Townsville

Our plans have become a bit fluid, and the itinerary is regularly changing as we talk to people and read about new sights to see. Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for you, many of the places are remote and unique, which means no Internet, and often no phone reception, which means no blog updates as we go, so now it's catch up time again!

Bowen is famous for mangoes!

We left Mackay heading for Townsville. North through the endless fields of sugar cane, past all the harvesting activity, and into Proserpine where the sugar cane mill is belching steam, a clear indication of the busy time at hand. Time for a quick coffee at a small new place in town, whose name I can't remember, but whose coffee was good, then back on the road. Proserpine is also the turn off point for The Whitsundays, which we plan to do on the way back. So past the turn off and on to Bowen, which as anyone who has eaten one knows, is famous for mangoes. At the moment the trees are just teasing us. It will be a few weeks before they are in full fruit, so we are stopping here also on the way back.

Past Bowen and on to the twin towns of Home Rule and Ayr, separated by the mighty Burdekin River, the second largest river in Australia by water flow, and the major reason why this area is such an agricultural marvel. The bridge across the river is almost 1 km long, and it must be an amazing sight in the wet season. Ayr is the bigger of the twin towns and again we will spend a day or two here on the way back. It is affluent, and has a nice ambiance about it. Carol's sister and family spent a couple of years here more that 20 years ago, and that is the only other time we've been here. It doesn't look familiar at all. We found a fantastic Italian deli for lunch, full of fresh and home made goodies, and satisfied our hunger and stocked up the larder.

Roadside Fruit & Veg Stall

 Back on the road, we soon are past the lush sugar cane and into some rugged and dry farmland, that has only a few cattle, and looks more like the outback than the coast. Fires are burning around the ranges and the air is full of smoke and visibility is poor. It stays like this all the way to Townsville, although we did find a really good fruit stall at a farm gate along the highway, and we stocked up. You know you are in North Queensland when the fruit is tropical and the prices are low. Beautiful Paw Paw and Papaya, Pineapples, and Melons are only $1 or $2 each, Avocados can be as cheap as 20cents each in bag lots, and Passion fruit are 7 for $1. (Our English friend Jim has probably just fainted and fallen off his chair!) Even bananas are now down around $5 per kg. So stocked up we drive into Townsville.

Townsville from Castle Hill

Townsville is a big sprawling city. It is in a dry and dusty bowl, and at the moment extremely smokey. It is home to the Lavarack Army Base of some 25,000 troops, an RAAF Base, and a lot of Metal Processing Industry. The tin and copper and other minerals of Mt.Isa Mines are sent to Townsville by rail for processing and export.

Waterfront Townsville

We eventually find our Caravan Park. According to the brochure it was close to everything, but unfortunately, the things it was closest too, a busy truck route, airport and water treatment plant, weren't in the brochure! The park itself was OK, but our neighbours were a rustic family of 30, in town for a wedding, and hell bent on partying. Don't you love it when intoxicated persons whisper to each other at 80 decibels "SHHH its late, keep the noise down!"

Hillside homes on Castle Hill

The town itself is very modern, with lots of new buildings and shopping centres. It is built around Castle Hill, which looms over the city. You get a great 360 degree view. There is some amazing architecture around the hill, as everyone tries to get a view out to Magnetic Island. The waterfront area near the harbour and along the Strand is very nice, but it seems to lack people, and is more expensive than any other town we've been to. For example we had terrific Fish & Chips at the Marina in Mackay for $20, but in Townsville same Fish & Chips was $30, and it was average. We did have a nice dinner in town at the Eat Street area on Palmer Street, but were very amused by the taxi driver who described Townsville as Brownsville, because of the dry dusty look.

The aquarium is very good, and Magnetic Island is popular, but we decided not to go over, as the weather was constantly windy. We mostly had a look around by car and on foot, but would summarise our stay in Townsville as underwhelming. Sorry Townsville!