Friday, 26 July 2013

Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island is extraordinarily beautiful. It contains 'dry', 'wet' and rainforest vegetation. We were also very excited to see solar panels in numerous locations, showing that the abundance of sun here can be used effectively for power generation. On the boat we already know this, as we source most of our energy from our solar panels. Many other countries, with less sunlight than Australia — Germany, China, Denmark(!!) to name a few — already know this too. India and Spain are examples of countries with relatively high levels of sunshine that are making good use of it or are planning to do so.


Solar panel on light post. A refreshing sight!

Skate park with solar panels for a roof/shading

Power generation at that moment in time from the solar panels on the skate park. This rate for an hour would be enough to heat four average domestic hot water services for a day, according to the boat's electrician.
View to the mainland


Wetlands




Lovely 'paperbark' 





Magpie geese



The 'corkscrew' or spiral pandanus, presumably


Osprey nest

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hiya Simon & Carmen
from how far north do you have worry about stingers and crocs?
Carmen, just finished reading Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, a young Adelaide woman. Superb. See if you can get hold of it.
Cheers
David

The Matey said...

Hi David

Nice to 'hear' from you!
Stingers are around primarily from November to May when the water is warmer, though we've also been told that if there have been northerly winds in the preceding days (during that time) to be particularly careful. So far that strategy has worked. They are around in the Whitsundays to I think at least the north of Australia and probably beyond.

Crocs haven't been a problem so far but I guess the further north we go the more care we'll need to take on that front. They seem to still be repopulating and we haven't seen any yet - though we've seen a few signs saying they are in the area. We usually take care around mangroves though ...

Thanks for the book recommendation - it looks interesting :)

What's news there? Say 'hi' to Karen :)