Kowala Kowazy!

Charlie, you pose an interesting question about the origins of the name "Magnetic Island". It was named by the famous explorer Captain James Cook (you know, the guy who the house in Meridian was named after ? I was in Glenn!). As Cook's ship, the Endeavor, sailed past the island, the navigation compass Cook was inspecting seemed to point in different directions, leading him to the conclusion that the Island was magnetic. However, many studies after this show that there are no signs of the island being magnetic, and people generally believe the bloke was pissed blind.

Also, in my last post, I forgot to mention that with my $6 upgrade meal of Chicken Schnitzel, salad chips and gravy, I sank my first pint of Guinness. Obviously, this was about as far as Ireland you can get, so the boys assured me there were better pints to be had in the UK. Here are James and Josh inspecting my Lonely Planet.
After getting a few supplies and one of the popular green (in both senses of the word) Coles bags, we headed off to Magnetic Island. Coles is a supermarket here supplying $1 sturdy, green, reusable cloth bags. We arrived at the ferry terminal as our ferry was pulling away, which in the heat of the day, and with getting on 20kg on my back, I was frankly disappointed by. However, being Brits, we made the most of the situation and had an early picnic lunch, made some sandwiches for our walk and I taught James how to play cribbage.

We arrived at the ferry terminal and trotted toward our path from Nelly Bay, to Arcadia. It was a delightful, but tough walk around to Arcadia, with breathtaking views over Horseshoe Bay (below).
We arrived in Arcadia, had a quick look round then headed toward our destination for the day which was a WWII fort. J+J were both keen on this, being history students! This walk was AWESOME! I heard the familiar noise which can only be described as a whoopy snorty cough coming from a local koala. I strayed, excitedly, from the path in search of this fluffy-grey-bottomed beast. To my delight, I found him/her/it. I heard this Koala, I found this Koala, as far as I was concerned, I owned this Koala, it was mine. I named it Kenny, after rejecting Carlos and Karl. Picture below.
I walked hurriedly down the track in the chase of my fellow walking companions, and partly to my irritation, heard the noise again! I knew what I had to do. This koala, too, was mine, his name was dopey.
The view from the fort was fantastic at sunset, picture below w/ fill-in flash. Notice sweaty rucksack-strap marks on shoulders. Ewwwww.
We hopped on the bus, and after saying, what seemed like remarkably final goodbyes to my twin companions even though I was to see them a few days later in Airlie Beach, I went back to the hostel and joined the rest of the hostel in cooking spaghetti and pasta sauce.

After a great night's kip, my only plans for the day, after waking up to a terrible cheesy smell, was to get some washing done. After doing this, I was proud of myself, although it set me back a whopping $6 in all!

Yesterday, I had noticed scooters for hire, like little mo ped type vehicles (no idea how that is spelt, but moped looked wrong). I was toying over whether or not to hire one, with no previous experience. But, strangely, all it required was a driving license, so I thought, what the heck? and hopped on. After a 2 minute run down of the controls, I headed off with the ambition of exploring every single road on the island. Thus, after walking the best tracks on the island, and driving on every road, I could properly say I had "done" Magnetic Island.
Mildly amusing tangential sub-story. During my trip round the island, I was keen to spend a penny at the local "Exceloo", which is a 22nd century public toilet. Anyway, after the door opening automatically, and a slightly disconcerting fake locking sound emitting from the speaker, a voice told me I had 10 minutes. In my case this was fine, but I read a sign beside me that not only do they have 10 minutes, the door will open in 10 minutes! Outside, was a popular paved path down to the beach, so I feel sorry for any poor person present, either inside or outside the "Exceloo", who witnesses the 10-minute automated door opening where an occupant is present!

I stopped off at the grocery store for some onions and garlic salt, and came back to the hostel feeling lightly adrenaline pumped after travelling a whopping 60km/h, and doing something a little riskay. This is me, on the bike!