Townsville

Thursday, 27th June

A smoky sunset 

Relaxing, looking out over the Coral Sea to Magnetic Island 

The Strand 

The Rocks Swimming Pool 

Castle Hill 

We were very fortunate this morning in that the caravan opposite us was also leaving; we waited for him to leave first, then we were able to drive through the vacant site. With such narrow sites and roads, this meant we were able to drive out of our site without having to do the backwards/forwards shuffle.


After a glorious sunset last night, today was still very, very smoky all the way from Bowen to Townsville. If we could see the mountains and hills at all, they were merely vague shapes through the thick haze. The weather continued warm and, joy oh joy, still no wind! It has been amazing that we have driven from Melbourne to Townsville without wind. Needless to say …

The road north was flat and in good condition, with some roadworks in the Ayr vicinity. However, the traffic became quite heavy once we started being held up by the road signals. With a relatively short drive of just less than 200 kms, we were at the Big4 Walkabout Palms in Townsville shortly before lunch. This is a nice park, next to the Laverack Army Base and we were most impressed when the Defence Forces organised a fly past of six Hornet fighters as we were setting up! The caravan park is on the Bruce Highway, which may mean a bit of traffic noise overnight.

This afternoon, we drove into the waterfront of Townsville and had a walk along The Strand. This is a lovely walking path, park and beachfront which extends for a couple of kilometres along the shore line. There is also a large lagoon swimming pool – much safer than swimming in the ocean with the crocodiles and stingers! We also discovered a gelataria with an amazing array of different flavoured gelato – decisions, decisions! One also has to wonder if the benefits of the walk are undone by the benefits of the ice cream? However, as a tourist, it is important to support the local economies.