Townsville

Spent four days up in Queensland, in a place where every day was reliably hot and sunny without crazy temperature drops we have to endure here in Melbourne. Though on the plus side, we don’t have to worry about crocodiles and six varieties of stingers. It was rather weird to see beautiful palm-fringed beaches with beautiful warm water… except you couldn’t swim anywhere outside of the official netted areas.

Townsville is a nice place, with gorgeous old colonial buildings in the town centre and lovely sea promenade with lush tropical greenery. Honestly, palm trees just make everything look 200% better. We however also spent some time exploring the surrounds, including the Magnetic Island just across from Townsville, Paluma Range National Park, and a 3-hour drive further up north to the Paronella Park and Mission Beach in the Wet Tropics of Queensland.

Things seen on the road: lots and lots of army trucks and vehicles (there’s a military base near the town), endless sugar cane fields, and one stupid big lizard we almost ran over.

Little Crystal Creek Bridge in Paluma rainforest

It’s amazing how much more refreshed you feel after swimming in a freshwater creek as opposed to the sea

Townsville view from the ferry to the Magnetic Island

Walk on the Magnetic Island… much sweating but worth it

First time I saw a koala in the wild so close. It really couldn’t give less damn about the humans congregating around it

View on the Magnetic Island

Hanging bridge at the Paronella Park

Paronella Park

The park was built by a Spanish guy called José Paronella to provide entertainment for the public, and was influenced by the Moorish style

Kauri tree walk

The “castles” are pretty much ruins now, but they’re still rather picturesque

Mission Beach

Townsville view from Mt Stuart