Three Peas in a Pod

Looking over West Channel’s calm blue waters from Townsville’s windswept Castle Hill Lookout recently we took in the hazy image of Magnetic Island. This mysterious island paradise, located just off the northeastern coast of Australia in the State of Queensland, is a stone’s throw away from the Great Barrier Reef and filled with sunshine three hundred days a year.

Magnetic Island was the target of the day’s main event with our eldest son; a tall, handsome aussie devil, deep, broad-shouldered, loving and caring man with the heart of a lion and very much loved by his parents.

Having boarded the Sunferry we set off for Nelly Bay, the entrance to this sun soaked island. As we approached we noted its steep hilly interior and rugged northwestern side, as did Captain Cook in 1770 when he sailed past this island. Mysteriously his ship’s compass went a stray on passing. But unlike his vessel our state of the art diesel driven ship had no such problem.

After landing we boarded a different vessel and like three peas in a pod we set off to explore the islands majestic highlights. Unfortunately it also revealed our growing distain for threatening to end our lives.

With wind in our sun kissed hair, frightened pale looks and each white knuckled hand clutching a Jesus bar, we found ourselves on a roller coaster ride, up and down the roads of Magnetic Island in a Mini Moke driven by our eldest son, who appeared hell bent on collecting his inheritance early.

Engine values bouncing and vertigo riding high in the seat next to my wife, we hang on for dear life as we leaned into every corner on the way down. On successfully negotiating each chicane we breathed simultaneous sighs of relief on entering the straights; only to have our breath taken away with each new corner.

Ascending these narrow roads was entirely a different ball game. With the engine now pinging as it struggled to gain speed, we rocked our bodies forwards and backwards in our seats to assist in gaining speed.

But nothing would daunt us in our quest to explore unknown lands and spend quality time with our firstborn.

Having survived all this, it was now time to seek out far more calming activities. So we set off for the Marlin Bar, Horseshoe Bay located on the northern end of Magnetic Island and adjacent to the crocodile protected beach to enjoy nerve steadying liquor, several gaspers, diet coke, fine cuisine and the company of our eldest son.

It wasn’t till sometime later, with blood pressures and pulses lowered to an acceptable level, that we felt brave enough to set off to our next destination, the Koala Park Oasis. Having arrived in one piece we entered calmer waters, so we thought.

It was not until after we had viewed or handled some of the islands wildlife that included smiling crocodiles, red kangaroos, sleeping koalas, clouds of butterflies, wallabies, hole digging wombats, snakes of varying lengths, a talking red tailed black cockatoo and a lonesome looking frilled neck lizard that we discovered the blood letting multicoloured lorikeets, who attacked us on mass at feeding time. Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud of these birds.

After patching up our son’s bleeding wounds we returned the car from hell and headed back to Townsville to meet up with our other aussie devil and his sweetheart.

Looking back at these special moments with our eldest son, so do we look forward to seeing more of him.

To be continued...