The Townsville Bulletin September 27 ran a front pager spilling over to P4 declaring Magnetic Island injected more than $400million into the regional economy last financial year , making it North Queensland's premier destination .
If the island is a tourism powerhouse , you would think that the Bulletin and the rest of the Townsville media would provide much more coverage of the island , this throbbing economic jewel in the crown , apart from repetitive write ups about cuddly koalas and seasonal holiday bookings.
This blog has frequently pointed out that the island, like the hills , is alive with( music ) and interesting stories which are rarely picked up or followed up by the mainland scribes .
One recent major event , construction of the groyne at Nelly Bay and the follow up , hardly rated a mention on the mainland after the PR spin before the first scoop of sand was made . However, our Shipping Reporter , the only one north of Kangaroo Island , closely watched the project and filed this informative pictorial coverage of the groyne , with some acerbic and salty comments.
The top photo shows an early view of groyne construction , aimed at preventing sand from being washed into the safe harbour, in which is the ferry terminal and yacht marina .
Beneath that shot is the finished groyne , rubbish including pumice washed up against the structure. For years , pumice said to have come from a Solomon Islands undersea volcanic eruption , has been washing up on the island without authorities coming to grips with the problem . The Shipping Reporter says it seems that special rotating drums similar to ones which are used to pick up litter on beaches in southern states are needed to reduce the floating matter .
A grass rake being used on pumice at Alma Bay did not seem to be a hi-tech approach ; the Alma Creek footbridge and foreshore stonework fortification is a mass of imbedded pumice , a vacuum cleaner device needed. Fine pumice particles washed down into airholes in the sand may kill the critters below .
Sand recently piled up along the Nelly Bay foreshore by machinery is being washed away , as shown by the panoramic third frame . The sand seemed to be have been driven up against the existing crumbling Esplanade foreshore at a sharp angle . Thus getting down to the beach is difficult , deep ruts forming ; a recent king tide chopped into the full length of the bank .
And not far from the groyne is a sign which could be in Mandarin warning that it is part of the controversial Chinese South China Sea Real Estate sand island expansion. Who knows?You would think that somebody, somewhere , knowing this major project was going ahead , thought it would be a good idea to repaint the sign so that it could actually be read and prevent vessels from dropping anchor on an undersea power cable .
Nelly's protruding groyne is being used to fish off , so could a barramundi lure catch on the undersea power cable and black out the island, cause the electrified rod- holder to erupt like a mighty black marlin hooked in a big game fishing contest ?
