Strand Pier, Townsville

New-to-Us Port #2.

Located on the north eastern shore of Queensland, Townsville is the gateway to the central portion of the Great Barrier Reef.

Magnetic Island, a popular place to go snorkeling, is just a short ferry ride away. But we plan to do that when we drive up north along the shore later during our Australian adventure. So, today we hopped on the courtesy shuttle from the cruise terminal to the CBD to check out the city.

Our plan was to stroll The Strand, a promenade fronting a tropical beach, and then go to the Reef HQ, an aquarium filled with flora and fauna native to the Great Barrier Reef. No can do on the latter … it’s closed for Boxing Day. As a matter of fact, the entire city had a deserted vibe. The only places where we saw people in large numbers were at the water playgrounds on The Strand.

As hot as today was — 97F at one point before noon — one would expect the beach to be packed. Nope. This is stinger season … and the stingers in Australia can be downright deadly. For that same reason, Mui stayed away from the beach as well.

Our 1.5-mile stroll took us to the gates of the Jezzine Barracks. But we made it no further. The sun was blazing hot. There was no breeze to provide relief away from the shoreline. Nor any shade. Deciding that the barracks would just have to go on the “later” list, we looked around for a place to grab some food … preferably somewhere with A/C. No luck. So, we ordered up an Uber to return us to the CBD.

Thanks to our Uber driver, we found the only restaurant that seemed to be open … The Courtyard on City Lane. On a non-holiday weekday, the place I am sure would be hopping. Not today. Except for a family of four, we were the only ones there. No matter … the beer was ice cold; the cheeseburger spring rolls were piping hot, and both the burger and the pork pibil tacos were tasty.

After lunch, we walked the short distance to the shuttle stop and managed to snag a couple of the last few seats remaining. The A/C upon entering the cruise terminal was like manna from heaven … a cold shower once back in the cabin was even better.Read more