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Here we are in townsville, i was quite surprised at how nice this place is, a city thats not too busy, its clean and well kept. The foreshore which is called the strand, is well maintained and a delight for anyone with kids, lots of parks and pools and lots of cafes and restaurants for the grown ups. Darren and i headed upto the rock to watch the sunset. The rock is what it reads, a big rock towering over townsville, up there you can get 360deg views, awesome! on our way up the steep hill in the van we noticed lots of people walking or running up the rock, apparently its the thing to do and it looked quite challenging.
Townsville /ˈtaʊnzvɪl/ is a city on the north-eastern coast of
Queensland, Australia. Adjacent to the central section of the
Great Barrier Reef, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland.
Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the
Sunshine Coast, with a 2012 population of 196,219,
Considered the unofficial capital of
North Queensland, Townsville hosts a significant number
of governmental, community and major business administrative offices for the northern half of the state.
Popular attractions include "
The Strand", a long tropical beach and garden strip;
Riverway, a riverfront parkland attraction located on the banks of
Ross River;
Reef HQ, a large tropical
aquarium holding many of the
Great Barrier Reef's native flora and fauna; the
Museum of Tropical Queensland, built around a display of relics from the sunken British warship
HMS Pandora; The Townsville Sports Reserve"; and
Magnetic Island, a large neighbouring island, the vast majority of which is
national park.
From Townsville we took the ferry over to Magnetic Island and rented a car, if you can call it that! it was like a cross between a beach buggy and a Barbie car, Darren enjoyed flooring around the corners and down the hills much to my frustration. We all done a walk to the world war II forts, funnily enough on anzac day! The whole island can be seen in a day, we had lunch at the pub, then done our walk, then to the backpackers to feed the birds, then a drive around to take in the views then back to the pub for dinner, followed by the
trip back to townsville on the ferry, a good day was had by all!!! Darren even more so as he managed to score 3 free beers on the ferry back.
Magnetic Island is an island 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) offshore from the city of
Townsville,
Queensland,
Australia. This 52 km2 (20.1 sq mi) mountainous island in Cleveland Bay has effectively become a suburb of Townsville, with 2,107 permanent residents.
The island is accessible from Townsville Breakwater to Nelly Bay Harbour by ferry. There is a large 27 km2 (10.4 sq mi) National Park and bird sanctuary and walking tracks can be taken between the populated bays and to a number of tourist destinations such as the
World War II forts. The island is a haven for wildlife. 54%!o(MISSING)f the island is
Magnetic Island National Park, which is mostly located on the steep hilly interior and rugged north-western side. The highest point on the island is
Mount Cook reaching 497 m (1,631 ft) above sea level.
Magnetic Island is famous for its angling opportunities. Fish around the island include:
blue marlin,
black marlin,
sailfish,
mackerel,
wahoo,
giant trevally,
dogtooth tuna,
coral trout,
mahi-mahi,
tuna,
red emperor and
sea perch.
As of 2013, there are over 800
koalas estimated to be present on the island; this population represents the northern limit of their geographic range.
The pressure of coastal development has, in recent years, begun to make a significant impact on the island, which lies in the
World Heritage listed
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. At present many millions of dollars in development are planned for the island and the impact of these has led to considerable opposition from some residents who fear the effects this development will have on the environmental values of Magnetic's lowlands which are not protected by the national park; these areas represent only 20%!o(MISSING)f the whole island, and of this 20%!,(MISSING) most is freehold land and is already developed.
From here we are planning on going to the Paluma National Park!
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