NORTH QLD ADVENTURE - DAY 27 - OUT AND ABOUT AROUND TOWNSVILLE...

 I was up at 6.30am this morning..  It is pretty hard to get back to sleep once you have been up and trotted off to the toilet.  It requires some effort when you are not self sufficient in your own van.

Whilst Steve slept on, I attempted to get my journal up to day.  I was a couple of days behind, and didn’t want to leave it much longer to write as you do so much each day that it is easy to forget what you have done. 

We had a few things to take care of this morning before we could go out, so we didn’t get away until around 10am.  This was probably about an hour later than I wanted to get out.  With the heat the way it is in Townsville, the earlier you get out the better.

Our first port of call today was The Jezzine Barracks and Public Art Trail.  As we were arriving we saw that Chris and Fay were just leaving…  It was getting a little too hot for them also.  I texted Fay and she informed me that they didn’t see to much up there and that perhaps they were missing something, but as there was no map or handout it was hard to know what we needed to look for.

Jezzine Barracks is a significant site for both the Australian military and local Aboriginal People, and are now open to the public.  They include coastal boardwalks, artwork, traditional plantings and parklands.

The 15-hectare heritage precinct commemorates the military and Aboriginal heritage of the Kissing Point headland through 32 specially commissioned public artworks, extensive interpretive signage and the restoration of significant elements of the Kissing Point Fort complex.

The space includes a coastal walkway connecting Rowes Bay and The Strand, observation decks up at Kissing Point Fort, and traditional plantings along the ethno-botanical walk.

The Fort was established in 1870 after the British withdrew from the colonies and it was in continuous military use from 1885 to 2006. In 2007 a community trust was established to keep this land in public hands.

We wandered up the hill to check out the Fort and it afforded us some spectacular views out to Magnetic Island, and all along Rowes Bay.  It was definitely worth the walk up.  Whilst we were up there we got a call from Fay informing us that they had found the art work at the other end of the trail in Rowes Bay and gave us the information of where to find it…

 We decided to finish our walk up there and head around to the art works as well.  It took us a little longer than we thought as it was really interesting up at the fort where we checked out the bunker and a couple of the cannons that were installed up there.

By the time we arrived around in Rowes Bay to check out the art installations, Fay and Chris had moved on.  It was quite a walk to visit them all and photograph them and it was extremely hot which really did wear us out.  On the whole though we are so glad that we did the walk as it was really interesting…  Honestly if we visited Townsville again though, I would try and time it for the winter months…

From here we decided to drive around Rowes Bay.  The views from up at the Barracks were appealing so thought it would be good to check it out for ourselves.  As we come onto the road that leads around the bay, we saw a really strange pole house in front of us.  This one I had to photograph. 

 Rowes Bay is  4.2 km long and  is paralleled by a wide, grassy foreshore reserve, then the road. The tidal flats widen at each of the creek mouths, and toward the southern corner of the bay are up to 1 km wide.

 

Along this wide grassy foreshore  at Soroptomist Park, we spotted more sculptures,  a last assortment of what looked like picture frames gathered together mounted on steel posts and the “Four Fish” a sculpture by Robert Burton which were made from ceramic tiles and ferro cement.  Very unusual looking and almost ugly fish. 

This park also was home to some mosaic marine sculptures also by Lloyd Kelemen and included, two mosaic fish, crocodile, star fish, sea monster,  and turtle.  They were a lot more colourful.

We continued our drive out along Rowes Beach  all the way around to Cape Pallarenda where we came across the historic  Quarantine Station and WWII fortification site. 

 This Quarantine Station was established between 1913 and 1916. A number of the  buildings were relocated here from an earlier quarantine station at West Point on Magnetic Island, which had been built there between 1884 and 1885. Townsville, the first or second port of call for shipping on the Asia/Pacific route, was identified as a place for the detainment of suspected cases of ship-borne diseases. A tented camp was established in 1875 on Magnetic Island, with more substantial buildings constructed in 1884. 

Cape Pallarenda’s establishment began with a 1913 jetty and stone retaining wall. The quarantine station’s construction was timely, given the flu epidemic of 1919. By 1942, Townsville had become the supply base for the South-West Pacific war, used by both the Australian and United States military. The facility at Cape Pallarenda was designed to protect the northern entrance to Townsville Harbour and the shipping passage between the mainland and Magnetic Island. Construction included two gun emplacements, two searchlight installations, a command post and a sizeable camp. The quarantine station became obsolete after construction of a new contagious diseases hospital in Melbourne in 1973. We found this bit of our history quite interesting.  

From here we made our way back along the Pallarenda foreshore, stopping to check out the boat ramp and the beach.  We had spied some relaxed fishermen fishing off the beach here.  They had actually dragged down their beach chairs and were sitting on them at the edge of the water fishing.  Never quite seen people fishing like this before…

By now it was just after 1.30pm so we figured we still had a little time before we had to meet my friend Sophie back at The Strand at 3pm, so decided to head out towards Kirwan and check out the Townville Riverway Precinct.

Riverway is a riverfront parkland attraction that stretches along 11 km of the Ross River,, with areas at Pioneer Park, Loam Island, Apex Park and Ross Park at the  Ross River Dam.

The precinct provides an exciting environment to enjoy a variety of water-based and waterfront activities. With two huge swimming lagoons, the Riverway Arts Centre, Pinnacles Gallery, the Riverwalk, public art, village spine, restaurant, and parklands, there truly is so much to explore.  

We really didn’t have the time to do this area justice as we really could only spend about 45 minutes here before having to head back into The Strand.  We were pretty amazed at the beautiful lagoon swimming area at Riverway.  It was massive and it was free to swim here.  There were like three areas that you could swim in, all manned by life guards. There was even a section laned off for those that wanted to exercise and swim laps.

We wandered through beautiful parklands and came across a wonderful children’s playground that was designed to encourage Nature play and balancing with many areas designed as interesting and appealing obstacle courses that the children could participate in.  this area also included a wonderful wooden fort area.

We were fast running out of time, so we took the river board walk and headed back to our car.  It was a beautiful walk and we came across lots of bird life included the ibises and magpie geese, even a couple of mother magpie geese with all her goslings.

By the time we arrived back at the car we only had about 20 minutes until we were due to meet Sophie in at the Strand and our GPS was saying we it would take us all of 20 minutes to get back there. 

We had chosen to meet on The Strand as it is situated right on the water front in Townsville CBD.  It is a truly beautiful part of Townsville.   The Strand is a 2.2km world-class beachfront promenade custom-built for enjoyment. Along this palm tree lined stretch are bike and walkway paths, safe swimming beaches, picturesque picnic spots, playgrounds, exercise stations, a water park and restaurants and bars with to-die-for water views.

We initially met at a little bar/café called Juliette’s where we Sophie shouted us a drink and we all shared a little Christmas Cake early.

It wasn’t long before our shady seating area was out in full sun again, so once we had finished drinking we headed across the road onto “The Strand” itself and spend a couple of hours just catching up with each other.  It was so good to meet up with her again, as it is over 12 months since we have seen each other. 

She left us around 5.45pm as she was heading to her son’s for dinner and had to pick up her husband and son first. 

Steve and I then decided to take the drive up to Castle Hill,  the prominent hill in Townsville, the hill that can be viewed from almost anywhere you are in Townsville to watch the sunset.

Castle Hill is just metres short of a mountain, and is the giant pink granite monolith that stands proud in the centre of Townsville.  As well as offering vehicle access, Castle Hill provides a number of popular walking tracks, which are frequented by more than 2,500 locals a day!   We were totally amazed by the large number of walkers and joggers heading up the  road as we drove up.  Lots use this hill as their exercise regime.  We were not disappointed when we reached the top.  The 360-degree views of Townsville are well worth the journey. I am so glad I had my camera on hand, particularly as it was coming up to sunset. The views were spectacular especially with the setting sun.

There were lots of people up there enjoying this time of the evening, we came across folk enjoying wine and cheese as on one of the lookouts as they enjoyed the setting sun.  There are lots of different walkways to several different lookouts perched across the summit and we explored each and every one of them.  Each offered stunning views of Townsville and the adjoining coastlines…  Too way to many photos, but I am so glad we decided to drive up here at this time of day.  We got to see it in both daylight hours and then as the lights came on and lit up the city.

As well as offering an iconic centre piece for the city and spectacular scenic views, Castle Hill has a significant history. The Hill's vantage was used by visiting American soldiers during World War II. According to local legend, the visitors famously offered to demolish the hill and use the rock to build a bridge to Magnetic Island. A World War II observation bunker sits on one corner of the Hill reminding visitors of Castle Hill's military history.

It was after 7pm and dark as we left Castle Hill to head home.  We were pretty exhausted as we had been out in the hot sun all day and had done lots of walking around Townsville and the last thing we felt like doing when we got home was cooking dinner…

When we were in Ingham, we had bought a kilo of fresh prawns from a fish market there, so decided that tonight dinner would be real simple.  We will sit out in the cool under our awning and just have a feed of prawns with a glass of wine.  Lovely way to end yet another perfect day in our wonderful State.

It was an early night for us tonight as we packed ready for our big adventure tomorrow to Magnetic Island. 

We had set our alarms for 6am, as we needed to leave by 7am at the latest if we wanted to catch the 7.45am ferry across to the island…