Townsville - North Tropical Coast

On our Journey up to Townsville we stopped off at Bowen have our token photo with the 'Big Mango' and to see the Murals.  There are so many, the town has the large display of murals by local artist anywhere in Australia.  We also stopped off and had a quick bite to eat in their award winning bakery Jocheiems.  We continued to drive and came across the most amazing bridge Sliver Link at Home Hill / Ayr.  It was a real striking feature of the trip to Townsville.

We arrived in Townsville on a miserable wet day.  We cruised around for awhile looking for a caravan park and decide on stay at the Big 4 Woodland Townsville in Deeragun.  It was a 20minute drive back into Townsville but we found it the most appeal of them all.  Until the night road works start and the beep beep beeping went all night....aaaahhhh!


Our next day in Townsville we took in the sites,  Firstly we visited Castle Hill...a big rocky hill in the middle of Townsville.  It misses being called a mountain by the smallest of margins by all accounts.... I wonder if it has mountain envy.  The 360 degree views from the top which were incredible.  Unfortunately Jordan, Austin and Kaleb got to witness stupidity in action.  Two very immature boys decided to sit in places that are not appropriate.  Our kids don't need to see that rot.  I dislike the invincible attitude.  From here we drove down The Strand and found an inner city Waterfall...how very amazing and bizzare.  We ate Maccas on the beach and then went for a play at the lagoon on the foreshore.  When we were leaving we ran into David, Sandra, Garth and Sharon again.  They really are following us....lol

Magnetic Island

We took the ferry over to Magnetic Island today.  The weather was perfect.  We arrive just after 10am and took the bus around to Picnic Bay where we witness our first sight of the cyclone damage.  The pier was still in disarray.  The bay though was beautiful and calm and the kids had a play on the sand.  We had our lunch down at the Pub which was delicious where we sat next to a couple from Lara whom we first meet in Mackay.  All these little coincidences are very funny indeed.

After lunch we caught the bus back into Nelly Bay and visitied Terry and Glenn Bridges. (Yes that would be Lousie Bridges mother and father in law) Not that we would mistake the family resemblence. My goodness Terry has a twin in his grandson Cooper. Even Jordan whispered to me that she thought she was looking at Cooper. They were wonderful and invited us back to stay if we wished to come over to the island. (Bookings essential) We had a lovely chat and some great coffee and yummy home made cookies. The kids played in the spa and wandered around the garden exploring but the house is like Bourke Street. So many people coming and going. Terry show Nigel his new engine in the Land cruiser. We headed off late in the afternoon to enjoy a final dip at Alma Bay. Wow what an amazing little beach. The kids really enjoyed themselves here. It was time to say goodbye to Magnetic Island so we caught the sunset ferry back to the mainland.

Our last day in Townsville was a schooling catch up day.  We spent a couple of hours writing our Journals.  Jordan got a heap complete and Austin worked on his with great determination.  He was very proud of himself.  So was Nigel and I.  Because the kids did so well we spent the afternoon down at the Riverway Lagoons.  The kids really had a ball.  The lagoons were just perfect.
Off to Mission Beach next.