A place called Townsville was our port of call today. Totally opposite of the big city of Sydney, Townsville is more of a vacation destination for many locals and travelers as well. Located in North Queensland, this city is part historical and part modern. And a fun place to visit in our opinion…..laid back and easy.
There were a total of 12 tours offered here. The least expensive was a tour of the city for two hours and $50. For the same price, you could take the ferry to Magnetic Island on your own for six and ? hours. The essence of Townsville was three hours and $90, while four types of Magnetic Island options were offered. Wild Magnetic Island coast to coast was seven hours for $250. The same island offered secluded bays and reefs for seven hours and $260. The next one was for foodies with a gourmet sailing cruise for seven hours and $410. The island with a lunch was five hours and $240, and finally, there was a one-and-a-half-hour helicopter ride over the island for $550. A Billabong Sanctuary tour was four hours and $130. And the military past was four hours and $120.
We did not take any of these tours. For one thing, it was a miracle that it did not rain today. When we got up this morning, it appeared that it had rained heavily during the evening. It was still sprinkling when we docked around 7am. Talking to some locals, they informed us that the storm that had moved on, flooded many areas in town and made some tour spots impossible….they were underwater. Guess we lucked out today. No doubt it was hot with temps in the high seventies and 81% humidity, The breeze was 9.3 mph with overcast and cloudy skies. We did see the skies clear up later in the afternoon, and when that sun came out, it was brutally hot. We are used to temperatures in the 100's at home, but it is dry heat. When the humidity is high, that is a whole different story. It simply drains the energy out of you in a short time. Anyway, it was better than heavy showers as originally predicted.
Packing the umbrellas, we went off of the ship by 10am. We followed the same path we have taken the previous times we have been here as suggested by the friendliest local info people. To begin, we exited a very steep gangway midship, then had a long walk to get to the terminal building. We were sharing the port with the commercial docks, but there was no rule that we could not walk to the exit like in some other previous ports. This building was really a souvenir store with some pretty pricey items. We would check it out on the way back.
Outside the terminal we boarded a very nice bus that took us to the start of The Strand, a 3 mile scenic beachfront promenade. The last few times we were here, the buses took us to the older part of town and we had to walk the rest of the way. Today, we just walked to the corner and turned left on Gregory Street. Following the street for several blocks, we ended up at Queen's Gardens and Park. It is a nice respite in the city and also has an aviary with some of the prettiest Australian birds. We also saw a slim and upright water bird called an Australian pratincole. In fact there was a pair of these big-eyed birds with a few hatchlings under them. The gardens are listed as heritage botanic gardens and is located under Castle Hill, which is a dramatic red granite monolith with hiking trails and 360 degree views of the city, beaches, and Magnetic island. Some folks will hike up there, but on a day like today, you would be crazy to attempt it.
We had the gardens almost to ourselves, except for the caretaker who was trimming palms and mowing lawns. With all of the rainfall, it is truly a tropical place with rare plants and fountains. The few benches in there were nice, but full of ants. In one flowering tree along the way, we spotted some rare olive-backed sunbirds dining on the nectar. We headed off for the aviary and took dozens of pictures of the special birds there. They included the Sulphur-crested cockatoo and a long beaked corella. Smaller varieties were the emerald doves, rainbow lorikeets, Gouldian finches, and chestnut-crested mannikins. We could hear a laughing kookaburra nearby, and we found it resting on a fence. And there was evidence of recently-chewed seeds from a bean tree outside the gardens. We suspect the birds eating those seeds were the red-tailed black cockatoos. They have powerful beaks.
After exiting the gardens, we hiked back downhill to The Strand, a beachfront promenade with nice benches, ocean views, a few netted beaches, parks and eateries. Between the months of November to May, there are stinging jellies, some of which can be fatal. Along the entire stretch of this waterfront, there are signs posted warning people of possible attacks from these jellyfish. One in particular is the box jelly, which can cause extreme pain from their extra long tentacles and even kill you. So there are instructions how to treat someone that has been stung. In addition to the treatment, there are spray bottles containing vinegar available to use on the injuries these box jellies cause. For that reason, there were a few netted areas for the locals to swim. As long as there had not been a recent storm that sent ocean waves over these netted areas, they remain free from the various jelly fish. You couldn't get us to go swimming even with the nets.
This was where we saw the first of the red-tailed black cockatoos in a tree overhead. We could see leaves and parts of branches coming down from the park trees. Then we saw some kind of fruit falling from up high. This is where we saw the first of the red-tailed black cockatoos, a pair we assume, eating fruit of a huge tree. A very bold bird, these parrots continued eating, ignoring us taking pictures. Further up this walkway, we would see a few more. The local pigeons seemed to ignore the cockatiels, but the silver gulls did not tolerate them well.
Further up this promenade, we passed by a fishing jetty and a few snack shacks. Nothing looked opened this early. Towards the end of the walkway, we came upon a huge Rock Pool which had been carved in the sand near the ocean, and cemented to create a pond-like pool. Today it was completely empty with signs stating it was being serviced. Workers were busy scraping and sweeping the bottom and sides along with spraying with a strong stream of water. We could smell something like bleach, which would sterilize this pool.
There were a few restaurants here but closed during the day and opened later in the evening. At the very end of this seaside walk was the Jezzine Barracks, a museum with military history public art, and Indigenous history. We did not wander to the entrance because we had no plans on going inside. Next to the Barracks was Kissing Point Boardwalk and Lookout.
In the center of town is a red granite monolith called Castle Hill look out. A climb or drive to this peak would surprise you with a view of the entire area, which included the city, sea, and nearby Magnetic Island. We certainly did not need to climb this mountain to enjoy the views. It was time to head back and have lunch somewhere. That turned out to be at the Watermark Bar and Hotel. We ordered the local draft beer which was Castle Crisp…ice cold. In most restaurants, they will serve you a bottle of tap water, also chilled. We ordered a Hawaiian pizza with ham and pineapple covered with mozzarella cheese. The crust was good as was sitting under the overhead fans on their patio dining room. We added a slice of a lemon pie that was sinfully rich and tart. Near this same area is the Longboard Bar &b Grill where we have dined in the past. Today's meal was far superior.
It was time to make our way to the waiting shuttle bus across the road. We were back to the terminal within minutes where we had time to check out the souvenir tables. Many of the items were higher quality and pricey. The dressy tops I like to wear for dinner were made from 100% silk, costing over $150. There was nothing we really liked that much, so we made our way back to the ship and the comfort of our room by 4pm.
Captain Rens came on around 6:30pm giving us the updates for the day. We had 200 nautical miles to reach Cairns tomorrow at a speed of 14.5 knots. We would be heading out into the Great Barrier Reef once again with our reef pilot. He hoped the rain showers would stay away for our visit.
Dinner was good, although we were not all that hungry. We had different salads, discovering that they have run out of the good Caesar salad dressing and are substituting something oily and not as good. The best idea is to order the dressings on the side, which we did. Appetizers were one mini-fish pinkling slider and an everyday shrimp cocktail. Mains were lasagna and sweet and sour duck with ramen noodles. Dessert was one scoop of vanilla and one mint chip ice cream.
A duo of entertainers, Angie Narayan and John Milligan sang more songs to the crowd. Lion was the movie in the Wajang.
We opted for more sleep for tomorrow's port of Cairns.
Bill & Mary Ann
