Koalas on Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island has wild koalas. They were brought to the island in the 1930s, and a 2012 study estimated around 800, according to Queensland’s parks service. The best place to look for them on your own is the Forts walk above Horseshoe Bay; the koala and wildlife park at Horseshoe Bay is where you will certainly see one; and a guided tour such as Behind the Scenes with Tim Bee looks for wild koalas along the island’s back roads.

Behind the Scenes is a five-hour small-bus tour from the Nelly Bay ferry terminal, from US$81 on GetYourGuide (checked October 2026), with national park entry included and pickup from island accommodation:

The Forts walk

The parks service calls the Forts walk the island’s easiest way into Magnetic Island National Park, and says it gives a “good chance” of spotting a wild koala. It is 4 km return, takes about 2 hours and is graded 3: a track of decomposed granite and rock, with many steep steps on the circuit at the top. It starts at Forts Junction, where bus 250 stops at “Horseshoe Bay Rd at The Forts”, and it is open 24 hours (checked October 2026).

At the top are the Forts themselves: a signal station and coastal battery built in 1942 and 1943 and manned by Australian coast artillery until the end of the Pacific War in 1945, the best-preserved Second World War coastal defences in Queensland. From the Junction you can also walk on to Arthur Bay (1 km) or Florence Bay (1.8 km).

Go early. The parks service suggests the morning, when it is cooler, parking is easier and the animals are more active. Koalas sleep about 20 hours a day, usually in the forks of eucalypts, so look up and walk slowly.

The rules: do not touch or disturb a koala, never feed one or give it water, and do not wake a sleeping one.

The koala and wildlife park at Horseshoe Bay

The park at Horseshoe Bay, which books as the Magnetic Island Koala and Wildlife Park, runs ranger-guided wildlife tours every day at 10:30 am, 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm, about 90 minutes each. Its own booking page lists AUD 50 for adults, AUD 30 for children aged 5 to 15 and AUD 145 for a family of four (checked October 2026). You meet koalas, a wombat, turtles, pythons and crocodiles. That tour does not include holding or handling a koala.

Breakfast with Koalas starts at 8:30 am (arrive at the reception deck by 8:15) and lasts about 90 minutes: a cooked breakfast outdoors with the rangers, the park’s koalas and its wombat. It costs AUD 80 for adults and AUD 50 for children aged 2 to 12 on the park’s own page, bookings are essential, and the park does not offer koala photos, for the animals’ welfare (checked October 2026). The breakfast does not run every day; check the dates when you book.

Both are on GetYourGuide: the wildlife park tour from US$35 and Breakfast with Koalas from US$56 (checked October 2026). The park is on Horseshoe Bay Road in Horseshoe Bay, on the bus 250 route.

Rock wallabies at Geoffrey Bay

The island’s other famous animal is the allied rock-wallaby. The parks service says to look for them in the early morning or late afternoon on the rocks at the edge of the settlements, at the Geoffrey Bay jetty in Arcadia and around Nelly Bay harbour. The parks service asks visitors not to feed native animals: watch them rather than feed them.

Which way to see them

Prices, ratings and review counts from the GetYourGuide listings (checked October 2026). Operators price by season, so treat the figures as the shape of the market, not a quote.

Before you go

• Getting there: bus 250 from the Nelly Bay ferry terminal stops at the Forts and in Horseshoe Bay; the day trip guide has the ferry times.
• Heat: take water and a hat on the Forts walk; the parks service suggests going early, when it is cooler.
• Koala hospital: the bus tours do not visit it; Magnetic Island Tours’ History, Beaches and Wildlife Tour lists the koala hospital and the koala park as not included.