After a short stop in Airlie Beach for a bite to eat and a few drinks we arrived in Townsville pretty late at night so decided to pull into a local petrol station car park to get some sleep….. the drive was the most distressing for Jo to date thanks to the hundreds of frogs that like to chill out in the middle of the unlit pacific highway during the night!

Townsville is advertised as the second biggest city in Queensland so after our travels in NSW and Victoria we thought we would be lost for hours negotiating our way round motorways and one way streets….. however, when we arrived it was the complete opposite to this. We both really liked it and ended up spending two nights in the area, our favorite spot was the Esplanade which is a long costal road with a huge salt water rock pool for you to enjoy a swim free from the deadly box jelly fish!

At night you can really see why everyone says Australians enjoy an outdoor lifestyle, the whole area is lined with huge barbeques free to use and every one of them attracts a big family gathering….. showed us what we all are missing in England.

On our second day we took the advice of the local tourist information centre by heading to Castle Hill for what they described as a nice easy, chilled out walk….. It turned out to be anything but chilled out; the walk would not be too bad if it wasn't fast approaching 40c heat but with the weather like it was I almost had to carry Jo back down the hill!

A well deserved drink or two in a local sea front café before a sweltering night in the Jucy crib! Cairns tomorrow!