My Trip to Magnetic Island


G'day!


That's another bit of Australian for you. It means 'Good day'. 

Our journey to Magnetic Island began in Townsville after a plane flight from Brisbane that lasted one and a half hours. Can you believe that we spent all that time in a plane and were still in the same state? Australia really is a huge country. You'll be getting a post card from me soon that will show you exactly how big Australia is. 

Magnetic Island was named by Captain Cook. Do you know who he was? When he sailed past the island his compass stopped pointing towards the North like it should. It was pointing towards the island instead. Captain Cook thought that the island must be magnetic in some way and so called it Magnetic Island. He was wrong, but the name stuck!  

Mrs P’s sister and brother-in-law met us at the air port. Then we had a really important job to do. We went to meet Mrs P’s great niece and pick her up from school. She was really excited because she got to finish school straight after lunch that day. Here is Chelsea standing with me at the school gate. Can you see the canopy over the gate? 

Everyone is very aware of the importance of shade in Australia because the sun is so strong. Even total strangers will stop you and remind you to put some sun tan lotion on if it looks like you might be getting sun burn. Sadly, nearly everyone in Australia knows someone who has had a melanoma. They have a saying to remind them about sun protection. It's "Slip, slop, slap!" It stands for, "Slip on a T-shirt, slop on the sun cream and slap on a hat!" I expect the only hats you'll be slapping on at the moment are woolly and I hope you don't slip on the ice! (That's a play on words by the way. I can be a funny bear sometimes!)

The next thing on the agenda was lunch and here I am sitting with Chelsea and her Grandad. Although it’s a sunny day, we’re sitting inside where it’s nice and cool because they’ve got air conditioning. Going to the mall and going to the cinema is extra popular in Australia because they always have the air con on and it’s nice and cool.

Here’s another shot of the restaurant.

After lunch, we caught the ferry to Magnetic Island and here I am sitting on the veranda of the house we rented. Chelsea and I are going to take you on a tour of the house and garden.

Here we are sitting by the pool underneath a palm tree.

And here I am having a rest on the sun lounger.

Here are some more shots of the garden.

And here we are by the front gate. Those plants you can see growing along the front drive grow outside in Australia but in England we can only grow them inside as pot plants.

 The pink flowers growing on the tree in this photo are called Frangipani. They smell heavenly, a little bit like jasmine.

Here I am investigating some more plants in the garden. Again, I’m sure I’ve seen these growing in pots in England.

The next day, we went in search of some wild-life. Can you see the rock wallabies behind me? They’ve got really good camouflage.

You can see them more clearly in close up.

And here I am getting to know them a bit better.  I was too polite to say anything to them but they really do pong. Rock wallaby wee doesn’t smell even half as nice as frangipani!

Here I am trying out my camouflage. I need different colour fur to hide like a rock wallaby!

Here we are standing on the old ferry jetty. There’s a new ferry port now so it’s a bit more peaceful for the rock wallabies.

Here we all are at the end of the jetty. I'm with Mrs Porter, her mother-in-law, her sister and her brother-in-law. 

We’ve been watching the divers who are exploring a wreck just below the surface of the water.

Here I am sitting in front of the pier at Nelly Bay.

Here’s another Australian tree. It’s a Morton Bay Fig. It's the sort of tree that grows in mangrove swamps. 

Well that's all for now. I'm off to Charters Towers next. It's a god mining town so perhaps I'll find some gold!

Hooroo!