Around Australia in 8 Days

This time last week, we were flying back from sunny Adelaide after an Easter retreat on the SA coast. 12 hours after landing, Uta was off to Brisbane, while I flew off to Sydney, followed later in the week by Canberra. We regrouped back in Melbourne Friday night, but were off again on Sunday - Uta back to Brisbane, while I headed out to the novel destination of Townsville.

Townsville. What to say? Nestled on the coast of northern Queensland, it's a small tropical paradise (of sorts). It's an important military town, used by both the navy and the army. With under 200,000 residents, there's not much going on, just sunshine, beach, and water. Arriving yesterday on a Sunday night, I was a bit taken aback by how quiet the town was - I mean, I'm accumstomed to sleepy Aussie towns on Sunday evenings, but this was absurd. It's the kind of place where the local news reports on scandals at the local primary school or thefts of street signs. Two of the commericals I saw on TV this evening featured a medication to rid cattle of parasites and a public service announcement asking people to be vigilant against pools of standing water on their property to aid in the prevention of dengue fever. The pedestrian mall next to the Holiday Inn (the tallest building in town) features as many vacant store fronts as occupied ones, so it appears that the rapid economic boom that's plauging southeast Queensland has yet to make it this far north.

That said, it's actually somewhat of a picturesque little community. The cliffs backing the beachfront have a diverse array of quaint houses perched on their sides, commanding what I'm sure are wonderful views. Meanwhile, the town is an excellent jumping off point for other spots such as the wet tropics, Magnetic Island, or the Great Barrier Reef. And I'm guessing the cost of living here isn't nearly as high as Australia's more famous and populous seaside communities, yet there's no shortage of late 19th century tropical architecture (some of it reminiscent of New Orleans, only here they've got enough sense to put things on stilts). I'd be interested in coming back at some point in the future and exploring a bit more of the city and the surrounding region.