Marcus Beach’s only claim to fame is the location at which Kiwi Colin Quincey made history by completing the first ever solo row across the Tasman – a 2200 kilometre journey from New Zealand to Australia in 1977.

Colin Quincey left Hokianga Harbour in Northland, New Zealand and staggered ashore in a force eight gale at Marcus Beach, just south of Castaway Cove on 10 April 1977. He had rowed his six-metre fibreglass dory Tasman Trespasser for 63 days 7 hours from New Zealand to Australia.

Quincey battled a bad back, setbacks by currents, screaming winds, sore fingers from bailing, sleepless nights and salt water irritations while completing his 2170 km arc across the top of the Tasman.  On arrival in Australia Quincey exclaimed, "I've taken you - you bastard!  I've won!".

Colin Quincey’s self built Yorkshire dory was constructed to withstand a full force tropical cyclone. The plywood and fibre glass boat was lacking today’s modern wonders of Global Positioning Systems and satellite phones. Colin self navigated his way across the Tasman using a sextant and dead reckoning. Having to carry his own water, the entire hull was filled with 900 pounds of fresh water. The open top boat had a Radar Reflector and VHF radio aerial even though he communicated with no one over the course of his expedition as he lost his radio three days out from New Zealand.

With waves breaking one mile off Marcus Beach, Colin abandoned ship and let the whitecaps push his boat to shore with him dragging behind on a 6m rope. Residents wouldn’t let him in when he reached shore because they mistook him for an escaped criminal. After being initially shunned, he gained hospitality in a Marcus Beach house where he wrote a verse from Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” on a garage wall.

Though the original house has been demolished, the new owners have kept the wall and Quincey’s historic text as part of their new home.  Peregian and Marcus Beach residents are pushing to rename the park where Colin landed the Tasman Trespasser Park.

This is a historical event taught to New Zealand children in school and the Tasman Trespasser boat is on display at the maritime museum in Auckland.

Thirty three years later, his 25-year-old son Shaun decided to emulate his father’s epic feat on board the Tasman Trespasser II, doing the reverse leg from Australia to New Zealand.
 
He set off from Coffs Harbour, NSW on 20 January 2010 and arrived 54 days later on 14 March 2010, becoming the first person to row the Tasman Sea from west to east solo. The Kiwi beat his father's record by nine days, battled broken oars, unpredictable currents, flipped his boat at least twice, bumped into a whale and almost ran out of drinking water.  He swam the final 300 metres to Ninety Mile Beach on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island.

He doubted he would make it across the Tasman.  Every previous west-to-east crossing solo attempt had failed.  Australian kayaker Andrew McAuley, 39, died during his solo bid in February 2007. His body has never been found.

The west to east crossing had been done once before, but by a two man expedition of adventurers Justin Jones and James Castrission.  Setting off from Forster, New South Wales on November 13, 2007 in their custom-designed double sea kayak, they succeeded where previous attempts, including the fatal journey of Andrew McAuley, had failed. They arrived at Ngamotu Beach, in New Plymouth, New Zealand on January 13, 2008.

Looking for something for the kids to do while holidaying at Castaway Cove ?  Noosa Springs is again holding the kids Tennis and Golf camps throughout the Summer break.

Why not get the kids out learning something new or improving on their skills along with gaining some new friends ?

For details download the following brochure:

Tennis and Golf Camps

So, how did Marcus Beach get it’s name ?

The area south of Noosa Headlands was known, early on, as Golden Beach, but was rarely visited prior to the 1920s. In 1928 Thomas Marcus Burke did a deal with the Noosa Shire Council whereby he gained land in exchange for building roads and bridges from Tewantin, and he started marketing the new town of Noosa. It had to wait though until after the Depression and the Second World War for these blocks to sell, and then it was then marketed by T.M.Burke’s son, Marcus, as Sunshine Beach.

The bridging of Doonella Lake and Weyba Creek in 1929 and increased car ownership in the post World War II period made Noosa's beaches an easy journey past Tewantin. Ready access from Caloundra, Mooloolaba and Maroochydore was made possible in the early 1960s by the David Low Way. Noosa Shire supported tourist development and had an understanding dating back to 1929 with the land subdivider, T M Burke Pty Ltd, for beachfront development. Sunshine Beach, Marcus Beach and Peregian Beach all formed around the David Low Way.

Marcus Beach was named after the property developer, Marcus Burke.

This year visitors and locals alike can take advantage of all public buses across the Sunshine Coast region being absolutely free between 26 December 2010 and 9 January 2011. Free services include all Sunbus, Hinterland Connect and Maleny-Landsborough-Beerwah services; even Flexilink and Council Cabs are free! So, take the stress out of the festive season, avoid the congestion and take the opportunity to try out the bus services across the Coast – it’s easier than you think!

For more information on Sunbus services please visit the TransLink journey planner at www.translink.com.au or call 13 12 30, anytime.  For a fact sheet on the free holiday buses, please click here.

You probably haven’t taken much notice of our logo and what it represents.

Of course it features the colours of the sun – the beach, the sea and the sky.  It also shows Castaways Creek flowing into the sea just north of the Resort from the Noosa National Park. 

What some of our international visitors may not know is that it also features the flower of one of Australia’s common native plants – the Banksia – which occurs throughout the local bushland.  We also have several large specimens in our gardens.

Banksia is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae.  These Australian wildflowers are popular garden plants and are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes and fruiting heads which are made up of hundreds (sometimes thousands) of tiny individual flowers grouped together in pairs.

Banksias were named after Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), who, in 1770 on Captain Cook’s voyage of discovery of Australia, was the first European to collect specimens of these plants.

When it comes to size, banksias range from prostrate woody shrubs to trees up to 30 metres tall. They are generally found in a wide variety of landscapes; sclerophyll forest, (occasionally) rainforest, shrubland, and some more arid landscapes, though not in Australia's deserts.

Heavy producers of nectar, banksias form a vital part of the food chain in the Australian bush. They are an important food source for all sorts of nectariferous animals, including birds, bats, rats, possums, stingless bees and a host of invertebrates. Furthermore, they are of economic importance to Australia's nursery and cut flower industries. However these plants are threatened by a number of processes including land clearing, frequent burning and disease.  A number of species are rare and endangered.

Many species flower over autumn and winter with flower heads ranging from yellow to red. The fruits of banksias are hard and woody and are often grouped together to resemble cones (which they are not as­ true cones are produced only by conifers).

The fruits protect the seeds from foraging animals and from fire. In many species the fruits will not open until they have been burnt or completely dried out.

The specimens at Castaway Cove are Banksia integrifolia or Coast Banksia - a hardy tree that grows very well in coastal areas and can tolerate salt spray. Plants may grow to 25 m, but are often smaller. The dark green leaves have a silvery underside, which adds to the beauty of the foliage. The pale yellow flowers open from late summer to winter.

 

Welcome to our first Castaway Cove blog.  This has been launched at the same time as our new website designed by Piper Digital Marketing.  We also have a new look e-newsletter which we hope to send out monthly to our extensive subscriber database.  We welcome all friends of Castaway Cove to join and contribute to our blog, and to subscribe to our “Castaway News”.  You can also find us on Facebook.

Check out the new website.  It has been designed with a new surf, sun, sand and beach feel to reflect what our Resort is all about.  It also contains a lot more helpful information about the complex, as well as local attractions, upcoming events and things to do.  There is a larger range of images as well as a site plan of the complex and architectural plans of the room layouts.

Particularly for our overseas and interstate visitors, our first series of blogs will be about our local area, its native animals and plants.  We hope you find them interesting.

Until next time,

Glen and Annamarie