Day 33 Charters Towers to Townsville

 A quick drive down the highway into Townsville where we stayed for a few nights. We booked into the Rowes Bay Caravan park which is on the waterfront and has great walkways and cycle paths on the beachfront. It was on quite a busy road but we were lucky enough to be down the back so nice and quiet. 

Once we had set up took a walk up to The Strand via the Jezzine Barracks and Kissing Point Fort which was set up in the 1940's during WW2 and housed both Australian and American troops. Great Views to Magnetic Island. The Strand is a major beachfront area in Townsville filled with restaurants and accommodation and is a major area for tourists. Has a great lagoon where you can enjoy the swim without the risk of stingers and croc's. Very busy area as lots of people use it for exercise and just enjoying the outdoors.  

Out the front of the park

The biggest problem with Townsville is the traffic lights. I think every single corner in the whole city has them and they are not set up very well. You need to factor in a lot of extra time to go anywhere as you spend so much time sitting at traffic lights. We spent a lot of time driving around on Saturday but not really achieving that much as it was so busy. We worked out later that the Cowboys/panthers match was on and Australia and Zimbabwe were playing. Should have stayed home. 

A couple of to do things in Townsville are Castle Hill and Magnetic Island.. We did manage to get up to Castle Hill but it has a tiny carpark which you then walk from and it was always full. We did manage to get the view but not the lookout itself. Next time maybe. 

 Spent Sunday doing some retail therapy and a visit to the Sushi Train for Fathers Day Lunch. Yum!

Monday was our biggest day as we took off on the ferry to Magnetic Island. Whipped out the Seniors Card pretty quick to get our half priced ferry and bus tickets and off we went. The main goal was to do the walk from the Forts which is the old army set up left from the war around to Horseshoe Bay. They say its only about 4km but by our watches it was over 7km . It was a great walk but pretty tough as times as lots and lots of stairs/rocks to climb up and down. We also managed to see a couple of koalas on the walk but I believe at times there are heaps of them around. It took us a bit over 2 hours to do the walk and the nice lunch at Horseshoe bay was that much better at the end of it all, 

View from the top of the fort

Well earned rest

You would be disappointed if you were staying at Horseshoe Bay at the moment as the beach is closed off due to sand dune renovation so its full of heavy equipment and hi-vis shirts!!!

One of the good things about being in QLD is being able to catch up with some family. We were lucky enough to catch up with a couple of brother -in-laws and managed to have a nice brunch on The Strand with my sister's husband Trev and a lovely meal in town with Jeff, Russ's brother on our last night.