Blogs from Townsville, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 7

Tuesday 9th August – Having arrived safely yesterday and settled in nicely at the Walkabout Palms caravan park, we had a couple of priorities to sort out today. We needed to arrange for the rear brake shoes on PIE to be replaced and the handbrake cable to be checked and replaced if necessary. We had tried to get this done in Darwin but a three week waiting list and an advanced payment requirement of $600 persuaded us to hang on until we got to Queensland and to Townsville in particular. The brakes have been behaving well but at the last service, some 14000 kilometers ago, we were warned that the rear brakes were in need of attention and the handbrake cable had already been repaired and adjusted twice – once in Perth and again while we ... read more

Not long after we left Ayr, we pulled into Townsville. Seemingly ages later we found the caravan park, which was right next to the RAAF base. Seeing the planes take off and circle Townsville was fun. Wish I had more time to explore the RAAF base, and watch the planes, however, the family preferred to tour the sites of Townsville. After the quickest set up yet, we drove into Townsville city centre and visited Reef HQ - an aquarium, man-made coral reef, and turtle hospital. The boys learned about corals, mangroves, and the variety of fish that live in the GBR. They also learned about the effects Cyclone Yasi had on the reef and the wildlife that it supports. (Interesting fact, it can take 10 years for the reef to recover after a huge cyclone) After ... read more

Saturday 30th July 2011 By 8am we had left the park, stopping at Airlie Beach to go to the Saturday Market they hold there. This had the usual type of stall we have often seen, with a few fruit and vegetable stalls as well. We left with a couple of bags of vegetables and fruit, plus some gifts and a few photos we took. Lunch was had in the van at Ayr, where we arrived just before lunch with time to buy some fresh bread and a hot chicken at the Coles store there. We continued on, reaching Townsville about 2pm. We had chosen a caravan park from one of the brochures but on arriving we were told there were no vacancies. The manager did ring a couple of other places, all full, until he rang ... read more

Hi again guys, have travelled almost 3500kms & the last 2 towns have been my faves so far. Absolutely loved Bowen. We had lunch out under the pub verandah where they filmed the movie 'Australia'. I can truly understand why Baz fell in love with the town when he was scouting locations for the film. We had a fun night at Bowen getting harassed by the bloody Maroons supporters during & after the 3rd & final State of Origin. Geez it sux being a Blues supporter up here when they lose. Today & yesterday we have been in Townsville where we drove to the top of Castle Hill, the 360 degree views of the city & Magnetic Island were amazing. We had a bird's eye view of the Townsville 400 V8 Supercar race (Go Holden). Their ... read more

Our first day at Airlie Beach was fun! We found a group of pools that were next to the beach & we swam with our Dad for a couple of hours. In the afternoon we made friends with some other kids staying at the park. We played ball games & rode our scooters for hours. On Saturday Mum took us to the markets where we saw a camel walking on the beach in the morning & in the afternoon we played with our friends at the caravan park & swam in the pool. Our Dad & Uncle went fishing out amongst the islands & bought us a shark home for tea! On Sunday we went to Cedar Creek Falls which were pretty cool. We skipped rocks on the water under the waterfall & built some cairns ... read more