Townsville

Friday, 23 June 2017

Tropical sunrise at Mackay

Townsville beach

Uncomfortable seating on The Strand

Woebegone dugong

Smoky Magnetic Island

On The Pier

The Strand and beach

Castle Hill

Mackay treated us (well, one of us!) to the most magnificent sunrise yesterday morning before we left for the 400 km drive to Townsville.  There seemed to be much more traffic, especially trucks, with one very frustrated driver venting his displeasure at a very slow caravan with a very large following.  We had to agree with him, as it is most annoying when inconsiderate drivers who only want to travel at 80 kmp refuse to pull over and let traffic through.

We had the opposite problem shortly before arriving at Townsville when we were in the front (travelling at 90-95 kmh) with two caravans behind, when the third caravan decided to overtake both caravans on double lines.  As he drew alongside us, I used the two-way radio to ask what the rush was (not knowing if he had a two-way or not) and with a corner coming up quickly, he panicked and cut back in on us before he had passed completely.  A bit of emergency braking and some very loud shouting on the two-way ensued – everyone on air within a 5 km radius would have known there was a complete an idiot on the road!  As soon as he could, he pulled off to the side and we heard him tell someone he would catch up later.  Last we saw, he pulled into a service station, no doubt in need of an underwear replacement.

With the temperature at a very pleasant 27 degrees, we arrived at the Walkabout Palms Caravan Park in Townsville.  Although it is on the Bruce Highway, the traffic noise wasn’t a problem overnight.  The caravan park is also attached to a service station and offer an $0.08 cent per litre discount to clients.

This afternoon we drove into Townsville waterfront and enjoyed a stroll along The Strand – and an icecream from the gelataria.  The weather has been overcast but still warm.