On The Road Again, Townsville

Driving to Townsville seemed like such a good idea at the time, to use Jon's favorite phrase. It was such a long, tedious drive on along the motorway. The whole day was a blur and there was much talk of abandoning our hotel reservations and bailing out in Airlie Beach.

We plugged on in hopes of getting on a dive trip out to the SS Yongala and we arrived in Townsville around midnight, bleary eyed is putting it mildly.



We set off in the morning to walk around the Saturday markets. Jon quickly abandoned me when he spied a Red Sox game on the TV in a sports bar. Beer and brunch was all the boy needed to hear; he disappeared into the dark back room into the glow of the big screen tv. He finally emerged when the locals turned off his game to watch the cricket and we were off to the Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary.

On first glance, the place is not exactly aesthetically appealing. First impressions be damned, I was going to cuddle a wombat if I had to do so in a porta-loo. We walked around while we waited for the cuddle time and saw all of the animal exhibits in under 10 minutes. With a half an hour to burn, we sat and fed the ducks.



Finally the hour was upon us, Belle the wombat came out to visit with the public. They are just the most adorable little creatures, but quite bristle-like when you touch them. We did our little cuddle and photos with Belle and started chatting to the keeper who happened to be from America. She was just about to go check in on the koalas and invited us to come on a little "behind the scenes" tour.

Normally, when you see koalas they are just lounging and lazily stuffing their cute little faces with eucalyptus leaves. When we entered the enclosure with the keeper, one of the little fur balls came down from his perch and was trotting around sniffing at our feet.



The greatest moment was when she pulled down one of the Momma Koala's pouches to reveal a little baby! It was a sight to make your heart melt.

After leaving the wildlife sanctuary, we explored Townsville a little bit. Our hopes had been to go for a swim in the lagoon, a man-made swimming area because of the prevalence of dangerous marine stingers in the area. Our bad luck, there was no water in the lagoon.



Plan B was to set off and grab a bite to eat. At 3:00pm, this is easier said than done. Lunch is no longer being served and dinner is not yet being served, so the kitchens at most restaurants are closed. We tried every restaurant on the Esplanade with no luck, so it was back to the hotel for a room service snack grumbling about how ridiculous the situation was.

We had tried to get reservations at the restaurant at casino restaurant because it was supposed to be the nicest in town (the criteria being that they have tablecloths), but the only serve on select nights during the week and we couldn't get a booking. Townsville was just not being kind to us at this point.

The steak house across the street was settled for and the only highlight of the meal was the salt was pink. Australian pink salt, who knew?

Too tired from his early morning boozing to go out on the town, Jon fell asleep shortly after the sun set leaving me to catch up on my movie viewing and find a dive operator to go out to the SS Yongala the following day - easier said then done.