Friday, 2nd March 2018
We woke up to a bright sunny day and already at 7 a.m. it was 28 degrees. Today was a travel day, leaving Airlie Beach to travel further north to Townsville. So after our breakfast outside our camper van we were ready to start driving!
We passed beautiful green scenery along the way – cane sugar plantations are in abundance here! We were advised through Facebook that it had rained terribly in the last 24 hours in Townsville area and most roads were closed due to flooding. Well, we had to take a chance and see what we would find when we got to Townsville. It’s amazing, we left Airlie Beach with bright sunshine and we kept that for a good 100 km……….
On the way up we did a detour to Bowen – a small seaside town with wide streets and detached houses – we saw loads of orchards along the way and while at first we thought these orchards were filled with peach trees, it turned out to be mangos! This town is well known for its vegetable garden, however what we found most interesting is when we went up to Flagstaff Hill and admired the spectacular panoramic views that astounded and delighted us. With sweeping views from Rose Bay, along the expanse of Kings Beach, across to the lighthouse on North Head Island, Stony Island, Gloucester Island back to the Marina, and across town, we felt like we’re on top of the world. This was similar to the Panorama Mesdag in the Hague (a 360 degree painting of Scheveningen in the late 1800’s) but then in real life with bright blue skies and seas!
Then back on the road again, not too far to Townsville, which is a sprawling seaside town We had programmed Serena to take us straight to a camping site situated not too far the town centre. After driving through vast sugar cane plantations and mango orchards, we finally arrived in Townsville – it was larger than we had expected, so we wondered if our campsite was actually close to the town centre.
We now have learnt that we don’t need to worry that we wont find a campsite when we want to camp down for the night – it is a quiet season after the Aussie school holidays and then domestic tourism gets a boost over the Easter holidays – the only thing we had to make sure is that we arrived before reception closing time which is normally between 5-6 p.m.
The park – Rowes Bay Caravan Park – was situated on the beach front and opposite Magnetic Island (according to Captain Cook, when he approached this island with his ship the Endeavor, his compass wasn’t working well and he attributed this to the island being magnetic!). Once we were settled in, we hiked the 4 km along a beach front boardwalk to the Strand – that’s where the town activities started and went on for another 2.2 km. Along the boardwalk we came across works of art which gave some background history to the original people who had been living here for thousands of years – the Bindal and Wulgurukaba people When Europeans first arrived in Townsville, they presumed that no one occupied or owned the land because there were no boundaries, marked by farms or fences. However the Bindal and Wulgurukaba Peoples had been living here for many, many generations. Archaeological sites near Townsville have been dated over 10.000 years.
We also walked up to the Kissing Point Fortress – a fortification built in 1888 as protection against any invasion from……..Russia. Later on it was upgraded over the years and finally used actively during WWII against the Japanese fighter plains.
The complete boardwalk and redevelopment of the Kissing Point Fortification cost some 40mln AUD but then Townsville has a really fantastic walkway with historical points ending in the artificial rock pool, which is stinger free! Further than the rock pool, the esplanade is tree lined and shady – huge eucalyptus trees with arial roots hanging like a beard! And then besides lovely houses and apartments situated on the beach front, there were also restaurants and other eateries.
By that time I was quite worn out – I was walking on my flip-flops – not exactly the right footwear for such a hike! We finally decided that it was also dinner time and we found a really great restaurant along the esplanade – The Watermark – We had a lovely dinner and were waited on by a lovely waitress who was very informative about the area! This time Gerry did not have a steak but rather we went quite healthy! Medium rare tuna with vegetables and French fries and of course then we had a desert – apple pie with vanilla ice cream for Gerry and crème brulee for me.
And then, while waiting for the taxi to take us back to the campsite, we watched the full moon rising over the bay!!
It was a short overnight stop at Townsville as tomorrow we are back on the road, heading to Mission Beach.
