Long-winded road towards truth

How one Sunshine Coast Daily journalist got caught up in a confusing practical joke

Did you get caught up in the pranks of April Fool's Day this year? Picture: Annie Caughey

DID you get caught up in the shenanigans of April Fools' Day this week?

I did and so did Federal Parliament.

Funnily enough, both pranks were toilet related, I guess there's a bit of a theme to politics in 2019.

While I suffered at the hands of my so-called loving mother, who'd convinced me that Unitywater was doing a Sunshine Coast-wide "reverse flush” and I would need to ensure my toilet seat was down and bathroom cleared out, the prank dished out to our pollies plunged to a deeper meaning.

A campaigner from Greenpeace had a plot to bring what he thought was a "crap stance on climate change” to the forefront of Australian politics.

The activist snuck into Parliament House on Monday and replaced the facility's toilet paper with his freshly printed variety that featured the faces of many Coalition politicians such as PM Scott Morrison alongside their quotes on climate change.

But here's the thing, I don't think that actually happened.

While there seems to be some tangible evidence of the prank, including a news report by 10 Daily, Tweets and Instagram posts by Greenpeace Australia that shared photos of the toilet paper as well as an interview on an ABC radio show Tuesday morning with the so-called prankster, my journalistic instincts had me feeling that something was off.

After endless Google searches that found next to no media coverage of the event and a few conversations around the office with journos who had no idea what I was talking about, I finally realised...I think I had fallen for my second April Fools' prank.

Here at the Sunshine Coast Daily, we played our own little joke on readers.

For any of you who were caught up in this, rest assured I was not involved.

The Daily published an online article stating that a Sydney flight destined for Tasmania diverted and instead landed 2000km north, here on the Sunshine Coast.

There were fake interviews quoting holidayers who were stoked about the diversion as well as Visit Sunshine Coast CEO Simon Latchford who proclaimed what a wonderful event this was for the region.

Although this article was just a prank and written light-heartedly in the name of a laugh, it did stem from somewhat of a truthful basis.

Qantas announced it would start delivering a second daily service from Sydney that lines up with its international flights from New Zealand, America, Asia and Europe allowing easier routes for international travellers to reach our sandy shores.

So, to all of you out there who like me are too trusting and yes, I guess gullible, please know that the joke aimed at you really is good news for tourism on the Sunshine Coast.

I don't know why we prank each other on April Fools' Day and I don't know where and when it originated.

But what I do know, is how good it feels to see that the world can still have a bit of fun - even us who work in the media.

Originally published as Long-winded road towards truth