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Published: August 28th 2011
The Fabulous Coleman Family
Ian, Emily,Goerge and HeatherBlog Day 1010
Finally, a well deserved lie in! It was a long day yesterday and as such we both had a good nights sleep and awaking this morning to the daylight and the sound of the beautiful tropical birds that grace this paradise of Magnetic Island.
Magnetic Island, so called I believe because of the magnetic effects that it had on the ships compass of Captain Cook when he sailed up the East Coast of Australia.
We wandered up to the restaurant for our breakfast, it was not very busy, but some hotel guests were already sat out on the veranda eating breakfast and trying very hard to stop the lorikeets making off with their breakfast, assessing the situation we both opted to eat breakfast indoors.
We are expecting some visitors today, but first things first, after our breakfast we take a walk down Mandalay Avenue and to the shops to pick up a small supply of food and teabags, although the hotel do have facilities there is one significant problem, the size of the tea cups, they are too small for a decent cup of tea so roughly $4 later we have two good
Fancy Hat
Or a Lorrikeet on Emily's Head sized mugs from the local IGA!
A while later we receive a text message from the Coleman Family, they are on the 11.30 ferry from Townsville, which means they will dock in Nelly Bay at 11.55. As we have already had a walk today, we opted to take the bus back down Mandalay and to the ferry terminal.
The bus is a fairly regular service, except around lunchtime, so we catch the 11.50 which should get us in at 11.55 just in time for the ferry.
A small group of people gather for the bus, when it arrives it is crowded but we manage to find a seat. Sure enough as promised the bus arrives at the ferry terminal just in time for the ferry to dock.
Andy and I head to the dock side and await the arrival of our friends.
Our longer term readers may remember that we spent a day with the Coleman family way back in October of 2009.
I used to work with Heather, both of us corporate slaves, a long time before we all left England, but by major coincidence we left England for a different way of life a
week apart from each other back in 2008.
A wave indicates that we have spotted each other and it is not long before there are hugs all round and it is immediately obvious how much the kids have grown in the 20 months since we have last seen them.
We have no plans, more just a catch up and have an easy day of things, so we immediately retire to the nearest café for some coffee and milkshakes.
There is so much to talk about, although we are all working our lives are very different, the Coleman family live in the tropics of Townsville with the Great Barrier Reef at their fingertips, winter is probably warmer than the summers we used to get in England whilst Andy and I live in Canberra where the summers are hot and yet the winters so cold and yes much colder at times than we used to experience in the English winters.
We make the most of our time talking about plans for the future and what we are looking for in our lives on this side of the world, all of us clear on one thing, right now, there
is no going back.
Although no one can say for certain what the future holds, right now our lives are centred around this magnificent country.
We wander around Nelly Bay, the kids play on the beach whilst we all sit in the shade and chat. Later on in the afternoon we head up to our hotel and find a nice spot by the swimming pool. The kids are happy to jump in but the water is freezing cold and I am not tempted, well ok I am tempted but don’t want to suffer the cold waters!
At 5.30 every evening here just on the veranda, someone from the hotel feeds the birds, this is a practice that has been going on for near enough 30 years, no wonder those lorikeets don’t leave you alone at breakfast, it is feeding time for them all day!
However, the 5.30 feedbrings the Kookaburra’s a white Bellied Sea Eagle and what looks like a Sparrow Hawk. You know when the birds of prey are swooping in because the Lorikeets all squeal and fly away to the furthest trees, once the birds of prey have swooped and taken the fresh meat from
Possessed Lorrikeet
Wasn't it in the exocist, when heads were turned 180 degree's the fence the lorikeets all reappear.
The Bush Stone Curlews are always hanging around here too, but they have more stealth, they creep up on you and then keep exceptionally still as if to say “If I don’t move then you cannot see me!” But you know if they are unhappy they let out a long slow grumbling hiss.
Heather and Ian’s daughter Emily is given a saucer of feed to hold, within seconds she has half a dozen Lorikeets eating off the saucer, it is not long before they start landing on her head too! Emily is not spooked by this at all, but did look somewhat startled when the first one landed!
Young George was not interested in holding a saucer of feed however Heather and Ian tell us that he has no fear when it comes to the Australian wildlife and probably a budding Steve Irwin in the making, he likes foraging around the undergrowth to see what he can find, but there is a worry that he would find a poisonous snake and whilst we are on the subject of snakes, we find out from Ian that there is actually an outbreak of
Death Adders on Magnetic Island.
Andy and I have had a couple of brushes with venomous snakes in the past, let’s hope that if we see a Death Adder whilst we are on Magnetic Island, it is from a safe distance.
Sunday nights at the All Seasons is barbecue night, all you can eat for $20 exceptionally good value, so we have booked a table for our dinner, the hotel is good enough not to charge Heather and Ian’s children, for their BBQ, which we thought was more than fair.
We are told to go and see Dave on the barbecue and tell him how we would like our steaks, soon afterwards Dave very kindly deposits our order of steaks on our table. The hotel have put on a great spread of food for everyone.
It seems like no time at all but, it is a school night and Heather, Ian and the children need to head back over to the mainland, so after saying our goodbyes, they all walk down Mandalay Avenue and back to the ferry terminal.
A text confirms that they caught the ferry in time, just as well because we don’t
"Hey Nasher"
They won't leave me alone. have the space in our hotel room for an additional 4 people!
By 9.00 both Andy and I are falling asleep reading our books, what a rock and roll lifestyle we lead, so with the lights out we drift into slumber, the eerie sounds of the Bush Stone Curlews calling in the distance, ready for another day tomorrow.
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