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.