Over the September school holidays we decided to do a weekend of camping, boating and fishing. We arrived on Thursday and setup our camp spot. We were pretty much the only ones on the camp ground, so were able to really spread out. Brad, Kellie and Marshall arrived on Saturday and shortly after David, Melissa and their kids arrived and setup camp. We had some fun playing a game of capture the flag with a packet of chips and water…
Today sadly marks the start of the end of our Townsville road trip. Along the way we passed through Gumlu, and took a few photos with the giant pumpkin and watermelon. We stopped over the night in Many Peaks to visit Uncle Mark. He had plenty of room in his yard for us to setup the camper. It was already starting to get cold, when we decided to fire up the butane heater – inside the tent. The kids were…
Today we spent our day visiting the Billabong Sanctuary, just a few minutes south of Townsville. We first were greeted by “Goliath” the largest saltwater crocodile in captivity in the Northern Territory at the time. He measured 5.2 metres long and weighing in at over 1000kg! He was relocated from the Daly river system where he was harassing the locals, to the Darwin Crocodile Farm. Next, we enjoyed hand feeding the Kangaroos. This was extra special as it was the…
Today we decided to drive to Paluma, which is just north of Townsville. When I was a kid I remember camping at Paluma on school camp. Along the way we stopped at Little crystal creek and took some photos. The water was just like it’s namesake, crystal clear. There wasn’t much to see (or do) in the township of Paluma. We went for a short rainforest walk and then headed back to our campsite. Back at the campgrounds we sat…
It has been over 10 years since I last visited Townsville and a lot has changed in that time. One of those things is the Strand. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much the Strand has been transformed. From what use to be just a beach, is now a great family friendly area. Even the fact that it was the middle of winter, there were still quite a few people around. The water was a bit cold but the…
Today I took the older boys out to a Barramundi fishing park. It didn’t take long for the fish to start biting. Declan was the first to catch a fish. Ben caught his fish a few minutes later. He was a bit reserved about how he had to hold them, but got the job done just the same. We got a quick photo and then let them go. We let the fish go shortly after a quick photo. The park…
No trip to Townsville would be complete without visiting Castle Hill. Today we travelled up to Castle Hill to see the views of Townsville. Over towards the south-east (Railway Estate) we could see and clearly hear the roar of the V8 supercar track. To the north was Magnetic Island and Pallarenda Beach. After we left Castle Hill we decided to head down to the beach. The kids had fun playing on the beach. We didn’t go into the water as…
One of my fondest memories of Townsville is when we would take Dad’s boat over to Magnetic Island for the day. I was really looking forward to showing the kids the island, seeing it myself, and if anything had changed, as had the rest of Townsville. I was very pleased to hear how much fun the kids had exploring the island. I still have fond memories of climbing and running through the roots of the big trees. Although the activities…
We only spent one night in Airlie Beach and that was probably enough to see everything we wanted to see. While the place is essentially a tourist focused town, we felt that families had been completely left out of that focus. We found that most of the population consisted of backpackers and party go-ers. So we decided to continue our journey on to our destination, Townsville. We setup our camp just north of Townsville in Bluewater Caravan Park. It was…
Today we set off for our 2 week long camping road trip to Townsville. Belinda and the kids had never been to Townsville before, and so it was exciting to show them around the places where I grew up. Our first stop was at a camp rest area on the side of the Bruce Highway around Gin Gin. Possibly the worst night sleep I have ever had. The rest area was at the bottom of a hill, which meant as…