That is mainly true… but you obviously didn’t travel to any of the National Parks just north of Townsville, did you? Plenty of rainforest there. I’ll also point out that at Townsville’s longitude, there is virtually no rainforest anywhere in Queensland – most of it is several hours’ north, near Cairns.

Also, just for trivia’s sake: Captain Cook did not name the island “Magnetic” – he named it “Magnetical”. The “al” was dropped sometime later. (Don’t worry, I didn’t know this til my teens, and I’ve lived in Townsville my whole life.)

Magnetic Island is not part of the Great Barrier Reef, so snorkelling there is no indication of what you might encounter on the Great Barrier Reef The Reef starts close to the coast up past Cairns, then as it goes south, drifts further and further away from the coast.