TOWNSVILLE

Townsville....Arrived early and just as well because we had buisness to take care off. We lodged an insurance claim for a new awning, with the assistance of MOTORCO the caravan repair place. We also put in a claim for the accident at Moolooba (being pestered by other car owners, insurance can now handle them). The awning is going to take a week to arrive from Brisbane, so looks like we will be in Townsville for a week.
Booked into park at Rowsbay, not a great site but ok for a week. The outstanding attraction in Townsville is without doubt the Strand, which is an avenue along the beach, at one end is the rockpool which is a seawater pool which is pumped empty and cleaned once a week. It is a great place to swim, suntan, read or just chill out. Along the strand is restaurants and a spectacular water feature that kids can play under as well as other interesting features. The strand is a credit to the people of Townsville, it is easily the most artistic and creative centrepiece for a town that I have seen. We spent much time walking along this area.
The city is dominated by a massive cliff which has a wonderful lookout. We also enjoyed watching the ships coming and going from the harbour. We, on the spur of the moment decided to visit Magnetic Island. It turned out to be a very cheap day out, and we enjoyed lunch at a little cafe on the beach. A very cheap bus fare got us a tour of the Island. We really enjoyed our day on magnetic Island.
Fellow travelers Brenda and Derek and June and Fred made us welcome at happy hour of a night. We went to the casino with them for lunch on the last day. The next day we took the van in to get the awning replaced, which was done by one o'clock, so we traveled on to Cardwell.
Forgot to mention that we had a major disaster during the night, the sink tap had been slow leaking in the heat position and with a soup plate blocking the sink outlet, we had 2 inches of water on the floor at 2 o'clock when I got up. Mopped up but the van dripped water for 24 hours . Hope there is no permanent damage.