DrFanny
Looking across to Magnetic Island from The Strand 
Fabulous! The icy flavourings match my dress! 
Snow cones at the markets 
Swim! Swim! Swim! 
Splash! Splash! Splash! 
Daddy said never eat anything larger than your head .. 
The pomelo is going to last us days 
All the Ps… passionfruit, papaya, pineapple… 
Hard to resist a fruit stall as good as this!
We’ve had a few days in Townsville. We finally decided that this would be the northern-most point on our (first?) loop of Queensland – although the lure of Cairns and the Daintree is strong, the long days to get the kilometres done is far less attractive!
After three nights at Big Crystal Creek, we needed the relative luxury of electricity, drinking water, and a washing machine and so booked four nights at a caravan park that also came with a waterpark!
It’s hard not to fall in love with Townsville in early October. The days have been sunny and hot (but not too hot), there has been a cool sea breeze, and apart from the pool and slide at the caravan park there is also the beach (The Stand Rockpool was yesterday’s choice) plus an amazing, unbelievably free pool at the Riverview Lagoons. On reflection, we probably didn’t need the swimming pool at the caravan park.
The Willows Sunday markets were good fun, with snow cones for the girls, coffee for the adults and plenty of glorious fruit and veg to buy. We also walked away with another flower (this one a beautiful Desert Rose) after Ruby stunned the stall owner with her fascination for plants.
There’s no problem managing 5 a day in northern Queensland, at least not in our family! At the markets Richard bought a huge pomelo, which we have been slowly devouring over the last few days. It’s a particular hit in Bircher muesli, mixed up the night before with oats, yoghurt, and dates.
Apart from pomelo, we’ve also had the most deliciously perfumed and sweet passionfruit, papaya, and pineapple! Most of which we found at our probably-hard-to-beat new favourite roadside fruit stall, just before the Big Crystal Creek campground.
We finished our time in Townsville at Museum of Tropical Queensland – well worth a few hours, especially on a hot day. I was really moved by the Ink in the Lines Tattoo exhibition (beautiful photographs of the tattoos of Defence Force veterans, along with a description of their meaning to the owner). The girls went bananas in the Enchanted rainforest (Mum! There’s a slide! In the museum!). And we all had a good time in the Sciencentre – a hands on room full of mini experiments.
