Townsville, Qld.

Our journey north is interrupted by a right-hand turn at Charters Towers. The further east the Flinders Highway goes, eucalypts slowly give way to palm trees as the bush becomes thicker and greener, and the population density increases. We pass more but smaller farms and houses, which quite soon become large industrial estates and shopping centres. The road widens to three and four lanes, traffic increases, and we soon enter the largest city since leaving Sydney.
We found Townsville to be charmingly tropical. The long water frontage gives it a very recreational feel, with a beautiful shady walkway that takes you along the beachside for many kilometres, called The Strand, flanked with restaurants, cafes, pubs, swimming rock pools and playgrounds. It was in one of these restaurants that we met a Swiss couple, of similar age to us, who were travelling Oz and coincidentally staying in the same caravan park as us, just up the road. The four of us became engaged in conversation for the rest of the evening. It was yet another chance encounter, one of many, that’s made this journey so much more enjoyable and enlightening.

As the sign for this Townsville beach net says - "stinger risk moderate", and water temp a very pleasant 26deg.

We travelled by ferry across to nearby Magnetic Island and explored it by hop-on/hop-off bus. With so many accommodation apartments and eating places, it’s just another suburb of Townsville, but much of it is National Park with many bushwalks. On the walk we did, we saw koalas, one with a baby, and then on to some abandoned WW2 bunkers that were built in 1942 to help protect the RAAF base on the outskirts of Townsville on the mainland. Perched strategically on top of a prominent hill, the view was fantastic, and you have to marvel at the hard work it would’ve taken to build these concrete structures in the middle of the bush.

Perched high on a bushy hill, an abandoned WW2 watch tower on Magnetic Island.

After a few days, we returned to the northward journey and we headed up the coast. On our friends Murray and Estelle’s recommendation, we pulled into a caravan park at the interestingly named Rollingstone that was set right on the coast, and isolated from any built-up townships. It had beautifully laid out lawns, a spectacular swimming pool and a large lake that contained barramundi and eels and various other fishlife. The Saturday night had live music in their little open-air bar/bistro, with the predominant instrument being ukulele. It was a treat to hear them, and meet them, and I even got a have a little jam with them.

Rollingstone Caravan Park, 50 kms north of Townsville.

Mum is cute, but her baby is cuter ...

As beautiful as this coastline is, with its superb beaches and clear blue skies, there is one aspect that is driving us crazy. We cannot swim in the sea because of the threat of box jellyfish stingers and saltwater crocodiles. Every caravan park has a very well maintained swimming pool, so we are able to cool down on these 30-degree days, but it is so frustrating to not take advantage of these lovely beaches. The coastline always has an “Achtung” sign giving the warning, and there is the occasional net suspended from the beach that provides a safe swimming space. There is always, however, several stations on the shoreline that house a bottle of vinegar for the rogue stingers that get pass the nets.

When swimming in Queensland beaches, always know where the nearest bottle of vinegar is.