Townsville QLD

Today we redefined bravery – wearing Blues gear deep inside enemy territory, north of the Tropic of Capricorn.

We departed Airlie Beach at a respectable time this morning under yet another sun shower. Honestly, Queensland’s weather seems incapable of committing to a single season for more than about 20 minutes.

It was a relatively short drive today, with a detour for coffee and breakfast/morning tea in Bowen. Naturally, no visit would be complete without stopping for a happy snap at the Big Mango. At around 10 metres tall and modelled on the iconic Kensington Pride variety, it’s a fitting tribute to one of Australia’s biggest mango-growing regions. At this rate we’ll need a separate album just for oversized roadside objects.

We rolled into Townsville around lunchtime to a gloriously sunny 27 degree afternoon. After checking into our lakeside ensuite site at Townsville Lakes Holiday Park, the boys headed straight for the pool while Anthony tackled the day’s most important task – fixing the caravan TV aerial so it points in the right direction for tonight’s State of Origin decider!

Come game time however, we followed a hot tip from a local (potentially risky move in itself 😳) and ventured to the Seaview Hotel on the Townsville waterfront. Apart from us, just about every person in the place appeared to be wearing Queensland colours. So if there are no more Penguin posts after tonight, assume we made one critical mistake… we cheered too loudly.

P.S. Final score 30-12, Go the blues! Our local team curse prevails - wherever we go the local team loses 😆Read more