townsville (uno)

Townsville - it was like stepping into a time warp. And now it's like trying to step back into time into that time warp (erm... does that even make sense) to remember what happened. So I'll split this up into days - trying to remember all four days at once might make me explode.

Friday (Day One):

I was up around 3am-ish, and left home at 4am to make my way to the airport for our 7am flight. It was early, I was cold and tired, and by the time we got to the airport to drop our baggage, the queue was huge. Anyway, the four of us managed to finally get on board after a slight delay, and I managed to sleep through a bulk of the two hour flight, despite a window seat with a nice view. After landing in Townsville, we caught a hybrid cab (Ray really really wanted to ride in the hybrid) to our apartment. Well, as close as he could get to our apartment anyway - there was an Anzac Day march happening along The Strand, complete with road closures. The Strand ran between us and our apartment. So we had to cut through the march... hope that isn't regarded as being disrespectful or anything.

Our room wasn't ready until about 2pm, so we left our bags there and headed out into the heat of the sun (it wasn't humidity, it was just the sun beating down on us, trying to fry us as quickly as possible... and I had jeans on) to explore Townsville.

There really wasn't that much to it. Nothing much was open, being a public holiday and all. I was hot and tired. After walking along a bit of The Strand and finding some brunch, it was into the "city". This coincided with a tirade of whinging and complaining (both shared openly and kept deep down inside) on my behalf.

Flinders Mall was deserted. Most shops were closed. Victoria Bridge was a little pedestrian bridge. Chasing air conditioning, we went to Reef HQ. It was a smaller Underwater World without the travelator. Finally we got the call saying our apartment was ready. On the way back we went to check out the museum, and found that we needed to be local residents to get in for free - otherwise you had to pay some sum of money for admission that wasn't worth it.

First thing we did when we got to the apartment was hit the air con to full blast and bask in the awesomeness of the coolness (both ways). We had a great view from the apartment balcony. After settling in, we decided to venture out again for food. First plan was Woolies - when we got there, that was closed. Duh.

Anyway, following a feed at the one cafe that was open in the mall, we headed up Castle Hill. Ray went ahead because he was so cool (or so he thinks). Stormy and Paul hung back to make sure that I made it up there alive. I really struggled on the walk up, could've been the lack of sleep, but maybe it was just because I'm unfit and I suck. Don't know how I'll manage the half marathon I've got in two months' time...

The view from the top was awesome, and well worth the struggle up there. I had forgotten my camera back at the apartment though. You could see everything. Well, not literally everything. That would be weird. While up there, Stormy spotted what she thought was the Melbourne Storm training on a football field. This may be a good opportunity to add that the primary reason for visiting Townsville that weekend was to watch the NQ Cowboys (Paul's heroes) play the Storm (funnily enough, Storm's object of support). When we went down, we decided to check it out. And she was right. Not to mention excited.

We watched them train from the sidelines (with the sounds of coach Bellamy's foul mouthed commands filling the air), followed by a bit of a meet and greet session. I kept Paul company (who had a Cowboys jersey on) while Storm ran around like a kid in a candy shop, meeting the players, as well as photos and the odd signature.

Next stop was the apartment - we were all tired after the climb and just wanted to sit down and watch the footy on TV, though we had to actually get there first, which involved walking back. When we finally got there, Stormy passed out on the couch while Paul and I ducked back out to find some dinner. After eating and watching the footy, that's all I remember of Friday. So I'll leave it there before I strain my brain a little too much.