No Cassowary Sightings for Us

[RB]

We began planning this trip in Dec 2020. As with most people we didn’t have much confidence that this trip or our Sth Aust adventure (From the Clare Valley to the Yorke Peninsular- a 2 week motorhome meander) would progress as planned. Sth Aust went well and we have now returned from Nth Qld with only relatively minor changes having to be made-We feel very fortunate compared to the current situation of many.
Travel was a combination of travel in our own car, flights between Brisbane and Townsville and a hire car covering the area shown in the map.

 

[ksthommo]

Like the Title RB, could have left out the "No" if you made a short detour to Etty Bay just south of Innisfail.

 

[RB]

Like the Title RB, could have left out the "No" if you made a short detour to Etty Bay just south of Innisfail.

Sounds like we should have driven in there instead of going to Cowley Beach while on a day drive between Kurrimoine Beach and Innisfail

 

[RB]

Port Macquarie to Broadbeach

Plans for this changed a few times. We booked to fly PQQ to BNE but the very next day Qantas changed the frequency and we were left to join the queue off getting points and charges back from them.

Even on the day, the imminent closure of the Qld border forced our hand a little here. Fortunately we are in a situation to be relatively flexible. We were due to spend a night in Casino to visit family but made the decision to get ourselves into Qld and thus drove direct to Broadbeach to spend a night. It happened to be the night of Origin 3 but we survived the Qld supporters. The drive up was painless with much less traffic on the highway than normal. We very fleetingly saw this police car chase Latest News - NSW Police Public Site.

Very quiet on the highway

 

[RB]

Meriton Broadbeach 1 Bedroom Suite
With the Qld border situation unclear even as we drove, we didn’t book any accommodation until we crossed the border. We opted for the Meriton at Broadbeach for the 1 night stay. We had stayed here previously in a Ocean Suite. The 1 bedroom suite was on the hinterland side directly across from the casino. The room itself was fine and the 70sqm gives plenty of room-we really value the space the Meriton's provide. However we found this room very noisy. The leaking in of general night traffic noise, noise from the adjoining balcony and G:link light rail all combined to convince us to avoid this side of the building in the event of a future stay.

We were pretty careful in where we ventured. A visit to a bottle shop was followed by dinner in and watching the footy before an early night. The unexpected bonus was that I was able to use a Uber Eats offer of $30 off- currently Uber Eats doesn’t operate in Port Macquarie.

Ignore what is cooking in the microwave!

 

[RB]

The bonus of this room was the hinterland side views

 

[RB]

Broadbeach to Geebung Brisbane

An easy drive to family, where we were leaving our car while we enjoyed our trip. I still find this drive a bit confusing-in NSW we are used to a “keep left unless overtaking system” but this doesn’t seem to apply on this section. Always seems to be a lot of traffic and the regulars seem to enjoy lane hopping. Again 1 night and we were careful with our movements. We went for a walk to 7th Brigade Park, admired the view into the CBD but fortunately did not venture into the Chirmside shopping complex. We did enjoy a few drinks and dinner at the nearby RSL.-thought it was a great option with good choices of club style meals. By now we were used to the Qld Check In app and noted the same as Sth Aust you do not check out. The app also provides a great memory prompt to help write this report.

The boss of Geebung


Lamb Cutlet offering at Geebung RSL

 

[RB]

Brisbane (BNE) to Townsville (TSV) VA 369

Family dropped us at the airport. We had separate bookings courtesy of various credit card credits but both bookings had the same time changes so we stayed on the same flights and were able to allocate our seats together. I had seen posts of days where the VA bag drop was pretty busy so we had allowed ourselves plenty of time. We spent 25 minutes in line for bag drop yet there was no waiting at security! Ended up a pretty full flight and we got to use the new runway. Pushed back pretty well on time and arrived a few minutes early. Our captain warned that flight time could change as there were a lot of war games happening around Townsville. Most people were very compliant with the mask requirements and we enjoyed being on a newish plane. Landing in TSV, there were no extra requirements and we soon had our bags. We opted for a Uber (Ola had no cars working) and $20.30 saw us at the Oaks Metropol Townsville, home for the next 2 nights. With the current times (started bookings in Dec 2020) we opted for flexible bookings everywhere and we were happy with how all the places offered us options.

Bag Drop in Brisbane


Display at Townsville near bag claim

 

[RB]

Oaks Metropol Townsville- City Scape Studio. 0701B

Very happy with our choice here. Right down the end of Palmer St that makes for longer walks everywhere but quiet, great room with a balcony and views and in excellent condition. Only 30sqm of space but a very functional design, excellent shower, pay tv, dishwasher, washing machine and internet. Looking back, I think we were given a free upgrade from Mount Stuart to City Scape which explains the great views.











Views from balcony

 

[RB]

Around Townsville

Townsville, QLD - Aussie Towns

This was our first visit to this part of Aust. We were on foot, the plan being to pick up the hire car after we had spent our time out on Magnetic Island. I had read some good info on previous trip reports (thanks Dr Ron & bpeteb) and got some helpful hints from people who replied to questions I posted prior to our trip. First step was to don the shorts & t shirt (great coming out of our winter). I did feel a little overdressed in my sandals - do they sell anything other than black thongs up here?
We were looking for an easy late lunch & took the tip of our Uber driver and ate at Simply Tops - a small seafood bar a few minutes walk from the hotel-quite good
The rest of the arvo was spent walking the old CBD area - I think the lack of backpackers may have had an impact here and it seems the satellite areas may have contributed to the numerous empty shops and pubs (the surviving pubs seemed to be thriving). The city was busy with Exercise Talisman Sabre, the V8’s and an NRL game. Heeded DrRon’s advice & I went online in the afternoon and joined the Cowboys Leagues Club - picked up my membership card that night. A well spent $6.60 with the food and beverage discounts it offered.

 

[RB]

Sat 17th July started with a decent brekky - bacon and egg roll at Jamies Joint. We then ventured to the Strand. Luck had it that Ephemera was on Ephemera - Townsville City Council. I think covid impacted some of the plans but we certainly enjoyed our walk with plenty of young families around. It was very noticeable that everyone was up for a friendly greeting - more of a country time type of experience. Some great permanent entertainment along that area with the waterpark, fitness stations, playgrounds and picnic spots. The path is nice and wide throughout.

 

[RB]

We had free tickets to the NRl courtesy of Foxtel. I am not sure if the early afternoon start (moved to fit in with the extra V8 weekend) impacted the players or us more as we sat in the full sun. A crowd of 16,000 in a great stadium with plenty of youngsters and the sponsors seeming to receive plenty of game day exposure, meant we had a great time -all about a 15 min walk from our hotel. Sat night at the Leagues Club was crowded but we enjoyed a good old rock & roll band that was on.
Sun 18th - a short morning Uber ride around to the Sealink Terminal for our transfer out to Magnetic Island and our 3 night stay.

We got there early-crowd built up nicely later on

 

[jastel]

Was there for the V8's and Footy that weekend as well.

Minor detail - the Statue of Liberty looking picture in the water is not part of Epherma...this is the "Ocean Siren" and part of the Museum of Underwater Art which are underwater things divers can see...it changes colour according to the reefs water temperature...though locals tell me it is broken more often than not.

 

[RB]

Sealink Magnetic Island Ferry
We booked our return tickets online and enjoyed a great 50% discount via our NSW Seniors Cards - I think it was the biggest genuine saving we have ever made on the card!
Plenty of room to socially distance while we waited. There was variety of gear carried by people - pushbikes, pot plants, cartons of beer etc. We sat on the back outside deck and enjoyed the views of the port and back to Townsville. Loading and unloading was all very civilised and we only had a very short walk to Magnetic Blue Waterfront Apartments. Our room wasn’t ready but we enjoyed a very nice coffee overlooking the marina area at Nelly Bay.

Couple of views of ferry waiting area




Ferry coming in from Magnetic Island


The ride out. Our bags joined the pile-plenty of undercover space in the event of bad weather

 

[RB]

Magnetic Blue Waterfront Apartments Superior Studio 50sqm
This was an independently owned apartment but check-in check-out was via the main desk. This was a 3 night stay - found the apartment to be a comfortable spot but certainly not the most well laid out studio we have stayed in. We enjoyed the well furnished balcony with great views, excellent shower, good washing machine & wi-fi. We were on the 2nd floor right next to the smaller pool - perhaps a noise issue during peak holiday times. Didn’t find the pool to be particularly clean when I got in and the water was pretty cold so it was a short swim.









We found the balcony excellent. Very comfortable furniture, protection from the weather, great 180 degree views and and only a short walk to the fridge!




Looking back towards Townsville

 

[RB]

Around Magnetic Island
Magnetic Island, QLD - Aussie Towns

We started the 1st arvo shopping at the very good IGA across the road and the bottle shop that adjoined it. Both shops were well stocked & well priced. Rest of the arvo we enjoyed the balcony. The Stuffed On Seafood restaurant HOME | Stuffed on Seafood was about a 3 minute walk from the apartment & we enjoyed the relaxed dining experience-can dine on a verandah or get take-away. Not fine dining but that suited us fine during our stay.

 

[RB]

The first full day we were back into hiking mode and walked from Nelly Bay to Horseshoe Bay. The start gave us a view of the Nelly Bay village through flat streets before a shaded walk over the peak of the island. There is no intro when you leave town, it is straight into a climb. We only saw half a dozen people during the whole hike. There is pretty good signage, a variety of gravel, rocks & steps and you need to be watching your feet with tree roots. We are pretty hike fit so it wasn’t too onerous but we were a bit hot by the finish. The hike ends with a walk alongside the main road leading into Horseshoe Bay village. We rewarded ourselves with a cold drink & excellent seafood pizza before catching the excellent bus service back to Nelly Bay.

This is typical of the first few km









View back towards Townsville at one stage

 

[RB]

More of Horseshoe walk

Getting closer to the rewards










Excellent pub offering

 

[RB]

Day 2 on Magnetic & we caught a bus to the start point of the Forts Walk. This was another well defined walk and for the most part easy going and able to look around with no trip hazards. Certainly more people on the walk, although numbers tailed off on the more difficult area where the command post and observation post are. On the walk back we saw a koala close to the path. Back at the carpark area we caught the bus to Alma Bay - a short look around and then across the road to the rambling Arcadia Village Hotel for lunch. We gave the bus a miss and decided to walk back to Nelly Bay via the Gabul Way. This gave us great views over Geoffrey Bay.





Bit harder after starting off as a road






From the observation post

 

[RB]

Need to climb a couple of these to get to top of the observation post-they suggest you face in on both climb up and down


An eagle eyed Spanish backpacker was the first to see this koala


Alma Bay


Walk from Acadia Village Hotel to Nelly Bay