Wake up Maggie I think I’ve got something to say to you!

Another poor attempt at a novel blog title

What I had to say was “Good Morning, what a stunning island you are”

Another early morning stroll on the beach enlivened by Honeyeaters and the huge flock of Lorikeets that hang out on the beachfront.

They seemed to congregate on the verandah of the Mexican restaurant making a deafening noise and I soon found out why. The owner came out with their regular breakfast of bread and honey and they descended on him like locusts. The guy must have had twenty birds on his head, shoulders and arms and dozens more flying around him. He put down the food and they devoured it in seconds. A very entertaining start to the day

Exploration was on today’s agenda. The island only has a few miles of roads and a couple of settlements but there is an excellent bus service. We bought an all day ticket and set about the task at hand. We first stopped at the “capital”, Nelly Bay and took a long walk along the beach down towards the old main town at Picnic Bay (apologies for the dirty smudge I hadn’t bothered to clean off the camera lens).

It was another fabulous day. We’d wanted to reach the beach at the far end of the bay but it seemed inaccessible from the shoreline. We also couldn’t find a way down from the headland or from Picnic Bay so we gave up, shame as it looks like a cracking spot. We headed on down into Picnic Bay

Picnic Bay was by Maggie’s standards a bit uninspiring so we hopped back on the bus and went for lunch at an Italian Sandwich Bar at Alma Bay.

After a brief walk on the beach we decided to hop on the bus again and head to Arthur Bay that we’d spotted the day before. An inspired idea. On an island resplendent with great beaches this was the best.

Perfectly formed with granite boulders framing the view, clear water and great snorkelling. We spent a very lazy and relaxed afternoon swimming, sunbathing and chilling. Up there with the best beaches we visited and it had some stiff competition.

As the afternoon sun started to fade we bid farewell to beach and walked back up the hill to catch another bus. We had one more animal encounter to finish the day. Back at Geoffrey Bay the road ends at a small jetty. Amongst the rocks by the road lives a colony of Rock Wallabies and every evening they come down to be fed. Armed with a couple of bags of food from the local shop we wandered down there.

There were loads of them. Some braver than others but eventually we found a head high rock with several hungry mouths to feed.

They are exceedingly cute. if you lifted your hand up they rested their little paws on your hand to eat. Bless ’em

I asked this one to pose for a photo and he did

We even got a baby to feed.

The kids absolutely loved it as you can imagine. It’s rare to get this close to any form of wildlife outside a zoo and they were moments to treasure. Not quite as exciting for me as seeing the Koala in the wild – these wallabies are effectively semi-tame and habituated to human contact but it didn’t detract from the experience.

One of the mothers came down complete with baby in the pouch which was rather special

Interestingly kangaroo young often leave their mother’s pouch and then return as they grow. Once a Wallaby baby leaves the pouch for the first time it never returns

After an hour of close up contact with these little furry bouncing bundles we had to say our farewells and catch the bus back home.

Another really special day and we finished it with another session in the Marlin Bar.

Another place ticked off and a real surprise. Most of the places we planned to visit I was least aware of in some way. Maggie was just an interesting looking stop off but in its quiet charming way it was one of our favourites. Possibly due to the stunning weather, the best of the whole trip, or maybe the contrast with the previous few days grey skies. I like to think it was more the degree of surprise at what a marvelous place it was. It felt like a “real” island, lived on and home to real people rather than overtly promoted and commercialised or a sacred overly protected natural wonder. Just a thoroughly nice place with stunning scenery without being in any way ostentatious or self-serving. It had a charm that I don’t think anywhere else we visited quite matched. Perhaps most of all it felt like the real coastal Queensland.

As we took the ferry home the next morning I said to Maggie “I love you and I’ll be back to see you soon, stay just as you are” 🙂

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