Blogs from Townsville, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 4

Haven't even had time to blog you lucky people. It has been all go here. What with massages, eating, swimming in the pool, strolls along the beach, eating, checking out the lookouts, going to the omnimax theatre (one of the last as it is closing down on the 19 Dec), going to the markets and eating. We both really like Townsville. It has a good feel about it and the people are very friendly. Check out the photos.... read more

Townsville / Charters Towers Considered the unofficial capital of North Queensland, Townsville, unlike Cairns which is, (in my eyes anyway) driven by tourism, is a city that has major commercial business alongside a buoyant tourism industry. The city has a vibrant, young feel and is obviously booming, Robert Towns, a Sydney businessman and owner of Woodstock Cattle Station, drove a quest to find a suitable port site essential for the rapidly expanding cattle industry on the tablelands. An expedition party established a camp below the rocky spur of Melton Hill in 1864 and in 1866 Robert Towns agreed to provide ongoing financial support for the new settlement on the Ross River and Townsville was named in his honour. Townsville was declared a municipality in February 1866, and developed rapidly as the major port and service centre ... read more

This morning we left Airlie Beach and headed 3 and a half hours north to Townsville (stopping for a cheeky McDonald's breakfast on the way). we arrived in Townsville around 1pm. We checked in at the campsite and then went straighto for a refreshing dip in the pool and a sunbathe, it's 30 degrees today! We drove to the supermarket to do our daily shop, came back and cooked our lunch in the kitchen and then found some shade to hide from the sun! We went for a walk along the beach at sunset which was very nice (how romantic!) and spent the evening at the campsite as usual. We saw some bats in the trees above us at night, very creepy!... read more

Wow, amazingly our time in Townsville has already come to an end! After seven weeks, it feels very strange to be hitting the road again tomorrow. I’m surprised to be feeling both excited (more adventures, yay!) and apprehensive (living in a van does come with its drawbacks). What I’m very aware of is how quickly we adapt to new circumstances, so we’ll probably have settled comfortably back into our hippy lifestyle within a week. I will seriously miss having a bathroom across the hallway though! Back to weeing in the wild and having a shower every other day… and getting used to having bloodthirsty mosquitoes around. Dean says he is going to miss standing upright when he gets out of bed and not bumping his head on the van ceiling of the van. Aside from all ... read more

15thAugust 2012 It was a cloudy, drizzly morning in Cairns. We packed up camp and gave the Jayco a wash before we left. It really needed it, red dust all over. We had lunch in Tully and climbed the big Wellington boot, erected in remembrance of the 79m rainfall Tully had in 1950. We drove on through cane fields, banana plantations and other farmland to Girramay National Park where we camped at Murray Falls. The falls are large with plenty of water coming through and the campground is large and has plenty of trees and lawn. There are toilets and non-potable water and it works out at $20 a night for us. The drizzle had eased off by the time we made camp. We took the short walk to the falls and the day use area ... read more