Tropical Townsville

so...  with all this time on my hands these days, I thought I should quickly zink up to see my daughter in Townsville before it gets toooooo roasting hot!!  maybe left that a bit late - but it was great to get back to the old stamping ground..  and Maggie came along too!

am once again impressed with the good condition Maggie arrives - just bubble-wrapped and placed in a plastic bag!  both ways she emerged with no rips or tears in the bag and no issues inside the bag!

over-looking Townsville from Mt Stuart

I arrived early in the morning and we went off to Betty Blue's for a rather flash but very tasty breakfast and welcome cup of coffee!  this was followed by some shopping and so by late afternoon we thought we would go for a nice drive up to the top of Mt Stuart so that Karina could show me where she was abseiling over the edge!!  yep, sure!  but definitely not my cup of tea!!

Launch site for abseiling down the front of Mt Stuart!

next day - I met up with some of Karina's cycle friends at Dominion Coffee after they'd done their 50km ride, while I rode about 3km to the coffee shop!!  After Karina headed off to work, I pedalled up the Ross River, after taking a short cut thru Anderson Park.

I remembered the way to the bike path that runs right along the northern side of the river, out past the Riverway.  Its a really pleasant ride and by that time of the day every bit of shade was really appreciated!

just down from Nathan St bridge

I thought I might ride all the way out to the Dam, but not long after Riverway, the path is just out in the baking sun on the side of the road, so I cut back towards the river and found a nice shady gravel walking track, which we renamed a bike path and headed back towards town.

resting in the shade

Managed to catch up with friends for a quiet cuppa before heading home in time to meet up with Karina who had knocked off early from work, so that we could go out and visit friends and meet new baby!

Friday was an early start for Karina who dashed off for another fast cycle, but again I managed to catch up with the bunch at the coffee shop - ahhh holidays!

We thought we would look for some cooler air, so we decided to head for the hills and take Ruby (Karina's new car!) for a spin up to Paluma, its always cooler up there!  well - sometimes!!  but not this time, the nice chill in the shady areas was missing!

Star Valley looks as remote as ever - because it is!!

But it was as beautiful as ever and Frosty Mango is still open and their Lime & Basil gelato is as tangy as ever!!

Saturday was a bit of a slow start - Karina had a hair appointment, which meant I got to drive Ruby, for reasons I won't explain and later, we somehow managed to squeeze in a lunch at the CBar - a fabulous location right on the Strand and the cool breeze from off the sea was very pleasant!

Pineapple juice at the CBar

Sunday started off with a mountain bike ride with one of Karina's cycle buddies - we went out to the Common and gawped at a big mob of pelicans crowding in one little puddle of water, with ibis and egrets squeezed in amongst them all.  Three brolgas got spooked by us, so they flew off, which was great as otherwise we wouldn't have seen them!  we checked the bunker but only one lapwing with chick, so rode out to Bald Rock and around to Shelley beach.  

my mountain bike buddies at Shelley Beach!

looking towards Magnetic Island

We returned via the new track along the Freshwater lagoon where there were heaps of egrets but not much else and back to Palleranda then home again.

Freshwater lagoons - a few puddles left!

after brekky and a nice long shower we attempted to catch the ferry to Magnetic Island, but missed two and ended up on the 1pm ferry.  We hired an old bright blue moke and puttered over to Horseshoe bay, occasionally finding third gear without grinding something chronic!!  Back to Alma bay for a swim with the sting rays!  thankfully the water was so clear, they were easy to spot, but a tad scary!

Alma Bay

a snooze on the grass under the coconut trees helped add to the total holiday feeling, until a crazy guy turned up who wanted to swim from Alma Bay to Arcadia and back, so as he was known to us, we waited to make sure he didn't get kidnapped by the aliens lurky on the rocky point!  we had another swim with the stingrays and waited for crazy guy to return - all good!

keeping away from the nuts!

so after dinner at Horseshoe Bay we puttered back to Nelly Bay, returned the moke key in the slot and sauntered over to wait for the return to the mainland.  

phew!!!  what a big day and a busy few days!  but all wonderful to spending time in Townsville with my daughter - my second home and one that I miss quite a bit!

Oh Island in the sun!!