How come nobody told us about Townsville? !
The weather was really warming up as we arrived in Townsville, and after getting the van in to be serviced/repaired, we headed into The Strand to kill some time. What a pretty place it was, and now that winter had arrived, you could swim at the beach too! I spoke to one of the lifeguards and he said that they hadn't seen any stingers for the last six weeks. Unfortunately the Splash Park was on one of its "maintenance" days so we quickly decided to make a more prolonged sortie the next day.
After a bunch of schoolwork, and a few mild to moderate trantrums and registrations of discontent, we headed in to The Strand to escape the heat and make the most of the water park there. It was great! We spent the rest of the afternoon getting periodically drenched and laying about on the grass nearby. I suggested to Emma, for her physical and mental health, that it would be a good idea to get the kayak on the water and go for a paddle. There was considerable nervousness, so I went for a quick spin first, to check for deadly marine life. I came back smiling. It was one of the nicest paddles I've had! Awesome location.
We stopped at a great organic grocery on the way home and cold as we were, we couldn't rush the experience. Neil's Organics was full of great fruit and veg, combined with a deli section, it very soon became dinner.
After we had eaten, we were all looking forward to a few table games with some fellow travelers we had met the night before. They were two sisters, Denise and Ann, and their friend Helen, who did a great job of being surrogate grandparents to the boys. Denise and Helen taught us how to play Rummy-o while Ann read stories to Dom, and played a couple of games of Yikez! It was a grand evening.
We've picked up a copy of both Rummy-o and Bananagrams since leaving Townsville. Thanks Denise, Helen and Ann for sharing some time and travel wisdom with us.
After we had eaten, we were all looking forward to a few table games with some fellow travelers we had met the night before. They were two sisters, Denise and Ann, and their friend Helen, who did a great job of being surrogate grandparents to the boys. Denise and Helen taught us how to play Rummy-o while Ann read stories to Dom, and played a couple of games of Yikez! It was a grand evening.
We've picked up a copy of both Rummy-o and Bananagrams since leaving Townsville. Thanks Denise, Helen and Ann for sharing some time and travel wisdom with us.
It says a lot about how much we enjoyed Townsville that this story only rates as a footnote... That evening there was quite a degree of domestic disharmony amongst some of our close neighbours in the Coral Coast Caravan Park. The dishormony eventually required the presence of the police at around 2 am to reestablish order. Paul has the details of this story as I slept through some of the delights of the evening while "protecting the children" at the far end of the caravan.
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