Friday, September 14, 2018

Townsville and Magnetic Island


We arrived in Townsville, a lovely coastal community offering world class yachting facilities and a youthful town full of quaint architecture, natural parks and some of the best ribs you can eat.  We had heard of this from other cruisers who had already passed this way.
We met up again with Murray and Carol (Sv Jams) and their friends Prue & Grahame Taylor.  They have been lifelong friends, and their latest business venture started with a love of good Olive oil and has culminated into a 5 star world class business with the creation of their award winning #29 Extra Virgin Olive oil which is the Royal Easter Show Olive Oil Award Supreme Champion 2017.  What a delightful couple.  That is truly one of the best aspects of this sailing life, it is the people we meet and the friends we make along the way.
Having now made the decision to travel with Sv Jams and head for Indonesia we made contact with our Indonesian agent Raymond Lasmana and received his sponsorship letter.  With that in hand our application was ready for submission to Sydney.  So, with new plans made and a schedule in mind it was time to continue north to Cairns.  However, our next immediate stop was Magnetic Island to tick off yet another of Kaija's Bucket List items.

Magnetic Island is located just a few miles off the east coast of Aussie and is home to a wonderful Koala reserve.  The Reserve is home to a number of rare and endangered Australian species. We saw a black Wombat, rare snakes, salt water crocs, the black cockatoo, turtles, lizards
 

... and of course Kaija’s favorite, the cuddly Koala.

No comments: