Party Like It's....A Thursday??

---

We arrived in Townsville after dark. Driving down the Strand we noticed some type of winter carnival/concert going on in the park. We later learned it was a living nativity. After finding a hotel and settling in, we set out for dinner and found town to be absolutely hopping. Large groups of young women in short skirts and heavy makeup were out on the town for the evening, as were clumps of guys with short hair having beers. Turns out Townsville is home to a huge military base which explains the party atmosphere in town on a Thursday night.

All over this part of Australia, we saw people driving "Utes" or what looked to us like new El Caminos. These car/truck combos are extremely popular here for some reason. We would have thought everyone in Australia would have an SUV for driving in the Outback, but we actually saw very few of those.

The next morning we drove to the top of Castle Rock for an overview of the town.

---

Photos

Majestic Overview
This was taken at a roadside pullout between Cairns and Townsville....absolutely breathtaking!

Holden Ute
Holden is a subsidiary of GM. It was funny to see basically an El Camino be really cool with the locals.