Flight over Townsville

‘Would you like to have a fly around Townsville?’ Magnus asked.
Would I pass up such an opportunity?
Not only would I be seeing a bird’s eye view of the area but I would have an idea of what is entailed in learning how to fly – something that Magnus has been putting all his efforts into. Eventually he wants to get commercial licence  but is working towards exams for flying solo at the moment.
The plane was a 4 seater Cesna and John, his instructor was giving him the lesson. John was impressively thorough and talked through every procedure on the ground and in the air and also gave asides on how to avoid scaring passengers. 
Our route was to take us along the Townsville sea front, inland to the foothills of Mount Elliot and then turn East to follow the coastline of a rugged peninsular and then back to Townsville. It was amazing. On the ground the area feels quite built up, and there are some huge developments. We went over the Zinc refinery, where Magnus often works. Beside it is what looks like a black Lake, at least equal to the area of the factory. It is a solar farm that runs the whole enterprise.
But very soon the vastness of Australia becomes apparent and we flew over large tracts of sandy land dissected by the meanders of Ross River depositing sands from inland to silt up against the mangrove rim at the sea. Unlike other areas of the East coast the mountains here do not form a proper range but stand up singly or in small groups from the flat land. John says he uses the flights to plan out possible bush walks in his days off.
The sea is shallow with a steep drop off and it is possible to view sharks and dugongs from above if you are lucky - which we were not. However, I did get to sail with turtles the previous Sunday - they were plopping up all over the place!