Townsville Tourist Attractions - Part 1

With Mum in town - we showed her some of the highlights - the Strand, Mt Stewart Lookout and the Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms.

Normally I wouldn't put a cafe on the higlight list - as there a plenty of cafes in Townsville - but this one is different.
Firstly it is not in Townsville - but west of it up the Hervey Ranges - on the escarpment. Noticeably cooller.
Secondly it is apparently North Queensland's oldest building - a split log construction built circa 1865.
Finally - it serves a very very expensive cup of coffee - $50 / cup - and no it is not Moconna Expresso or even Campos - it is Kopi Luwak - the worlds most expensive coffee!

FYI
Kopi Luwak is an Indonesian coffee made from beans that have passed through the digestive system of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), known in Indonedia as the luwak. Collected from the floor of the jungle, the defecated beans are dried and roasted, and then exported for a price of up to AU$1,250 per kilogram. (Thank you Wikipedia)

I wonder if Poppy would eat coffee beans.......

Pictures of Strand & from Mt Stewart

The New Home

Poppy made herself at home right away - checked out the interior and the yard in pretty short time and then lay down and had a sleep on the tiles. Oh to be a dog - sleep on cue.

The furniture arrived first thing Friday - and the consistent comment was these boxes say Bedroom 1 / Bedroom 2 - where are the rest of the Bedrooms contents - because surely this much stuff cannot come from a 2 bedroom house!

Surprised me a bit as I thought we were fairly minimal in our living - BUT the thing that rapidly became apparent was that Newtown had much more storage than this 4 bedroom behemeath.

We had 2 to 3 times more space - all the bedrooms had built ins - but the cupboards were poorly designed and the shelving ws only 6-7 foot high - not 11 ft as in Newtown.

A quick trip to Bunnings gave us some shelving for the garage - and eventually we found a place for most of our stuff.

The only casualty from the move was the leg of Michelle's piano - but even that was mostly cosmetic.

The Trip North

A little tardy in updating the blog - been settling into the new place.

Here is a catch up from the drive up here - starting in Kiama.
The crew were myself, Mum (Betty) and Poppy (the dog)

16 July - Kiama to Port Macquarie
Early-ish start - the Imprezza packed to the hilt with all the things that were left out of the big pack.












Uneventful day - except for accident just outside Port which made the last 20 km an hour long affair.Port Macquarie continues to grow. Stayed with some family friends and their dog. Fortunately he was old and sedate - so no dramas with him and the cranky old Poppy dog.

17 July - Port to Byron Bay
Made pretty good time - lunched at Coffs and the continued north to Byron - stopping off at Lennox Head - a great little place.
























Stayed in these huge cabins @ Byron Bay.




18 July - Byron Bay to Hervey Bay
Pretty much freeway from a bit north of Byron through to Gympie on the Sunshine Coast - so good driving if a tad bland.

Hervey Bay was a nice surprise and to Poppy's great delight - the beaches were dog friendly!
Never has a dog more enjoyed the simple pleasures of sand between the toes (claws).


And after a good run on the sand - what could be more relaxing than a stroll on a pier - a very long pier!



Really long pier


Poppy - I'm out of here!


19 July - Hervey Bay to Rockhampton
The roads are pretty much single lane now - and not much sightseeing - savannah type landscape.
Stopped in Childers for morning coffee - quite a nice little town.



Headed on up to Rockhampton - which by the number of statues dedicated to bulls must be a big beef area. We were staying in Kinka Beach - a bit past Yeppon was the instructions.
Typically we get their at sunset and Kinka Beach is almost the end of the road - and if you blink you miss it - but we found our accomodation and had some fish & chips and then collapsed.


20 July - Rockhampton to Sarina ( to Townsville)
Poppy had a nice beach run in the morning and then we took off for Sarina - a town a bit south of Mackay.

On the way the map showed a town called Marlborough and it was in relatively large font - indicating (we assumed) a relatively large town - perfect for a coffee break.
Well I think they need to adjust their fonts - 5 houses, a corner store and a pub is not what I would call a 'large town'. The coffee was acceptable - so we cut our losses and headed for Sarina.

And arrived there about 11.30 am - not sure how that happened - but we then decided to poke on to Proserpine or Airlie Beach.
Problem - no dog friendly accommodation at those places - so we took the bit between the teeth and headed for Townsville.

Made it at about 6.30pm.

Saw some cane burning around Ayr - really quite spectacular in the sunset.

So 5 days driving - 2,600 odd kilometers latter and we are in our new home - new empty home - because the removalists weren't due until the 23rd.

Packing Up Newtown

I am in the last throws of packing up Newtown - it is a bit sad leaving your own home - but we now have a new home in Townsville so onward we go.

I have to say - OH&S didn't seem to be a major concern for the removalists - if something was to heavy for one of them - then someone else - bigger and stronger moved the item.

I was particularly impressed with the young bloke who gorilla pressed out galvanised iron outdoor table base and walked it out the back gate without so much as a grunt! I am flat out moving it sideways - so needless to say I was taken aback by this display.

The piano was the next thing that stumped a couple of them - so they were pushed aside while the really strong lads had a go.

As always - when the house is finally emptied out - it looks tiny. It really surprises me how space seems to collapse once the contents are removed.

I had someone come a touch up a few areas - the skrting board that Poppy chewed - the back of the door that Poppy scratched and a couple of dodgy cracks which are part and parcel of old terraces. My last handyman task was to do the touch up pinting which went great until the last wall whereby wild mushroom turned out off white and didn't match the rest of the wall. Doh!

Got the real estate to organise painter to fix it ready for the new tennants.

Feels strange renting your home!

First Pictures of the House

Michelle is now living in the house - albeit on minimal furnshings - a new bed, a bar fridge & a washing machine (curtesy of Mr H. Norman Townsville). She also has a few essentials - kindly provided by co-workers until the house proper is moved up from Newtown.

A couple of pics of house:



























And importantly - water in the form of an inground spa!














We also have this strange grassed area - which I am told is called a lawn!




















Lucky we own a little sheep to keep the grass down!

First Visitor

Well the honour of the first visitor to Townsville has been taken! Michelle's friend Viv visited the solo Michelle for a few days in late June.

There appeared to be a culinary bent to the visit -as the entire days visit was planned around where to eat and and when to eat.

Accordingly Michel's Restarant and Touch of Salt and Ozman's are all a thumbs up with two thumbs up for Peppers Magnetic Islands "Long Lunch & Spa Treatment". Apparently a spa treatment followed by a two course lunch is a very fine way to spend a Saturday.

Viv also christened the new "lounge suite" - sometimes known as Bean Bags!

Michelle was also very impressed with Magnetic Island - but a little focused on the spa - so she only took a picture of one thing - a very impressive Fig Tree!

We have 4 bedrooms!

Coming from a 2 bedroom terrace in Newtown - we were expecting a slight increase in size of property in Townsville. There are several new develpoments around Townsville - Bushland Beach to the north of Townsville, a new development out near Thuringowa (West of Townsville) & Idalia / Fairfield Waters (South of Townsville).

We settled on Idalia / Fairfield Waters/ Annandale areas and had 2 real criteria - must have airconditioning (a given in Townsville) plus it must have a pool or spa. Surprisingly the pool or spa criteria is not that common (at least not in rental market) - so the 3 or 4 we found - we quickly arranged inspections for.
We saw a brand new place - ie no lawn, still finishing off house - nice but a little sterile.
We saw a slightly older place in Annandale with a very nice pool - too bad the house was filthy! We also so a "beautifully renovated" Queenslander - and when I say "beautifully renovated" I am using agent speak ie it has had the floors polished and a new coat of paint.

We also saw the house we are now renting - advertised as 4 bedrooms, 2 bath, 2 car + spa.

Michelle refers to the place as the tardis - as on first looks - it appears unassuming - normal size - but once you enter the 'tardis' space and time seems to warp (at least it does for a couple used to a 9 sqaure house in Newtown).

The current occupants were there when we inspected it & they had a dog so - Tick - pets allowed.

The front is fairly typical - double garage, front door - 2 bedrooms - one either side of the front door. You then enter this L shaped space which is the lounge / kitchen / dining space and is enormous. I would say this space is larger than our Newtown house. They had a fair bit of furniture and the space still seemed a tad empty - I am not sure how we are going to fill it.

On the outside of this space - there was an in-ground spa probably big enough for 4 to 6 people - Tick - water.

At the end of the room was the bathroom, then another bedroom, the laundry and then the main bedroom.

Michelle and I being slightly ignorant of the size of these places - we couldn't find the second bathroom. We asked the agent and low & behold the she opened up the sliding doors in the main bedroom (which we had assumed was the built in wardrobe) and on one side was a full ensuite and the other a walk in wardrobe.

Opposite the house is a park and down the road is the Ross River walkways - which span 20 -30 km from the CBD to the Uni.

To see our place via google maps - click on this link
Craig & Michelle's Townsville Home

Beautiful One Day..........

I just thought - given our imminent departure from the Harbour City to destinations tropical - I would capture a few thoughts, observations and anecdotes on the relocation to a tropic clime.

I will try to share our experiences, challenges and inevitable learnings from the process while keeping you moderately (hopefully) amused.

Observation 1 - "Winter" weather is a lot nicer in Townsville than in Sydney.
The locals would kinda say - duh - but as we are in the tropics - there is no winter - only the Dry and the Wet. Fortunately Michelle was hired in May to start in June in her new role - so we get to experience the best of the dry season - I think the day time temperatures are between 26 and 27 at the moment - blue skies - very nice.
Everyone says that the "Summer" is real hot!

Pic -The Jetty on the Strand - Magnetic Island in background


Observation 2 - Townsville is a bicycle riders town.
Townsville is very flat - apart from the "meteorite" that is called Castle Hill. I am very much looking forward to riding my bike pretty much everywhere in Townsville - as it is flat but also it appears very pro-bike riders with bike lanes on most roads and bike paths stretching along the waterfronts and rivers that bound the city.

View from Castle Hill out to East of Townsville











Anecdote 1 - Real Estate Agents DON'T open on weekends. (Actually we were told that some do - but not the 6 or 7 we had dealings with!)

Observation 3 (or is it anecdote 2) - It is totally reasonable to eat Steak every time you go out - 4 dinners - 3 steaks (+ 1 lamb) - when you are on a good thing - stick to it I say!

More Pics of the Strand












Bugger!