PAVEMENT PECKING PIGEON

Vallis photograph 

BARGE LANDING WORK / JUMP IN VEHICLE CHARGES / TERMINAL HAZARD

 

For days work has been going on to strengthen the  barge landing on Magnetic Island . It involves inserting a metal connecting interface to  prevent barge  ramps  from  crushing  the concrete. Shipping Reporter photo. In further shipping news, barge rates have been increased without the mainland media picking up the news, a charitable organisation being asked to fork out thousands of dollars in  the future. News tip for reporters and  politicians : there is an important story here .  At the nearby major  roundabout  near the island  ferry terminal   there is a traffic hazard  sign which appears to  be due to  a  burst  watermain or a meteorite shower . Could  be  another story. 

DARWIN DENIZEN

Called Gary the Goanna , this fine specimen frolics about in the Howard Springs  wetland with  early morning swimmer and Swamp  People star, Robert  Wesley-Smith.

NED KELLY MANHUNT NOT CLOSING IN

Sidney Nolan Ned Kelly Exhibition in Cairns .

WONDROUS LEUNIG CREATIONS SUCKED INTO CAPTAIN COOK'S WAKE ?

There is growing speculation  that some of the  unusual  cartoon characters  devised by Melbourne illustrator, author and  great Australian , Michael  Leunig, are somehow being  magnetically attracted to  a  North Queensland island . On the other hand ,it could just be the lousy Victorian weather  forcing  them to flee to Magnetic Island , off  Townsville . 

Despite what our  Shipping Reporter wrote about the mysterious mermaid(above) who came ashore on Magnetic Island , fleeing  freezing  Tasmania and its beaut scallops,   one of  Leunig's island fans says  she is actually  the mermaid  who appeared  in  his book Wild Figments,on the title page and in a piece about  a sailor in which she  is shown swimming with a shark and a manta ray .

We  recently  ran a post from the Shipping Reporter about Leunig's characters, the intrepid explorer Vasco Pyjama and his direction finding duck, painted on  a caravan parked on the  island .

And while  patrolling   one of the cluttered pristine beaches on the island  our waterfront scribe came  across another  Leunig creation (above)-a rather green about the gills and elsewhere  poor  little man with a lumpy head and  snozzle.  
  

The Shipping Reporter reckons any day now  that strange Leunig man who gets about with a teapot on his head  will be  washed  shore  and he will take him to the Marlin Bar to  thaw our with a pint of Captain Kidd's rotgut,poured from a Royal Doulton bedchamber,followed by a rum and raisin double scoop of icecream from Adele's Cafe, at  Horseshoe Bay .

Meanwhile the  siren like mermaid continues to cause  chaos to the island's sea transport  by  luring  deckhands on  ferries to jump ship and swim towards her, only to be  devoured  by  sharks.  

The mainland media still have not caught up with the fact that a mysterious mermaid has appeared at the entrance to Townville's Jewel in the Crown ,Magnetic island .

Captain Cook experienced some mysterious   force  when he  hove to off the island and  his  cheap made in China compass went haywire, so he called it  Magnetical Island. 

STOP PRESS: Mermaid's trident has disappeared .

SAFE HAVEN

INTERLOPER IBIS UPSETS CURLEWS

Angry Curlew (top,left) glares at big bird which invaded its territory,then flew away. Vallis photos