My cousin in Townsville invited the family together over the Easter weekend to celebrate my Aunt's 90th birthday. Mum and I visited Townsville three years ago and since then I have wanted to take Hubby there for a holiday. However, it had also been three years since we'd been to Melbourne and the Comedy Festival so we decided to spend a week in Townsville and then fly to Melbourne for the Comedy Festival.
It struck me looking back at the previous posts on Mum's and my trip to Townsville, and Tony's and my trip to Melbourne, that Tony and I were staying at the same apartments in both cities.
We arrived in Townsville to 35°C heat. We hired a car and I was surprised to find that I remembered some of the streets and was able to navigate to the apartment, and around the Strand and the CBD, with little help from the street directory.
We visited many of the places that Mum and I visited on our last trip: The Strand, Castle Hill, Magnetic Island, Ross River Dam, Mt Stuart. We did not venture out of Townsville, at least not intentionally - Hubby had me driving towards Ayr one night instead of back to the apartment. Instead we spent most of this trip exploring attractions within Townsville itself.
Aunty Joyce's Birthday Celebrations
Family flew into Townsville during the week from Brisbane, Newcastle and the Hunter region, and Sydney.
The celebrations started with a seafood feast on Friday night. Typical of our family (and Chinese) feasts, there was a lot of food and plenty of leftovers.
Look at the size of the oysters!
I made a lemon and dijonnaise dressing for four leftover New Zealand oysters the following night, and they just fitted on a bread-and-butter plate.
Our main family celebration was on the Sunday at the Aqua Lounge at Jupiter's Casino. On the weekends the Aqua provides a seafood buffet lunch. We feasted on cold shellfish, hot dishes, salads, vegetables and, of course, desserts.
Afterwards we gathered at my cousin's to open presents, not only Aunty Joyce's but also my cousin's. She had also recently celebrated a milestone birthday.
Aunty Joyce's cake was iced by her sister. Aunty Jeanie arrived the Sunday prior to Tony and me. She purchased the floral spray in Sydney and bought the remaining supplies in Townsville.
Four generations gathered for Aunty Joyce's birthday and it was a great opportunity for Tony and me to meet and get to know family that we rarely see, especially the Queensland rellies!
Jezzine Barracks
When I last visited Townsville the headland near the apartment was seemingly impenetrable, off-limits bushland. Since then, the area has been redeveloped as Jezzine Barracks with artworks and buildings reflecting the historical significance of the area to the Aborigines and the military.
The area has many paths including a coastal boardwalk around the headland, and paths leading up to the cannons at Kissing Point Fort. Tony and I (and many others) spent a lot of time exercising at Jezzine Barracks. The paths provided many options for joggers and walkers. Want a gentle walk? Stick to the coastal boardwalk and the lower paths. Something more challenging? Take the stairs to Kissing Point Fort or up to the lookout near the Return to Country sculpture.
We never fully explored the attractions at Jezzine Barracks. Instead, Jezzine Barracks became part of our route for our daily walks or a shorter path to the Strand.
Ross River Dam, Riverway, Mt Stuart
Ross River Dam supplies water to Townsville's residents. I remembered it as a spot teeming with birdlife and rock wallabies, although the wallabies were only visible because a couple of off-the-leash dogs were chasing them out of hiding.
On this occasion, there was little wildlife to be seen possibly due to the time of day. There were no birds, a couple of rock wallabies and no dogs. We found one wallaby trying to cope with the heat behind the stairs alongside the spillway.
Riverway is a sporting and cultural precinct along the Ross River. The area comprises parklands, walking trails, pools, an art gallery and cultural centre, and a sports stadium.
We took the river walk and tried out a new camera we had purchased. The problem with smartphones is that we kept forgetting to use the digital camera despite the fact that it has a much better zoom and a higher resolution than the smartphone cameras.
Tony and I saw these little ‘blobs’ sticking out of the water and thought it was something like the top of wooden spokes or some debris floating on the surface. However, as we got closer we discovered the blobs were heads of turtles floating down the river. The photos taken on our smartphones, even on full zoom, still looked like blobs (like the smaller picture) but the photo from our camera shows turtle heads!
After lunch and a quick shop at the nearby Willows Shopping Centre we headed to Mount Stuart. From Mount Stuart, there were sweeping views of Townsville, Cleveland Bay, and the surrounding plains and mountain ranges. While we were there, the sky darkened and it started to rain. Unfortunately, none of the rain fell where it was needed but we took some amazing photos of the rain front coming across the plains.
Queens Garden
Queens Garden is the oldest botanic garden in Townsville with plants that represent the ornamental plants of colonial gardens. It's a beautiful spot with sounds of birdsong and butterflies fluttering along the paths.
The Cairns Birdwing is one of the butterflies we saw in the garden: big and colourful. I took some slow-motion video of it flying overhead and from below it does look like a bird.
It was not only the butterflies that were huge. We also saw a couple of Golden Orb Spiders (nephila pilipes). The body of the female can be up to 4cm long and this spider's body is probably close to 4cm. I'd hate to run into its web at night!
When I think of frangipanis, I think of the white or pink variant plumeria rubras. I didn't realise there were so many different types of frangipanis until I saw the different trees on the Frangipani Lawn.
Queens Garden might only cover four hectares but within that area there are open lawns, aviaries, a rainforest walk and bamboo grove. Another beautiful spot in Townsville.
Other sights around Townsville
- Because New South Wales observes daylight savings time and Queensland doesn't, the first morning in Townsville I was awake and out the door before sunrise, walking around Jezzine Barracks and along the Strand.
It was light and a little humid, and as I came along the coastal boardwalk and over Kissing Point Fort the sun was rising over Cleveland Bay and the docks.
- On our first morning in Townsville we wandered around the CBD. At the end of Flinders Street was a grand old building, the old Townsville Railway Station. Walking through its arches, I entered into the booking hall and another era: high ceilings, decorative cornices and rails, chandeliers, tiled dados. Cool and quiet, it provided a welcome respite from the tropical heat.
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As the day heated up we sought cover at The Cultural Centre, a collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, only to find it was closed. We decided to grab a coffee but the only cafe opened in the area was the cafe inside the Museum of Tropical Queensland.
We spent most of the afternoon at the museum. We were lucky that one of exhibitions was the 2014 Wildlife Photographer of the Year. We'd been to a previous exhibition years ago and always hoped we would be able to attend another.
The upper floor housed the permanent collections containing natural, historical and cultural artifacts.
There was a ramp leading up to the upper floor and knitted and crocheted craft on the walls and columns showed the biodiversity of the reef.
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Of course we had to visit Magnetic Island. Last time I was there Mum and I arrived too late at Picnic Bay to walk to Hawkings Point. This trip, Tony and I breakfasted at Picnic Bay and then headed to the lookout.
Hawkings Point availed us of views of Gregory and Nelly Bays on one side and Picnic Bay, Townsville and Cape Pallarenda on the other. Although it was considered an easy walk I found the humidity made the walk difficult. I had hoped to do a walk from Arcadia to Horseshoe Bay but the humidity was too draining to consider it.
We ended up taking the bus to Horseshoe Bay, where we walked along the beach and had lunch before returning to Nelly Bay. It was pretty much the same route that Mum and I had followed the previous trip.
- I preferred to walk in the mornings before it got too hot. However, Tony preferred to walk in the evenings. On 4 April there was a total lunar eclipse, which gave the moon a reddish glow. As he walked along Rowes Bay, Tony captured the moon as it rose above Magnetic Island and Kissing Point.
- After my Aunt's birthday celebrations, we drove up to Castle Hill, the highest point within the Townsville CBD. We arrived just before sunset and joined many others as we watched the sun setting over Townsville and Cleveland Bay.
More photos
With smart phones and access to social media, we tend to post photos while we are away. Throughout April, I participated in the April Love photo challenge and posted photos on both Flickr and Instagram.
Photos of our meals are available on my fromdebskitchen Instagram feed, the first photo taken on 31 March of our home-cooked dinner and the last taken a week later of our meal at the Fish Inn.
Tony's Instagram feed has photos of Quila's vacation with my brother, sis-in-law and nephews interspersed with photos from Townsville, Melbourne and older photos of Quila. The first photo (Mar 31) is a repost of one of Brother's photos of Quila, the last photo is three weeks later of Quila's first night home.
And for family and friends linked to us, we also loaded photos on FaceBook.
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