Off to Townsville Australia.

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Off to Townsville
Leaving Surfers paradise was a bit of a mission; because the street was completely blocked we were not able to walk just next door with our luggage to the bus station. We were forced to call a taxi to take us right around a big block and back up the street to the meet the bus. We could have walked the suitcases around I suppose as they are on wheels but it was just too far. As taxi drivers ourselves we were very embarrassed to ask the poor driver to just take us next door. He didn’t even bother to put his meter on, he said just give him what we think it is worth, so we paid him what we would charge back in NZ for the same distance, but no tip as he didn’t go the way we asked him to, taking the long way round wasn’t in the equation for us.
We quite enjoyed the hour-long bus trip to Brisbane airport, relaxing in the sunshine, not having to drive. There is a 4 lane highway all the way, a toll road and quite new I think, a good fast highway.
Landed in Townsville on a lovely warm sunny day, Daphne, Erle’s sister was there waiting to pick us up, lovely to see her and be taken back to her cosy flat in the suburb of Roselea. Daphne has fairly recently retired and has not been too well of late, we found her quite down and depressed and lonely and unhappy, all that will change! We shall make it!
We all relaxed and chatted over duty free whisky and a bottle of wine for me, catching up on a years absence. Daphne has plans for entertaining us tomorrow, we are going visiting an old friend that Erle also knows, I don’t but that is not a problem, I can get on with nearly everybody. Michal turned out to be a Yugoslavian native though he has been in Australia a long time, we all got on well for the morning. He showed us around his big garden and plucked a ripe Papaya from his tree and gave it to me, I might be his friend for life as a just love fresh ripe papaya, we shall all have it for breakfast for most of the rest of our holiday. Showed us his ride on mower his prized possession, but wouldn’t let us ride on it!
Michal’s home is a genuine old ‘Queenslander’ built high above the ground on poles, to keep the house cooler and free of snakes and other nasty things, he has made his den in the lower ground floor of this house, he said he only cooks and sleeps upstairs as it is so much cooler downstairs and his dog lives down there too, we found it rather comfortable there too.


Views from the top of Castlehill in Townsville. Towards Magnetic island.
And over the city,

Daphne then drove us around Castlehill to a lookout over the city, nice views from up there, right over the city of Townsville and out to Magnetic Island.


Once we were back home again we told her to pack herself a bag for a four day holiday in Airlie Beach, The Whitsundays cause we were taking her for a short break away.. She wasn’t at all keen, quite happy to lend us her car so we could go, but that was not what we wanted so we twisted her arm and forced the issue, and said we were all leaving in the morning whatever. I had to pack up some food from Daphne’s fridge as she wasn’t going to, so into the eskee chillybin went the papaya, bananas, yogurt, weetbix, butter, marmite, ham and tomatoes, and bread, that should pretty well cover all the breakfasts for us all plus the milk and coffee jar.
We shall be leaving by 10am in the morning – all of us!