a playground, BBQs, and lots of shade from huge trees. The sandy part of the beach is not that deep, so you can set up on the grass instead if you want, which is what we did. It meant that we kept sand out of most of our stuff which was great. The only thing I felt that was missing was a little kiosk or something that sold snacks. But we were there in the low season so maybe there is something like that at a busier time of year. There is a café and restaurant across the street anyway.

Playground at Alma Bay

Alma Bay

We spent two sunny afternoons here, with Ella happily playing in the sand and in the water. The water was 23 degrees which is probably cold for Queenslanders, but absolutely fine for those of us that normally brave the cold waters around Melbourne. I bought this pop up bassinet where we could put Ollie and not worry that he was in the sun. He did sleep in it during his naps as well, so it was really handy to have at the beach. 

Building sand castles with Grampie at Alma Bay

Two children asleep! Hooray!

Nannie and Ollie, Alma Bay

Grampie and Ella, Alma Bay

The Forts Walk

This walk is up and around the remains of forifications from WWII. It is also a good place to spot koalas apparentely, although we only saw one very high up in a tree. The walk itself is about 2km each way to the top of the forts. We decided to walk from our airbnb to the start of the Fort Walk. Google maps said this was an extra 45 minute walk, but we figured Ella might nap in the pram and Ollie would definitely nap in the baby carrier. Off we set, with Ella dozing off within five minutes. So far so good. What google maps did not tell us was that the route from our airbnb to the start of the Forts Walk was up a windy, busy road with no pavement or even shoulder for pedestrians. Hmmmm, not the safest option with two young kids! Luckily we noticed there was a path through the bush that ran alongside the road. This would have been great if we hadn’t had a sleeping, 14kg toddler in a pram to push, as the path was super rocky and uphill. It was pretty challenging, and I’ll admit I was pretty miserable and stressed despite the fact that my mom pushed the pram and my dad was carrying Ollie! I’ll blame the stress and bad mood on new-mum exhaustion!

Luckily Ella and Ollie slept nearly the whole way. Ella and Ollie both woke up just as we got to the steepest part of the walk, which consisted of a lot of stairs. I stayed at the bottom with Ollie so I could feed him, while Ella went up to explore the forts with my parents. I’m told it was pretty cool, with an amazing view across the water at the top. 

On the way back, after a good four hours of hiking, we did the smart thing and called a taxi to take us to a restaurant near our airbnb for some much needed food and drinks!

Feeding Rock Wallabies

This was a definite highlight of our trip. At dusk one night we headed to Geoffrey Bay (15 minute walk from our airbnb) to see the rock wallabies that hang out there at dawn and dusk. We were able to feed them carrots and wallaby pellets as they are really tame. We also got to see a mum and her joey, who was in her pouch and kept poking his head out. Ella absolutely loved it!

Relaxing by the pool

It was great having this pool at the place we stayed. There was a large built in step that was about 1.5m deep that was perfect for Ella to splash around in (as it was frankly too cold for anyone else to get in). We spent lots of time just chilling out around the pool which was perfect.

Eating & Drinking

As we were visiting the island during the off season we found that a lot of restaurants and cafés closed early or weren’t open every day. We pretty much stayed in Arcadia so I’m not sure if that is true of other areas on the island, or if we were just in a quieter location. Around the corner from our place was the Tamarind Tea House which was a cute place for cakes and light breakfast, with an extensive list of teas to choose from.

Cake date with mummy at Tamarind Tea House

Across from Alma Bay is the Arcadia Village Hotel, which has a café, bar and bistro restaurant. We ate there a few times and the food was pretty good, and it was very child friendly.

All in all we had a great holiday together, and I'd definitely recommend Magnetic Island as a lovely place to visit with a family. 

View across Geoffrey Bay