Campervan Trip 6 'Townsville'

On our way to the Whitsunday Islands at the weekend we had noticed a deserted and netted cove from the ferry. Apparently the locals try to keep it quiet but it is on public land so before we left, we decided to have a dip in the ocean. We found the beach still deserted in the early morning and had a lovely swim secure in the knowledge that we were protected by the stinger nets. However when we left the beach we saw a notice re: the stingers and a disclaimer stating there were no guarantees that the area could be stinger free and stressed the consequences - not nice.

Hit the road and soon started to pass miles of sugar cane and long empty expanses with gated driveways but not a house or farmstead in sight. Quite a lot of the land and properties were up for sale. In Australia the sale boards will note the price of the property and then it will usually go to auction.

The majority of the land is given up to livestock and agriculture and it would appear that farming is a tough life, especially in recent times as they have had their driest summer for 15 years. Presently there is quite a lot of greenery following the recent cyclone and heavy rainfall but the creeks are all dry and the rivers greatly reduced.

Stopped at a wildlife sanctuary just short of Townsville called Billabong. The sanctuary rescues those animals at risk or in some cases animals that pose serious threat to man and so we saw crocodiles, kangaroo's, hairy nosed wombats (they look just like hairy piglets - Tim you would love them!), koalas, wallabies, dingos (so scary) turtles, emus, and some other undesirable reptiles that Sue was really not interested in!. Sue fed the Roos and loved walking around, unfortunately though the local midges also liked Sue walking around and had a little feast, not happy.

Travelled onto Townsville and stopped for brunch on the promenade, which was lovely. We eventually found the campsite after some roadwork detours which was some way from the town and port. Decided to walk to a bar/restaurant we had spotted earlier, so a good walk and a lovely meal but got a cab back!

Decided on a lie in today so caught the later 9.30 ferry to Magnetic Island, short 20 minute crossing with a welcomed breeze as very hot with clear blue skies (sorry). Arrived at the Island and quite taken aback by how quiet it was, a bit eerie in fact. After some confusion and a lot of traipsing around in the heat we managed to hire a 'topless' car (great fun) to explore the island (this time Tom had his license!!). The island is completely different to Hamilton Island with a lot of residential properties and few real condominiums apart from those around the marina. The Island consists of 3-4 main beaches over about 10k, the vast bulk of the island is a National park and not easily accessible. First stop 'Horseshoe Bay'; biggest beach on the island but only small section accessible via Stinger Nets. We spoke to the lifeguard and he reassured us that it was safe in the net to an extent but no absolute guarantees, decided to take a chance but it was literally just a dip then run!

Had a lovely brunch in a great bohemian type café then off to Alma Bay which was a cute bay but of course had stinger warnings as well as well as toxic algae issues and told of a fatal shark attack at this spot in 1929! None of it very conducive to a nice dip in the oceanL so off to the rocks near to Geoffrey bay where we saw a number of tiny rock wallabies in the wild and some joeys - very cute. Moved off to the other side of the island to visit Picnic bay at Lomspeed (60km/hr max) and as we had given up on swimming, even in stinger nets, we had a drink to commiserate. Having traversed much of the island we agreed to return to civilisation on the mainland, know how Captain Cook must have felt!

Good walk back to the campsite along the sea from the ferry terminal. Like many seaside towns and cities in Australia there are great facilities for families along the 6km shoreline and much of it geared towards supporting outdoor activity and wellbeing. Enjoyed a home cooked meal and began to prepare for our next stopover at Mission Beach.