Sunshine Days....Magnetic Island Pix.

Waiting for the ferry from Townsville to the Island. There was a TV.  Lil't is very tv deprived.

Townsville.

Magnetic Island.

Spunky kid in the sunshine on the ferry.

Where the ferry docks. A few buildings, a car park and then forest.

T-shirt, shorts, sand.

The power of two. Tourists take turns holding up this rock on s shift basis. Community service.

This was awesome. This little guy ended up about 2 metres away from Lil't.

It wasn't a rock. It was a rock wallaby.

It wasn't a rock. Oh wait. Yes it was. Stunning huge rocks.

Lil t was absolutely in love with climbing the rocks.

I was in love with photographing them.

The way to the old pier.

For real. Taken on ipod.

Wandering up the mountain.

This was a gunner lookout during the war. Fortunately it never saw action. We walked quite a few km's through the state forest to get there. Fantastic engineering.

Hanging with Grandpa. Top of the world.

The communication tower. The tired kid.

Colour Riot. Every morning and afternoon these fellas would be fed at the hotel we stayed at. It was nuts. The noise was extreme. The two guys beak to beak are having a fight.

Magnetic Island. Here we come!

Hola!

 This time tomorrow we will be landing in sunny Townsville, in far north Queensland. Then we will be jumping the ferry to Magnetic Island. Magnetic Island is a tiny place off the North East coast of Australia, with pristine beaches and forests. We will have some awesome posts loaded with information about this special little Island over the next week. A bit of history, a bit of ecology, and a bit of holiday bragging.

Melbourne, while actually having it's warmest winter in 4 years, has been freezing at night time, cold winds, and had a nasty all pervasive chill in the air and has also been chucking down rain like it used to do before the 10 year drought. As a result we have had very little outdoor time which of course results in lowered vit D levels and lowered 'fun outdoors adventuring and gardening' levels.

So we intend to get as much sun as possible and to warm our bones by the side of the pool and on forest walks in the tropics of this beautiful country.

I am heading up to meet with my Dad. Big John (Grandpa). He instilled my brother and I with a true sense of wonder and love for the Australian countryside, cityside, coasts and inland areas. In my life I have never traveled outside of Aus/NZ. But I have traveled extensively across, around and up Australia. There is still so much to explore! After Townsville, we will have to crack Cairns, Darwin and Central Australia. I am attempting to also allow lil't to experience the amazing treats this country has to offer. Last Christmas/New Year we drove up to Qld from Melbourne over 3 days to visit Vonnie and Jez and Niamh. It was such a fantastic road trip and a wonderful liberating adventure.

So stay tuned. Facts and Photos are on their way!

http://www.islandstay.com.au/resorts-on-magnetic-island.php the page I found this photo, as I can't find photocredit.