Once again we packed up and got away at about 9am, heading 150kms south to Townsville. The first town we came to was Tully where the sugar mill was in full swing. We had some drizzly rain on this part of our journey ... the first we
had seen for quite a while. We called into the small township of
Cardwell along the way and were surprised to see that cyclone damage was
still evident this far away from Mission Beach - Yasi must have been a
huge storm. Cardwell is quite close to Hinchinbrook Island, which due
to the inclement weather, was shrouded in mist. We called into another little spot called Balgal beach which was just
a short distance north of Townsville. There is a free camp there that
is located right on the beach and adjacent to a river mouth. We decided
that it might be a nice place to go to for a couple of days once we
leave Townsville. The river looked like it might be a good fishing spot
... provided there weren't too many crocs! We
continued on to the Rowes Bay Caravan Park located on the waterfront in
Townsville and checked in. Once settled, we went for a drive along the
beach toward the city area, where we found a fish and chip shop for
lunch.
On Thursday Rick was ready to be picked up by the airport shuttle bus at
4:50am for his trip to Sydney. Thursday and Friday were quiet days for
me, spent walking, reading and catching up with some van cleaning.
Rick returned to the van at 10:30pm on Friday night after a nice couple
of days catching up with his family.
Saturday morning was spent looking around quite a few camping
stores. Our fold-up chairs have seen better days and need replacing,
but we didn't find anything suitable. We will keep looking. Saturday
afternoon and all day Sunday was spent watching the 'Big Race' on TV.
On
Monday we decided to go for a drive up to the lookout at the very top
of Castle Hill. It was very hot and we were astounded to see many
people of all ages either walking or running the 2.9kms up and down.
The views from the top were spectacular. We left Castle Hill and had some lunch before going to the Reef HQ
Aquarium in the centre of town. We spent approximately two hours
wandering around the various exhibits. The 2.5 million litre Coral Reef
Exhibit is the world's largest living coral aquarium and well worth a
visit. There is an underwater viewing tunnel that allows some very
close up views of Leopard Sharks, huge Groupers and Rays among other
things. On the way back to the caravan park we drove
around some of the unusual and large homes that 'hang' on the sides of
the cliffs. There are lots of properties for sale and some at quite
reasonable prices.
Tuesday was our last day in Townsville. We found the water filter shop
to purchase some replacement cartridges for our water filters before
heading back into town to the Maritime Museum. We spent about two hours
wandering around the various displays before doing some shopping
(again) and then heading back to the park. Rick spent some time washing
the car and the van and at 6:15pm we met Steve and Linda, (who live in
Townsville) for dinner at the Pier Restaurant on the marina.
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| The sugar mill working overtime at Tully |
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| Hinchinbrook Island off the coast of Cardwell |
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| Looking toward Castle Hill from the Townsville CBD |
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| The waterfront opposite the Rowes Bay Caravan Park |
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| Homes perched on the hill just a short walk from the Caravan Park |
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| Looking towards Castle Hill from the Marina area |
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| Looking over the city towards the marina area |
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| One of the lookout walkways (Rick can be seen in a white shirt standing on the edge) |
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| To the left of the pic is Rowes Bay which is where we stayed |
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| The view from the opposite side of Castle Hill |
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| This property and the block (if you could call it that) next door both for sale |
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