Mountain Range in the Sea

 Hi viewers , we hitched up & moved again , saying goodbye to Townsville for a different view out the kitchen window .
 Yesterday we showed a couple from WA through the RV and the outside before the mosquito's drove us all inside . I did my best salesman stuff and gave him a brochure & website , which he duly checked out last night . He then came over this morning and watched us get hitched up , whilst talking about the website and our photos on it .
 We emptied the tanks and headed off at 9:20am .
  Now Townsville is a funny place - it messes with your head - when you think you have the directions sorted ( north, south , east & west ) it throws you a curve ball - Magnetic Island is actually north of Townsville , but when you look at it , you would think it is east ; when you leave Townsville to head further up the coast you go west before that changes to northwest and you don't really go north till near Ingham ; the sun appears to set in the northwest ??? - apparently this is what happened to Captain Cook as well - not the magnetic fields that he thought had played with his compass .
 We drove through a lot of flat coastal plains today , with the mountains on our left all the way up . There was a lot of State Forests until we got closer to Ingham , when the sugarcane and pineapples took over - more cane than pineapples . We stopped at Ingham at TYTO Wetlands & Information Centre ( it is named after the Eastern Grass Owl - Tyto Capensis ) . There is 120 hectares of wetlands that you can wander through , there are hides to observe the birds etc , guided walks or suit yourself itineraries , restaurants , a library & cultural centre . There is a raised walkway that takes you over the wetlands from the info centre to the restaurant and library etc . It is about 4m above the ponds , which have a good coverage of water lilies , and just as well we were up there , because there was a black snake coiled in & out of the lily pads - it wasn't moving far as it had a very full belly - this snake would have been 5 to 6 feet long at least - see for yourself . The large lily pads are about 2 feet across.

 We watched some lily pad birds with long toed feet , hop around the pads - maybe there is now one less than there was yesterday ????

 There were also displays of various machinery used in the production of sugar , from ploughs to train carriages to the crushing of the cane . The crushers two bottom drums are about a metre diameter , and and & a half metres long - you can imagine how much that would weigh !!

 There was a garden in someones house near where we parked that had some amazing flowers in it.

 We left there and headed north to Cardwell . You can see some mountains out to the right of our drive , after leaving Ingham , these mountains started to get closer . The road started to climb , and took us up the only hill that we would find today , nearer the top , there was a turnoff to a lookout to Hinchinbrook Island - it was a bit steep and crossed over the top of the Bruce Hwy , so we decided not to stop just in case there was nowhere to turn the RV around . 

 The penny then dropped - the mountain range we were looking at was actually Hinchinbrook Island . It is very close to the coast and is the biggest Island National Park . We had mountains on each side of us , and it is spectacular country . The highest peak on Hinchinbrook is over 1100m asl - twice as high as Moss Vale is . It's head was in the clouds for the most part of today .

 We could still see damage to the trees from when Cyclone Yasi went through several years ago . Pine plantations again seemed to bear the brunt of it . Apparently in Cardwell , there were some sheds and houses that disappeared from the face of the earth with no trace found still !!!

  We found our park for the next two nights and checked in . There was one long site left - in between some Victorians - they will be here for the next 3 months before heading home again - another couple that we saw in Townsville , will be here for 5 months - they leave their rather large fishing boat here in storage for the other 7 months !! They took 5 days to drive from home in Victoria to Townsville - talk about white line fever !! 

 We had lunch & went for a drive around Port Hinchinbrook - a boat ramp & rescue service , with a subdivision around it , with your rather large house and your own private jetty to tie your extra large game fishing boat up to . We then headed back to the lookout over Hinchinbrook Island ( the southern end ) it was only about 30 kms down the road ( we thought about 15klms - OOPS ) , but it was worth it - and turns out it was only just off the hwy and had plenty of room for large vehicles - even better !!

we could have looked earlier !!

 Whilst there , we spotted some small puffy looking flowers on a bit of a vine , with very thin short leaves - as I bent down , my foot touched some of the leaves and they retracted to the stem - this plant had a inbuilt self preservation method !! This is what it looks like with leaves out , then with leaves folded .

 We took some photos of the RV earlier , heres one . That's Hinchinbrook Island in the background , and we are staying about 100m away from the beach .

 Back to the RV for some salsa & a beer , before going for a walk down the beach . As we got back the sun started to put on a little show for us .

All those mountains are Hinchinbrook Island .

 Thats today done & dusted . Her is a map link :-https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z1G8gwwxwyYo.kIy3CRvnEiOU&usp=sharing

Gardens , Guns & Heritage

 A relaxed day was on order for today , so we didn’t get up until 7:30 . Breakfast took a while and decisions on todays activities took even longer . I needed to fix a reversing camera on the RV - it stopped working a week ago , so it was maintenance time . Checking connections on the RV side didn’t reveal anything wrong , so I went to the ute and one of the plugs on the back . 

 Before long I found a wire had broken at the solder joint - I soldered it together again and strengthened it up a bit , then put it all back together again . Lyn had been busy cleaning . 

 We finally got organised and headed off to the city - Queens Park Botanic Gardens . 

There are many trees , palms , frangipanis and specimen plants - some flowering , some finished . The rainforest section was the first part we entered and exited fairly quickly as well - we were escorted through the first section by a squadron of mosquito’s  - back to the ute for some spray !!!! Even the workers at the gardens asked if we had sprayed ourselves , as the mosquito’s are pretty fierce here at the moment .

  The rainforest section had a huge White Fig that had spread itself out , covering a large portion of that area . The butterflies were out in force again , but nothing like the other day at Maggie .

 There was a section for Frangipanis , many types that I hadn’t seen before , with long narrow petalled flowers , then there were the usual suspects .

 There had been , or was going to be some gathering / market or something , as there were marquees set up all over the place . 

 There were some palms that looked very ornamental , but had spikes down the edges of the fronds that were anything but friendly .

 There were also other flowering plants that we hadn’t seen for a long time , or not at all !!

It was time to move on , so we headed down to Kissing Point Fort - a gun placement from World War 2 - it all looked fairly new , so may have been completed prior to Anzac Day . There were walkways to the top and steps at the other end . There was a monument to 4 soldiers who came from this , and surrounding areas - some served in WW1 and others WW2 . The were two crossed boomerangs in the middle of the monument , and the stories of the men were written on a disc in the middle on the ground .

 On the top of the fort where the two guns were mounted there were many plaques telling the stories of how close the Japanese actually got during the war - they were defeated in the Battle of   Coral Sea , fortunately for all of us !!! Townsville was bombed three times , but didn’t suffer any major damage . American troops were stationed here and there is a strong link between them & Australia .

 We got a good view of the rockpool from the top of the fort - the water in the pool comes straight from the water in the bay , as you can tell from the colour .

 It was lunch time , so we drove down the Strand and found a nice spot for lunch - in the shade on a grassy bank . Nothing else planned , we got the bikes off and rode down the Strand to Flinders St , where most of the Heritage Buildings are . 

 On the way down , we found something we didn’t expect to find here - more on that later .

 Customs House was the first building that spread about 50m either side of the corner . 

Across from it there was another impressive building , while the further we went up Flinders St , the more buildings there were - unfortunately one had been painted like a cow hide , which spoilt it somewhat , while others were a bit colourful as well . The older style hotels always look impressive. 

Now as for the surprise we found , here it is .

 I bet you didn’t think you’d see a waterfall in Townsville - only 100m from the beach !!! We didn’t - sad part is that we drove past it the other day , but were to busy looking at the swimming pool on the other side of the road to notice it !!!!

 Map Link :-https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z1G8gwwxwyYo.kCVPG2xedG5c&usp=sharing

High on a hill , down on a river

 Another early start , traffic noise seems to be a bit louder this morning . We had a lazy breakfast , taking our time while we decided what to do for today . We eventually got organised and headed off - first to Mt Stuart , 584 metres above sea level , there is a lookout and multiple communication towers, and takes about half an hour to get to . The drive up was interesting , after going in a kilometre or so , there was a car park for the mountain bikers - they have two tracks - either side of the bitumen road , that dip & dive from 385m down to the carpark with jumps & bumps & rocks & bridges to negotiate .        
  Don't go off the track however , as you would need a rescue helicopter to scrape you up .
On the western side of the road was a fenced area used as a live firing range for the army & airforce - on the fences were warning signs attached at regular intervals all the way up - it read " No trespassing or Shooting " - a bit hypocritical for a live firing range !!!
 We arrived at the top and were met by a male peacock wandering around - curious as there were no houses within gunshot range of the towers . There were workers halfway up one of the towers , so the loop track around the top of the mountain were closed , we could get to the lookout that overlooks Townsville and Maggie . Even better views than from Castle Hill .

  It gives you some idea of how spread out the city of Townsville is . 

 We headed back down to go for a ride on some of the many cycle tracks Townsville has to offer . The Ross River meanders its way through Townsville from the west to the east , and has cycle tracks running most of the way each side of the river . We found a quiet street to park the ute , and got the bikes off . The parks beside the river are very well looked after - they have a depot dedicated to maintaining them . We rode into the wind to start with , as we went toward the city - about 2klms later we found a bridge beside a weir , and went across and headed back to the west . The weir looks to separate the saltwater from freshwater and there was a height difference of about two metres . The freshwater is extremely clean - you can see the bottom easily !! There are some enormous trees in the parks - wider than they are tall - perfect shade trees for those hot & horrible humid days of summer .

 The track took us past both old and new houses along the way , winding its way down to the river , through groves of trees that arched over the track . There were paperbark trees that arched over the river , chairs , tables and lookout spots strategically placed to take advantage of the views . 

 We passed by another two weirs , turning back toward the city at the 2nd one , as there was a pedestrian bridge we could use . The water lilies were starting to flower , and there was a kaleidoscope of lily pads , with the very small flowers and some with bigger , normal sized flowers . 

 Crossing over the bridge , we turned back down the other side of the river to get back to the ute , and stopped down beside the 2nd weir for some photos .

 Arriving back at the ute after a 12klm ride , we stopped and sat in the shade for a while before loading up again and heading to Riverway Pools . The pools are about the size of 3 olympic pools and allow lap swimming , and plain old ordinary swimming and fooling around in other areas . We had some lunch and had a quick dip - the temperature of the water was 22 degrees - a bit brisk compared to 29 degrees air temp . 

 We hadn't realised how far across the city we had gone until we saw planes coming in to land over to our right side - the rest of the morning they had been a long way away to our left !!! It also took us a while to drive back to the RV as well . The day was done !!!

 Map Link :-https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z1G8gwwxwyYo.kaJkv6b24u2k&usp=sharing

Time to cruise

Woke up this morning at 6:30 - seems to be the time lately , stayed till 6:50 and got up . While having breakfast we decided it would be a good day to go over to Magnetic Island .
 We headed off to the FantaSea Cruises terminal , arriving at 8:20 am , with time to spare , the cruise leaves at 9:05 . We found some brochures and sat down to have a bit of a read while we waited . Before long they asked for our ticket and we were boarding before they loaded the cars , motorbikes and trucks . It was only a half hour trip to go the 8 kms to Maggie ( this is what the locals call her ).                 We cruised out past Jupiters Casino , and the industrial port , where there were 6 cargo ships loading / unloading shipping containers and other things . The industrial side of the port is large , yesterday we watched a ship getting turned around inside the harbour by 2 tug boats .
 There was a small swell running on the way over , but it didn't bother us at all , we were to busy looking around . Maggie was getting closer , so a few photos were in order .

 We arrived and disembarked after the vehicles had been taken off , then wandered up to the terminal and found some information about the Hop On Hop Off Bus Tours - then rang them to book the tour . 15 mins later we were on the bus with two other couples and Col the driver / tour guide . He took us all over the island to all the good bits and some of the more obscure things as well - an Osprey nest in the top of a tower , the new resource centre , around to Cockle Bay where people built houses , and walked away from them due to the Midges attacking everyone ( for those who don't know , Midges are very small insects / man eating creatures , that gnaw away at you until you can't handle it any more ) . 

 Continuing on we headed for the top side of the island to Horseshoe Bay , where we went to an old school building and some dry rainforest . Waiting there for us was something quite amazing - 1000's upon 1000's of butterflies !!! We thought we had seen a lot at Cape Hillsborough , but that was nothing in comparison to this . Photos don't do them any justice at all , but videos do - unfortunately you're only getting a photo .

 Whenever anyone got close to them , they took flight - it was like someone had thrown confetti in the air - an incredible sight .

 There was an impromptu drive around a subdivision to show us some clever houses and some not so clever . One uses natural ventilation and clever design with no air conditioners required , across the road was the opposite - they had 6 air conditioners and no clever design . 

 Off to Horseshoe Bay beach for some lunch - crumbed barramundi & chips - absolutely divine !!! - the view was pretty good to -

  The tour took us round to Bremmer Point to see some Allied Wallabies - a small rock wallaby , that likes to be fed some green grass .

 After that Col fed some fish for a while before taking the other two couples back to the terminal so they could catch the 1:30pm boat back to Townsville . Seemed to be a waste of time & money to come over , do the tour , and then head back , without having walked more than a few hundred metres  on Maggie . Anyway , thats their problem not ours , we got taken round to the clam aquarium , and had Col give us the run down on it - we spent about 30 mins there , and saw a lot of coral & fish and a clam from out in the bay - it weighed about 120 kgs - it was in the tank for a two week period , before it gets rotated around with some of the others in the bay . 

 Col then dropped us at Alma Bay , where we wandered down to the small beach and sat for a while . I did some rock hopping off to the side of the beach and took some more photos .

 Magnetic Island is basically composed of granite - and lots of it . Some beaches have decomposed granite washed up on them and is generally mixed with most of the sand . There are some gun emplacements from the war . Speaking of which , the Battle of Coral Sea was only 260 klms away from here , where the Americans defeated the Japanese ( apparently the Japanese had already printed Japanese Australian Dollars , ready for when they took over ).

  After a while we decided to walk back to the terminal - a couple of kilometres away . Leaving Alma Bay , we headed around to Arcadia and walked down the beach . It would have been nice to have done it bare foot , but there was plenty of coral and shell remnants crunching under our feet at each step - the tide was well out at this stage .  Continuing on , we left the beach and went onto the raised boardwalk that follows the road - apparently it cost the governments $5million to build - better than law suits from walkers getting run over on the edge of the narrow road . 

 People build houses in the most interesting places , this is just one .

 We made it back to the terminal and sat down overlooking the marina for a while , then walked around the boardwalk at the edge of the marina and breakwall , before sitting and waiting for our boat. 

 The sun was setting as we crossed back to Townsville , we arrived just as the light was fading - What a GREAT day we have had !!!

 Thats your lot for today , See Ya . Map Link :-https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z1G8gwwxwyYo.kLLF-ejO0A3Q&usp=sharing

Townsville by 10

 After an excellent nights sleep , we are woken at 6:30 , but ignore it till 7am . After a leisurely breakfast we read a bit and slowly go about packing up again - we figure there is no rush , as we will be at Townsville within an hour .
 You nearly had to kick the wallabies out of the way this morning - there were 50 or 60 bouncing around the place , we could hear them chewing away at the grass when we went to bed and again in the morning .
 We hitched up and drove out , stopping to get some photo's on the way out to the highway - the first is Mt Elliot & the second is pretty obvious .

Us in front of Bowling Green Bay National Park

 As we drove onto the highway , the land flattened out and seemed to stretch a long way before the mountains shot up out of the ground again . The gum trees all look to have had there branches trimmed to a certain height . It made the fields look even bigger than they already were .

  Before much longer we were looking for a rest area to waste a bit more time , we found one , but it was on the other side of the highway , so we gave it a miss . A few minutes later and we found ourselves in road works , and a lot of them - hello we are in Townsville - at least the outer suburbs of it !! We then hurriedly tried to find our park , and realised we had gone straight past it . Going further up the road we found some side roads that we could turn around in - roundabouts are great for turning a 5th wheeler around - and doubled back to where we had to get off the highway - oops , we went past that turn before we knew it , so had to find another friendly spot to turn around in . The road to the copper smelter was good enough to turn round in , so back to the highway again , down to the makeshift roundabout , turn right off the highway , onto some new road , back onto some old road , left here , right there and we had finally found the place - Hooray !!!
 We went & checked in and talked to the managers for about half an hour - about Tasmania - not even close to Townsville - then got the rundown on where to go , what to do and how to find it - in Townsville !!!! We went & set up and had lunch before chatting to Emma for 45 mins .
 Time to start doing stuff - off we went into Townsville , Castle Hill to be precise , up to Hynes Lookout - from here you get 360 degree views of Townsville and you can see how big it is - 2nd largest city after Brisbane . You get a really good view of Magnetic Island as well - it is only 8 kms offshore .

 At the lookout , there are several tracks that take you up & down & around the top & sides of Castle Hill - there is a sign that tells you how long each track will take - we thought about half the time they had on the sign would do it easily - well it took us nearly 3 times the amount of time they allotted , as we took in the view surrounding us - and took some photos - here are a few .

Heres one for the boys still at work . Heres the pole you need to work on - the wires go down hill 200 metres to the next pole !!

 As we wandered around the hill - apparently it is only a couple of metres short of being called a mountain - the wind picked up and would have quite happily removed your hat , if you weren't watching out .  There is an old army observation post from World War 2 - they call it the pill box - the Americans used it . 

 We went down to the beach , an area they call The Strand . There is beautiful green grass , palm trees, bike tracks , playgrounds and a rockpool swimming area - It is mainly cement , and uses sea water , has a nice smooth bottom and has disabled access . It was just filling back up after some maintenance was completed . The beach beside it is patrolled and people were quite happily swimming . 

 We went for a drive down to Jupiters Casino and the wharves where you catch the ferry over to Magnetic Island , before heading back to the park . There are a lot of old heritage buildings in town as well - we will have to investigate further , probably on the bikes . Townsville is predominantly flat, so it is set up with bike tracks all over the place .
 Todays Map :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z1G8gwwxwyYo.kEw6vU54iIdk&usp=sharing