Blogs from Townsville, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

Owing to the inclement weather in Mission Beach, which lies in the wet tropics, we opted to head for Townsville, which lies in the dry tropics, and thus, enjoyed fine weather for our planned seven day stay, which we stretched out to eleven days. We stayed at the Riverside Convention Centre Caravan Park, which is a church owned park, conveniently located along Townsville’s main river and relatively central in Townsville. Townsville Council has done a great job of creating parks along both sides of virtually the whole length of the river as it winds through Townsville city. On our first full day, we walked 6.7 kms in a loop along both sides of the river from our van park. That night we met up with friends that we were staying next to in Ravenshoe Caravan Park, ... read more

From Tuesday to Friday I participated as an Official in the Oceania Athletics Championships which were held at "The Red Track" in beautiful Townsville. This is a picturesque track with Castle Hill towering in the background. These are the first Oceania Champs to be held which, under new IAAF rules, give points towards qualifying for the World Champs and so Australia and New Zealand sent full teams and thus this was the largest Champs ever held with over 700 athletes competing from every country in the Pacific. During the four days I officiated at more than a dozen events including Shot Putt, Discus, Triple Jump and Long Jump. My favourites, though, were the three High Jumps where I was a bar judge twice and a recorder the other time. Excellent competitions and very good heights were ... read more

We stayed with a friend in Townsville who showed us a picture of a queue people edging along a tiny ridge approaching the peak of Everest. It can take up to two months to acclimatise enough to attempt a climb the summit. Climbers arrive at base camp, trek to the first level then back down again, up two levels then back to base camp. The body needs time to adjust to the altitude and new environment it finds itself in. We’re not climbing Everest but we are still going through a period of adjustment. The boys fight with each other every morning. It’s become like some sort of ritual. Wake up, bicker, eat breakfast, get on with the day. They niggle each other over trivial matters like a couple of old grumpy kangaroos. At first Jason ... read more

A combination of far too much to do and slow internet connections explains the long gap in posts... We are now in Townsville Queensland and are off to the Whitsundays Islands tomorrow. The drive from Adelaide along the Great Ocean Road needed more time than we allowed but was a very good experience. Then we had a few days in Melbourne where it was lovely to catch up with Steve and Barbara. We escaped Melbourne just before snow fell there and flew to tropical Queensland where, as you can imagine, we are really enjoying the warmth. Another update will follow soon!... read more

Hi to Magnetic Island and Croc spotting in the Hinchinbrook. Captain’s Log, travelled 246.5 nautical miles (456.5 km) overall, with 210.5 nm (390 km) in the Hinchinbrook Channel trip. This blog covers several separate adventures. The first was 6 nights in the Breakwater Marina in Townsville followed by a 10 nights trip out to Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island. The main part deals with a trip of 10 nights with Arianne and Anne to Hinchinbrook Channel and back, via the Palm Island Group. The final section deals with 19 days in Townsville waiting for the new Spray Dodger, then parts for the anchor wench and finally the combination of weather and crew for the run south to Gladstone. The main reasons to initially stay in Townsville for 6 days were the repair of the spray dodger, ... read more