Picnic Bay

Saturday 8^th August 2015

It was very cool last night (7 C) and a bit brisk this morning when we woke up. Initially there was a stiff breeze blowing but this soon dropped out and the sun was out with the temperature quickly climbing to the mid 20’s.

First up was a bit of maintenance, as I need to polish out a small gel coat scrape on the port gunwhale that happened in Bundaberg as we were in very shallow water and got hit by an eddy as we were backing into our berth (ploughing through the mud). 

Carole was talking to one of the girls from a nearby boat, Back Friday, that we have now seen a few times during our trip.  She related their experience yesterday in going to Horseshoe Bay yesterday for a swim. Apparently, when they arrived the beach had been closed because of a salt water crocodile sighting.

It was then time for a walk and today we are walking to Picnic Bay, about 4 km west of Nelly Bay. It is mostly along the seaside and quite a scenic walk.

Large formations of granite boulders are every where

Looking across Cleveland Bay

Along the way we passed a  backpacker hotel called X Base, then on to Rocky Bay, before crossing over a large headland to reach Picnic Bay on the other side.

X Base

Rocky Bay

The settlement of Picnic Bay is of reasonable size, located on a nice bay with a long jetty that used to receive ferry passengers coming to the Picnic Bay Hotel (still the most prominent establishment in town). The shopping mall is a bit tired and there are a couple of Asian restaurants there as well as the usual tourist shops / art and craft outlets.

The fig trees along the beachfront provide great shelter for picnic tables scattered in between them, offering beachfront views. The proximity of Townsville is obvious once you get over this side, as it is readily visible from Picnic Bay. The last time we were here was with Michelle and Cody having a sausage sizzle by the beach in 2010.

Townsville is just across the water

Picnic Bay Jetty

The Picnic Bay Hotel is very busy and is where we settled in for lunch, a very nice seafood platter with very fresh and well presented seafood, washed down with a cold beer.

Picnic Bay Hotel

Picnic Bay is also the site of the Magnetic Island Golf Course, which is not far off the main road as you enter town. We plan to have a game there early next week with Geoff and Jenny from Ruby, and think we can probably catch the bus there.

On our return walk, we walked much of the way along the beach, once we had passed the backpacker place and there was ready beach access. There were people in the water snorkeling, as the reef is quite close to the shore.

We walked along the beach back to the marina

We had a bit of a rest in the afternoon before heading over to the house that Mark and Janet have rented to have a BBQ and watch the Bledisloe Cup. It was good to see the Wallabies finally beat the All Blacks.