Truby Travels: Magnetic Hill

Truby Travels is a new post series on Inspiring Max based on our adventures in Truby (our slide-on camper named Ruby and our Iveco called True Blue.) It will replace the older series Ruby Tuesday.

One of the first places we visited was Magnetic Hill, Orroroo. This tourist attraction is free and unique and gives the feeling of travelling backwards up a hill. Hubby and I had a lot of fun playing with it. We went up and down the hill many times because we could until someone came along to spoil our fun. It was fascinating to us that despite our heavy vehicle it did feel like we were rolling up hill.

Although we had never heard of them before, magnetic hills are found around the world. Australia has 4 of them. They are special and come about because of the local lay of the land. They are formed when the horizon is either curved or you can’t see it. It is an optical illusion.

When we got to Magnet Hill the sign asked you to turn off your ignition, put your car in neutral and take your foot off the brake. We were told steel cars go up the hill while aluminum and plastic cars go down.

Photos courtesy of Orroroo government website as we were too busy playing to take photos.

We loved the giant magnet that they have added to the roadside to help explain the phenonium.

Magnet Hill really was something to be seen to be believed.