Day 73 Townsville

---

Day 73 Townsville

Townsville is known as the capital of North Queensland and has a population of 160,000. In the morning we drove along the esplanade to the harbour to find out about the ferry's to the nearby Magnetic Island for tomorrow. Next we headed up to Castle Hill which provides a great view over the city

In the afternoon we went to the post office and reluctantly sent our passports off to the Russian Consulate in Sydney, hoping to get a visa to enter Russia in July.

The esplanade runs right along the sea front, with safe swimming areas, children's play areas and a sea water rock pool. We spend an hour or so down there even though it was a cloudy afternoon.

We spent another great evening sat in Stuart and Morag's garden having a bbq. We are quite pleased to be staying in the camper van as there is a 8ft python living in their loft!

10/4
Day 74 Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island (also known as Maggie) is located 8km from Townsville and takes only 20 minutes on the ferry. Half the island is national park to protect all the wildlife including wallabies and koalas. There are many stunning beaches and hotels where the locals enjoy visiting for a break from the mainland.

We got the 9.30am fast cat over to the island where it dropped us off at Nelly Bay. The weather today was cloudy and overcast, typical when the island on average has 320 days of sunshine! We walk along the beach and sit on the rocks to read our books for a while.

In the afternoon we walked to the next bay of Picnic Bay and tried to go in the sea. The sea was quite rough and the tide was out so we could no swim here despite it having a stinger net. At 4.30pm we left and got the ferry back to Townsville. It is a lovely island and the beaches must look stunning and tropical in the sunshine, However today we could have been sat on Bridlington beach but at least it was still warm.

---

Photos

Stuarts family
Stuart, Courtney, Maddie, Emily and Bingo (the dog) unfortunately we have missed Morag, Jordan and Josh as they were not here this morning

Townsville from castle hill
View from castle hill stuarts new house is in the bay on the top left hand side of the picture.

Comments

[Tony and Rose]

Happy Easter
Hope it's not too hot for some chocolate - its been warm here.