In Townsville

From Airlies we took a bus to go to Towsville the capital of the north, a place 220 kms north from Airlie, with the rainforest , reef and golden west at its doorsteps , the town where we had a rented car waiting for us. Towsville , a town created by the Scott Roberts Town and his pal John Melton Black in Nov 64.It was at first a little sea port but following in 67 the discovery of gold it developed rapidly and by 1880 I was the port for 5 major goldfields and the main supply centre for North Australia. Later it will become the centre for rich sugar growing districts so you still can admire the heritage of that golden past. Still to day the town is a flourishing port and one of the busiest in Australia exporting copper, lead, zinc, silver, nickel as well as beef,( we tasted some!) mélasse and sugar. Beautiful homes, great gardens, rich architecture, museums of many kind, cultural centres, all attest of this glory. There is as well the world largest coral reef aquarium home to thousands of incredible reel creatures including big predators but the highlight of the town today is “The stand”, a man made wonder, fishing ponds, parks, playgrounds, picnic areas , beautiful beaches with stinger proof nets (as here during the wet seasons the octopus and other jelly fish’s bites are to be avoided) and huge safe rock pools where the salted water is renewed every 3 hours , all this with beautiful views on Magnetic Island., a island of leisure attracting as a magnet thousands of tourists and travellers . Of course we had as well one or even 2 Curves and we were at 7am sharp ready for our 30 minutes work out before strolling in the Findlers mall , checking the 3 irish pubs : Molly Malones, Flynn’s and Shenanigan’s . Those irish names still melt my heart, you know . Seeing an irish pub is like sending bunches of love at home !!!! We stayed in a transit hostel by the bus station in a wide family room with air con, facing a St Vincent de Paul ‘s shop where of course we found for 4 $ each short and tops ! By noon were at the airport to take possession of our little non automatic 3 doors car, happy enough to stack our too heavy bags in a boot for the week ahead . And here we were on the road to Mission Beach, a supposed to be little tropical paradise between Townsville and Cairns .