Wandering the streets of Townsville

[greysrigging]

Made a quick trip over to Townsville last week ( investment property inspection.....a poor one as the Townsville property prices are in a deep slump.....oh well.... )

Townsville is probably the driest location on the whole Queensland coast. Residents of wetter areas to the north and south refer to the city as 'Brownsville'. Annual average rainfall is 1100mm or 44". However, most of this falls in the summer months and winters are generally rainless or a couple of inches at best. For our visit the place was nice and green courtesy of a 150mm or 6" unseasonal dump of rain in late May

If one is prepared to pour the water on during the dry months nearly all sub tropical, tropical and equatorial specimans can be grown here. Just walking and driving the streets, the most common public plantings are Foxtails, Royals ( lots of magnificant avenues ) Alexanders, Livistonias and in the shadier spots Licuala.

As an outsider comparing gardens to my home town of Darwin, I would say that Darwin is a 'palmier' place. We get a bit more rain than Townsville and we are substantially warmer in the dry winter months. Also Darwin gardens started from a destroyed base after Cyclone Tracy in 1974 and there were lots of new suburban developments in the '80's and '90's, the heyday of palm cultivation in the far North. Be that as it may, Townsville is a nice place and we spent an enjoyable 5 days wandering the old CBD, the Strand, Castle Hill, Mount Stuart and Magnetic Island.

Was my first visit here since 1979 so yeah, I noticed a few changes....

Here's some pics of the visit......

Townsville from the Castle Hill lookout

Another view of the city from Mount Stuart.

We stayed on the Strand, on the Townsville waterfront precinct. Very pretty spot, lots of parks, gardens, alfresco dining, pubs, beaches and a somber beautifully landscaped War Memorial.  Nice views looking seaward to Magnetic Island.

Some palms along the Strand.

A visit to the Barrier Reef Aquarium in the City 

Many old buildings in the city dating back to the 1880's are heritage listed and preserved.

Looking towards Magnetic Island

Townsville from Magnetic Island.

Magnetic Island is a tourist resort about 5klm from Townsville. A 25 min journey on the Cat. Beautiful place with lots of walking trails, WW2 historical sites, secluded beaches, eateries, bars, dive shops etc.My friend and I hired a Mini Moke for the day to tour around. I even went for a dip in the Pacific Ocean, although it was a quick one....water temp of 22c is a bit too chilly for Northern Territorians. we like our sea water temps above 30c....lol 

 

Nice place for a visit....more so if one is a Palm enthusiast....

[Bennz]

Thanks for the tour!  I spent a night in Townsville about 25 years ago but my recollection o  the place is totally different from the reality. It's a much more attractive place than I remember it. 22C water temp (in winter!) sounds pretty good to me!