A WEEK IN TOWNSVILLE

If you're visiting to see SkyWatch Friday, it's not here this week....and ABC Wednesday will be late!

I'm spending this week in Townsville, the regional capital of North Queensland. My sister has just be appointed to a position here, & so she and her husband have moved from Bundaberg.
These photos are just a quick trip around the city. Above is the view from their balcony.

Townsville was originally settled to provide services for the the farming industry of NQ in the mid 1800s, and quickly developed into a busy port. There are some beautiful historic buildings dating from the 1880-90s, though bizarrely many of them are now nightclubs & bars! Above is the magestic old Victorian railway station, while below is the HM Customs.

Around the port area of South Townsville, where the wharfies live, there still exists some of the gorgeous original workingmens's pubs. Below is the Commonwealth Hotel.

The most distinctive feature of Townsville is Castle Hill, quite literally in the middle of the city. In the early mornings & late afternoons, it seems that almost everyone is walking up or down the hill! Here's the view from the top, out towards Magnetic Island.

We walked it on Sunday morning before breakfast.

Just a 20minute ferry ride away is gorgeous Magetic Island, named by Capt. Cook in 1770. We spent the day over there yesterday, doing a bit of bushwalking and relaxing! Here's the view from the ferry, back to Townsville.

Below is Alma Bay.

Some of the beautiful lichen-covered boulders scattered through the hilly interior of Magnetic Is. is pictured above.

Townsville also played a significant role in World War 2. A post about that history is 'coming soon'!

As always, if you click on the highlighted words in my text, you'll be taken to more information.