Long Sunny Days

Our course went well - quite interesting, but the thing that really amazed us were the people attending the course and some of the stories they told.  Night life in Townsville is probably no different to night life anywhere else, but it is certainly different to when I was young.

We have resumed our normal routines again. R goes off to work in the morning and I potter through the day, taking walks to interesting places.

This was the sun peeping over the hill yesterday morning.  Must still be a lot of smoke in the air.
I went out to get myself some lunch and decided to walk through the gardens on my way home, but they had the sprinklers going, so I wasn't able to go far.  A little panda was sitting on a rock all by himself so I stopped to say hello.

I did some more work on the crochet blanket I am making.  I sit in the unit with the door open listening to the birds and planes.  There is always something to watch around here and I don't get bored at all.

This morning there was so much fog or smoke about that we could hardly see Magnetic Island, but when we returned from our walk, there it was. Still in the same place..

We walked over to South Townsville and along Palmer St with all the restaurants, then back across Victoria Bridge and up the hill to home.  The air was so still and it was calm and peaceful. One or two stragglers on their way home, but quite a few early morning walkers, bikers and joggers too. We came across a huge parking area empty apart from one car and one bicycle.  Obviously gets full of vehicles sometimes, but we were please to saunter through and watch the sunlight filter through the trees

It is hard to believe that we have been here for over 2 weeks now and in another week will be winging our way back to Brisbane.  I am looking forward to seeing Mark. He is flying over from San Diego and will visit with us for a few short days before flying on to Sydney.  I just hope that Quantas can get the baggage handler strike sorted out and that it doesn't stop us from getting home in time to see Mark.

I hope you all have a pleasant weekend. Don't eat too many sugar buns. They are addictive you know and you can't stop at just one. (giggle)

Thanks for joining me in Townsville. I'll see you again soon

Hello - I'm back!

Sorry it has been almost a week since I last posted here.  Kz and I had such fun together.  She loves shopping and we visited quite a few of Townsville's shopping centres.  It is really hard to find a bookshop these days and we had to resort to Kmart to get her a nice book to read on the plane trip home.

The highlight of her trip was the visit to Reef HQ. Read about it here.  Before that though we drove along The Strand to the Rock Pool and the Water Park.  The water bucket was not working at the time and as she has already been there before, we gave it a miss this time.  We saw lots of seagulls as one would expect being at the beach.

 

Reef HQ was such an amazing place.  We ltierally took hundres of photos each. Some of the fish were really tiny and others were huge.  The first thing we saw was this freshwater crocodile and we were lucky enough to watch it being fed later in the day.  They move so fast.

He looks quite small, but I would still be very wary of one this size.



See the pretty bow Kz has in her hair.  Jenny from the motel makes these and told me how to make them too. So I might try it one day - in my spare time that is!!

We were quite taken with these little fellows.  Can't remember exactly what sort of shrimp they are.

Kz nearly got swallowed by a giant fish.

And don't you like this good looking fellow.  I really dig his camouflage outfit.

And this large sawfish was another of my favourites.  Lots of the teeth scales on his/her saw were broken and bent.

We attended a lecture on the mangroves and how important they are to the ecosystem.  We handled jawbones of sharks, and then we watched the feeding of the tropical fish, the mangrove tank and last of all the predators.

This large barramundi was in the mangrove tank and we heard him make the big boof noise when he was fed.  They create a vacuum in their mouth and suck their food in. This makes a loud boof noise. At least that is what the  guide called it.

But the real highlight for both of us was the turtle hospital, where they treat the turtles found washed up on beaches.  We saw about 7 or 8, but they said they can treat up to 12 at any one time.  Usually they are floaters which means they have a blockage in their stomachs and they are covered in barnacles because they have been floating.  They are put into fresh water which helps kill the barnacles and some of the parasites.  Usually they are put on antibiotics and it can take months for them to regain their health.  This fellow named Berg was very sick. His/her shoulder had worn a hole in the shell so they put a fibreglass patch on it to keep infection out.  They might still lose this one as it is not responding very well to treatment.  Such a shame as it is quite large.

They have them in shallow water while they are still floating and each tank has a board showing the history and case notes for each turtle.

We reluctantly left Reef HQ, but not before Kz had a chance to browse in the SHOP of course.  She managed to pick up a turtle fridge magnet and a turtle soft toy, because one can never have enough soft toys!

I had better call it a day for this post.  Tomorrow and Thursday R and I will be on a two day course down the road at Holiday Inn to learn about Responsible Management of a Licensed Venue and also Responsible Service of Alcohol, because one never knows when one might need this sort of qualification.

Bye for now SF SF SF SF.

Lost - found and found

It was quite warm here yesterday. In spite of that I slapped on some sunscreen and set off for a walk and went all the way up to the Arcadia Surf Club, which is at the northernmost end of The Strand.  The Rock Pool swimming beach is up there and I sat in the shade and had an ice cream while watching the children playing in the water and having fun.

The tale about how I lost my key ring is a m a z i n g!!  This is the key ring for the motel room.

You can see it comes in three parts which clip together.  The first morning we were here and went for a walk along The Strand, I started out wearing my sweatshirt as it was a little cool.  But as we were nearing home and I was quite warm, I decided to take it off. I had been carrying the key in the pocket, but decided to carry it in my hand in case it fell out while I was carrying my sweatshirt.  When we arrived back at the motel, I realised the back half and the label had fallen off and all I had was the key part.  The next two days I looked every step of the way, but it was quite windy so I really didn't hold out much hope of finding the little tag.

Then one morning as we were coming past the bakery we stopped to say hello to a lady putting out the tables and there right by my foot was the piece of paper with the room number.  That was amazing number one.  Of course I redoubled my efforts to look for the back piece but to no avail, until yesterday, there it was!  Right in the middle of the footpath - and undamaged!  Now how about that! Totally amazing! So I have the whole thing back in one piece again.

So now I have taken my eyes off the footpath and can look around at where we are walking.  This morning we did another huge walk along The Strand to the Casino and back, which took an hour and a half.  Of course we had a few stops for photos.  Perhaps that explains why R is fast asleep on the bed right now and it is not even 6.00 pm.

We passed by the water park, which is where I am going to take Kz tomorrow for a swim.  I almost wish I was a kid again to run under the water. The big bucket up the top fills up with water and then it tips over and the water, well, it just buckets out.

There was a waterfall cascading down the side of the cliff as we walked by.  R very kindly let me rest the camera on his shoulder so I could get a good shot.

On our way down to the Casino we passed by this seaplane moored for the night.  I was pleased to see it as I have been watching his acrobatics from the motel and I don't ever want to go for a ride in this plane!  He twists and turns and dives around.  Probably tells his passengers it is just a scenic flight!

Tomorrow morning we pick up Kz from the airport for 5 days of fun.  There were some children swimming in the motel pool tonight so she might be able to find some friends here.

I hope you enjoyed hearing from me today. I'm not sure how much time I will have over the next few days for blogging, but will try and pop a few words in here and there.  Bye for now.

Lazy Sunday afternoon

Following on from a lazy Sunday morning, I had a lazy Sunday afternoon and then I cooked a really yummy dinner.  Given the constraints of this motel kitchen, I think I did rather well.

We had steak, fried mushrooms in gravy, potatoes, beans & corn.  All done in 2 saucepans and 1 frypan, while only one element on the stove works at a time.  You can either have the small element going or the larger element going, but not both together.

Cosy!

It is a bit cloudy out today and just a hint of smoke still in the air.  Still warm and we had another great walk heading across the river.  It was just getting light as we set out and of course we take the time to stop and look at all the information signboards at places of interest.

Robert Towns Statue

He must have been quite a character. I read about him here

Victoria Bridge

This was a swing bridge and they have left the bridge in place and made it a pedestrian walkway. I read about it and found an old picture here.

There was no wind and the river gave some great reflections.

Looking back across the river towards the city

Another grand old bridge.

We have nearly come full circle back to the other side of the Victoria Bridge

After crossing the bridge we come back to the city and this is where we had our lunch the first day we arrived.

It is mid morning now and time for another constitutional.  Walk I mean.

Thanks for your comments and have a great week.

Downtown

It was such a beautiful afternoon yesterday I decided to go for a walk downtown. The shops in the central city are not up to much but there were plenty of people out walking.

I strolled along the main street and found my way to The Strand, where there are some lovely old buildings.

The Customs House, on the Strand opposite Anzac Park, was completed in 1902. It is rumoured that several tunnels, used in WWII, emanate from the building, one going to the nearby Queens Hotel

The Queens Hotel, on The Strand, was built in stages between 1903 and 1925 and was for many years the finest hotel in North Queensland.

Wandering happily along I found the Rock Pool, which is a water park and now I know just where to take Kz when she arrives. Lots of people were having barbecues and relaxing with their families and friends.

I went shopping at Bi-Lo and treated myself to a strawberry crush.

A different point of view this morning. The lights are still on if you can spot them.

Still some smoke about this morning and the city was a bit like the remains of a party. Quite a few people seemed to be on their way home from the night before, but all happy enough in their own little world.  The Flinders Markets were just being set up as we walked through. Lots of fruit and vege stalls were already open, but the rest seemd to be taking their own time about opening.  Although it was only just after 6.00 am, so perhaps they don't open that early.

This is the hill we walk down to get into town. Doesn't look very steep, does it? Just wait until you walk up it.

The boat harbour looked stunning with its clear reflections of the boats and sky.

Castle Hill was catching the sun again.

This is taken looking north along the foreshore.It is a very pretty place.

And this is the hill we have to walk up to get home.  Let me tell you "It is quite steep".

There have been helicopters and planes flying around all morning. Quite noisy but sort of in the background so you don't notice after a while.

I hope you had a relaxing Sunday morning too. Thank you for stopping by today. Come back again soon.

A whole lot of walking going on !

It is so pretty looking out over the water as the sun is rising.  Each day it is different.

This was taken yesterday, Friday before we went for our walk. You can see the smoke haze in the background.

  And this one was taken about an hour later this morning after we returned from our walk. I love the way the clouds are lining up across the sky.

Yesterday there was a lot of smoke in the air. For most of the day I could hardly see Magnetic Island, although it wasn’t too hard to breathe or anything.  In the afternoon I walked to Castletown Shopping Centre which is about four and a half km away.  R met me there and we purchased a Telstra Mobile Wi-Fi, which still does not work even though the salesgirl said she activated it.  Oh well, eventually we will get it sorted.

This morning we walked a long way along the foreshore and there is a triathlon here today. They were getting set up for it and putting out flag and drinks etc.  We didn’t have time to stay and watch unfortunately and I forgot to take my camera this morning.

Later on we watched someone come floating down with a parachute and just a short time ago the same red seaplane I watched the other day came over doing its acrobatics again.  I will put the other lens on my camera and try and be ready tomorrow.

We moved the furniture around in the room here so I have the table by the window.

I tried to take a shot showing the view through the window which, even though they cleaned it when I asked, is still a bit smeary (well, I can see it).  I have the door open most of the day when I am here, so it's not like I am shut in a box all day.

I am going to venture down town shortly and see what I can find around the shops. 

Have a fun day and catch you tomorrow.

Walking is good for you..

...or so they say.  I seem to be doing a lot more of it here in Townsville.

We went for a lovely walk very early in the morning yesterday.

Before the sun was up

We found our way to The Strand which is the waterfront here. So many people out, running, walking dogs, strolling etc. And it was well before 6.00 am.

A really nice man was feeding the seagulls. I had to lighten the photo as it was still quite dark out. 

The sunrise looked very pretty out over the water.

We started our walk back to the motel.  One man late for work was getting very impatient with the driver in front of him and was really close behind revving his engine and when the other driver turned right the impatient one sped off quickly and loudly.  I hope no one else got in his way and his day got better!

Castle Hill was just catching the sunlight.

And by the time we climbed up the hill to our motel the sun was all the way up.  A beautiful morning.

I hope all of you are enjoying your day and your morning is as beautiful as mine.

Of mice and men

No matter how carefully a project is planned, something may still go wrong with it. The saying is adapted from a line in “To a Mouse,” by Robert Burns: “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley.”    

So expecting to have internet access, one really gets thrown when it is not working.  Never mind we are away again now. 

The flight to Townsville was wonderful and we had great views of the countryside.The co-pilot came on as we neared Townsville to advise us that we would be flying through a lot of smoke from the bushfires and not to worry if we smelled smoke.The smoke was quite dense and I can still see the grey brown haze of it on the horizon.

This is our motel room. Small but comforable.

The view from our balcony

After settling in to our motel we headed for a walk downtown to find a café.  Three short blocks downhill to the city centre and found a little café which did gluten free bread for R.  Doesn’t my meal look tasty? 

Moroccan Lamb salad

After our meals it was a slow walk uphill back to the motel, where I immediately went to sleep.

North Shore Shopping Centre, Townsville

We drove out to find our bearings so R could get to work easily in the morning and did some shopping at a nearby supermarket for something for dinner.  We found we could not access the internet and were very glad to have an early night.   Today I find I can receive emails, but not send them??

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are having a lovely day!

Tis the night before the trip

Well. the time has come... as they say and I still have not got packed.  Yesterday we updated our wills, which is a good thing to do apparently.  But it took so long and as we were really hungry after sitting there for 2 hrs or so, we headed straight to Kawana Shopping Mall to grab a muffin and coffee.  At least the wills are all done and we don't have to go back.  The solicitors are going to email us a copy and hold the originals at their office.

Anyway, back to trying to get ready to go north.  R has the AGM of his community thing tonight, so we spent quite a bit of time on that today. He had about 3 speeches to write, but didn't get them all done so was going to wing it!

I weighed my bag a short time ago and it was 17 kg already so I have had to take out my photos as they were rather heavy and can wait for another day.  Just have to throw some more clothes in and I am ready.  R will pack when he gets home I guess. I can see a pile of books, 2 polo shirts and a pair each of jeans and shorts.  But that won't be enough!

We will miss our walks around the canal.  This morning it was raining, but we still went out.  There is a new bakery just opened up on the corner of Nicklin Way and Kensington Drive and we got some hot bread. I was tempted to eat some on the way home as hot bread is almost irresistible on a cold day. 

Just to show you what our walk can look like on a good day, here are a couple of photos I took last Christmas.

This one is taken right at the end of our street. Some days the water is so still and clear.

This photo is taken up near the bridge on Nicklin Way looking across to Mooloolaba.

We are being picked up at 6.00 am in the morning for transport to Brisbane Airport so the next time I post it will be from Townsville. Yippee.  Just got to get me on the plane. As many of you know I am not the happiest of travellers.  Bye for now