A national newspaper advertisement for a former pineapple farm on Magnetic Island in 1976 saw a Tasmanian family pick up their life and make their move to North Queensland.
And for nearly 50 years, the vast 14 acre property at Nelly Bay has been their “spiritual home”.
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122 Mandalay Avenue, Nelly Bay
A family member revealed that their parents spotted an advertisement for the ex-pineapple farm in The Australian newspaper 47 years ago, and their mother was on the next available flight to Townsville.
“Our father was working as a doctor in Hobart and our mother was working as a teacher and they were yearning for a change,” they revealed.
“Within days, our mother was on a plane, then the old timber ferry to Picnic Bay.
“She fell in love with the extraordinary landscape of the island, dominated by wild tumbling granite headlands and wind-sculpted Hoop pines above pristine…