In just one day's sculling about the busy Townsville waterfront the usually thirsty S(h)ipping Reporter , the only one north of Nunawading , came across a mess of nautical activity unnoticed by the local scribes . One was the above unidentified floating object seen near the Townsville shipping channel by the skipper of the Sealink ferry on an afternoon Townsville to Magnetic Island run .
At first, many passengers thought the boat had changed course because of a whale sighting . It was , however, an upturned navigation buoy , left in that state .
On the same trip another line of fishing dories, above , being towed, provided another photo opportunity, different to the Townsville Bulletin regularly sending a photographer down to The Strand to get a shot of young girls , usually backpackers, to go with a filler about the weather. Who cares if Rupert Murdoch said P3 girls were a thing of the past, his wise words have obviously not reached his Townsville paper where they can appear on pages one , three , five and so on , making it look like a mushy Bananaland Ralph .
Tied up near the ferry terminal in Townsville was the Sunbird getting a bit of a touch up inside and out . Just across the way there was some kind of activity at the spot where the police launch Brett Irwin is usually moored, sporting various fake owls and a bird of prey or two to frighten off recidivist messy real birds. Presumably the police launch has not sunk , but then the Titanic could go down in Townsville and would not be noticed . Other patrol vessels use the facilities .
No trip to the waterfront is made without checking on the Red Baron seaplane mooring . Our S(h)ipping Reporter has pointed out several times that the unusual plane has been missing for months without the local media twigging and asking when it will return . He even suggested that it has been converted into a nuclear powered and armed yellow submarine , now cruising about , unnoticed , in the port .
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Red Baron with fake owl on top before it disappeared .
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To back up his dubious claim that the Red Baron has been nuked and turned into an underwaterboten, he has produced the following latest puzzling photograph from the plane's mooring which suggests , it is indeed down the gurgler, being secretly loaded with state of the art deadly black torpedoes .
Our S(h)ipping Reporter does not mind if local reporters take up these stories as long as they donate to his Christmas sinking fund , which takes a dive like the Red Baron each time he calls into Molly Malone's Irish Pub in the nightclub precinct.
He has been gloating over the fact that in a media broadside he recently reported there was another large vehicle carrier in port and suggested somebody in the media should ask basic questions about the nature of its cargo and lo and behold the Townsville Bulletin came up with a story about the number of vehicle carriers that have unloaded in recent times .
The S(h)ipping Reporter likes to point out that he stirred up the Darwin media about the lack of shipping coverage and the ABC started to take a regular interest in maritime matters. In the case of the Murdoch Northern Territory News they are probably too busy chasing crocodile stories , UFOs , randy ghosts , soy milk latte drinking southerners to worry about shipping activities .
And another episode which indicates how the local media are not really in touch with their own small fish bowl is this stunning notice from the entrepreneurial pirates who converted an empty house on Magnetic Island into a thriving, innovative café , Scallywags . It informs customers , who are many , that they will be closing down soon to take part in catering for shows and festivals in the south of the nation, which they have been doing for years , but will be back. It would make an interesting story if anybody in the media cared to follow this surging lead . The eye catching graphic incorporates part of the Scallywags café .
Our nautical reporter also said a heavy lift cargo vessel , which once had a different name ( is there a story here ?) , had managed to find its way into Townsville , despite the upturned navigation buoy . Did the port authority know about the upside down navigation buoy, when , how could it have happened , how was it righted ,or replaced , any danger to shipping notice issued , etc?
