Townsville - Goodbye to Oz (For Now)

Well, our three months in Australia have come to an end. We certainly enjoyed Townsville: the beaches, botanical gardens, wildlife parks, and walking trails, with just enough cultural offerings to keep us entertained. And our house sit was a good one. The house was clean and comfortable and even I the non-swimmer enjoyed the pool – at least toward the end of our stay after it warmed up. A squeaky, uncomfortable (for us) bed and painfully slow internet were our only gripes. Usually when we house sit we try to be somewhere close to a city center or close to public transportation. That wasn’t the case here and we did have to rent a car for the last month, but we had the use of our hosts’ daughter Erin’s car for the first couple of months, which was a real bonus. And we enjoyed getting to spend some time with Erin, Adam and their kids, and of course their energetic dog Lilly.


Still, as good as our house sit experience was it will be good to leave the household chores behind (garden watering, pool maintenance, yard care and chicken duty for me; cooking, cleaning, laundry for Deborah). Part of the joy of travel is freeing yourself from mundane tasks so you have time for new experiences. Going forward we’ll eat out more (especially in southeast asia where it’s cheap) and someone else will be responsible for keeping our accommodations clean and tidy. So our next stop is Bali, with its rumbling volcano Mount Agung threating to disrupt our plans. We will stay there 10 days or so – maybe more if we really like it, maybe less if there is lava running down the streets.  First, here are a few more random pictures from our stay in Townsville.  Goodbye for now, Australia.  We’ll be back.

Castle Hill as seen from Queens Gardens



Panorama of Townsville from atop Castle Hill



Riverway Walk along the Ross River



Dancer at India Fest



Colorful Grevillea bloom in our front yard



Eucalyptus Trees and Grass Trees (foreground) in our back yard. When the Grass Trees bloom they attract all kinds of birds and butterflies.



Egret in flight along the Ross River



Outside the theater for a surprisingly good performance of Wicked.



Rain Trees in Anderson Park



Too Cute Koala on Magnetic Island



Trellis in Queens Gardens



Short video of a kangaroo bouncing away from us.



Your moment of zen: Sulfur Crested Cockatoos chilling in our back yard.

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