Townsville

Townsville is Australia's largest tropical town, with industries such as minerals processing and export, higher education, scientific research, tourism and a large military presence. Due to a quirk of geography it has much less rainfall than most other Queensland tropical cities, so the landscape resembles typical Australian scrub rather than the lush rainforest we've been experiencing for the last couple of months. Several granite outcrops provide some excellent lookouts, the photo at left is taken from Castle Rock which is right in the centre of town.

We've taken advantage of the ample shopping here to get a few things for the van. We've played all three of the major golf courses in town, thoroughly enjoying each of them. A highlight of our visit here has been catching up with John's cousin Neil, who is with the army and has been living in Townsville for 10 years. We had a lovely Sunday lunch with him and his family, as well as dinner during the week.

Magnetic Island is just off the coast here, you can see it in the background of the photo above. We caught the ferry over for a day trip, hiring a mini Moke to explore the island. With the driver's seat not being adjustable, John very quickly tired of trying to drive with his knees under his chin, so Wendy took over for most of the day. It was certainly an experience hurling the tiny vehicle around corners and roundabouts, the noise it made getting up to a zippy 60km an hour gave the impression of doing at least a hundred!

During World War II the island hosted an army base protecting Townsville from Japanese attack, we walked around the ruins of the camp exploring the remains of the command post and signalling hut, as well as various gun emplacements and ammunition magazines. We also did several other walks and lookouts around the island. It wasn't all work however, we had a very pleasant lunch on one of the island's many beaches, and for a change of pace visited the local history museum.