Today we woke up early and spent 5 hours driving to Magnetic Island. We drove through areas with many sugar cane fields and banana trees. In one area, fairly close to the ocean (but not on the beach), the trees looked pretty ragged. Many had no leaves and the ones that did, the leaves were close to the trunk. In one particular city there was a wide swath of threes ripped up by the roots. Then Randy remembered the hurricane from last February. This was the area that was hit. Near the downed trees, the city had started to clear up and had piles of debris (cut up trees, branches, etc.).
At Townville (no imagination in naming that city!), we took the ferry to the Island. We drove from the dock to the next village (Arcadia) to our accommodations. We are staying in a guest house. We have a cottage--the fisherman’s hut. They also have about 6 rooms in the main house, and five tents set up under shelters with regular beds inside them. Again, even though it’s the tropics, they don’t understand that it’s winter and it’s cold in here! We have an air conditioner and a fan, but no space heater! Our cottage is cute--it’s a boat theme with a net hanging from the ceiling in the main room and rustic wood and ropes making the master bed. The main room has a small kitchen (double hotplate, refrigerator, sink, island with stools), a living room (couch, TV, coffee table), and a bunk bed. the couch folds out into a bed. Joshua got to make the choice where he wanted to sleep (in our condo he chose the couch). He chose the bottom bunk, Shelby chose the top, and Annie got the fold-out couch. Through an arch is the “master” bedroom with double bed, then through a door is the bathroom--fully modern and looks very clean. In the windows are screens with plywood flaps held up by pieces of wood. Randy closed a few of these, but it’s not enough to keep it very warm.
After we checked in, we drove to the end of the paved roads on the island (it didn’t take long--it’s a very small island). We hiked on a moderate trail called the Fort circuit which goes up to the tallest point on the island where the remains from an army settlement from WWII can be found. They had huge guns that wheeled around on a rail (only the center, the storage room and the rail are still there) and huge lights to spot enemy (Japanese) planes. There was an army camp in Townville and someone saw a Japanese plane. So, fearing an imminent attack (as the Japanese were slowly taking over the Pacific), they built large spotlights (3 million candle power) to spy enemy planes up to 30,000 feet (meters?) in the air. Mildly interesting, but good exercise. We were looking for the koalas and wallabies (and hoping not to see the poisonous adders). Nada. (As we were driving to Townville early in the morning, we saw a field of what looked like tiny kangaroos. Not knowing how big kangaroos are, they may have been kangaroos, or possibly wallabies?)
After our walk and a trip to the IGA for milk, we borrowed a pot and colander from the communal kitchen to make dinner in our hut. Then settled in to read, write postcards, etc.
Aside from the signs warning people not to hit the kangaroos and brush turkeys, my favorite road sign was in New Zealand: “Merge Like a Zip” for two lanes that had to merge into one. Isn’t that great! And it worked! Wake
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