Floating about the Townsville waterfront, our decorated S(h)ipping Reporter picked up another swag of stories missed by the mainland media which appears to have gone into hibernation.
In the first instance , standing out like a royal yacht was a bulk carrier with the eye catching name , King Cotton , which strangely failed to attract the attention of the landlubber scribes.
Even if you were a republican , a smart journo could surely stitch together a good yarn by visiting the Japanese built and owned vessel , finding out why it was so named , its cargo , any monarchists in the crew , etc.
Readers of this blog will recall that Townsville went into confected raptures over the possibility of a visit from Prince Harry before he got hitched to a tasty M&M . The above cut out of Prince Harry was run in the media showing him being held by a beaming female from Townsville Enterprise in a small plane showing him the wonders of the Queen City of the North .
There was a whisper from city hall that there could be a royal visit in the offing , which the scribes dutifully passed on . In a football mad town like Townsville, there is a lot of passing on of hot air in pigskin . But the royal visit did not eventuate . And Harry and the Duchess did not come to Townsville .
Apart from King Cotton , another arrival that very same day was none other than the most beautiful girl in the world , which made our nautical roundsman pay close attention to her , even if she was a bit on the nose , requiring a dash of No. 19 Chanel eau de parfum behind the ears .
She is Dareen , Arabic for a world beauty and an island of beautiful smelling perfume and flowers. Her other vital statistics are that she is a livestock carrier, built in 1994 , capable of carrying 8000 head , owned and operated by Arab Shipmanagement, Aqaba , Jordon , flying under the Panamanian flag .
Our S(h)ipping Reporter, the only one north of Coogee , recently reported there were two livestock carriers in port which the media did not notice , despite all the waterfront activity and whiff of manure wafting about the sleepy newsrooms.
Another vessel in the Townsville ghost fleet had the catchy name of Mandarin Arrow . It is not known if a Mandarin's arrow has the same romantic impact as that of Cupid , if so , our nautical reporter would not mind being a target .
While all this was going on , the Victory in the Pacific Memorial Fountain, next to the start of Townsville's civic pride trail , still was not working , a shameful situation in a military garrison town .
Our S(h)ipping Reporter, the only one north of Coogee , recently reported there were two livestock carriers in port which the media did not notice , despite all the waterfront activity and whiff of manure wafting about the sleepy newsrooms.
Another vessel in the Townsville ghost fleet had the catchy name of Mandarin Arrow . It is not known if a Mandarin's arrow has the same romantic impact as that of Cupid , if so , our nautical reporter would not mind being a target .
While all this was going on , the Victory in the Pacific Memorial Fountain, next to the start of Townsville's civic pride trail , still was not working , a shameful situation in a military garrison town .
