Townsville,
Australia
Thursday, April 6, 2006
We arrived in Townsville hopeful that the weather would lift so that we could go to Magnetic Island. Maggie as the locals know it is 15 minutes by boat from Townsville and boasts some of the most beautiful and unspoilt beaches in Oz. That night we booked our tickets and went for a walk along the esplanade. Townsville itself is a lovely town. The next day we woke up yet again in a flooded tent. There had been torrential rainfall all night. This time we thought we'd not let the weather get us down and so headed down to the pier to get the boat to Magnetic Island. Well, we got as far as the pier and the heavens opened. There was no point in going to Magnetic Island. It would have looked crap in the rain anyway. So we phoned the tour operator and asked could we get our money back. She said there was no problem. We thought there was no point hanging around in the rain so we headed north to Cairns.
On the way we had to drive through Mission beach and Innisfail, both of which we devastated by the cyclone. It was 3 weeks on from when Larry hit but the force of the storm and the devastation were still obvious. Banana and sugar cane fields were flattened, the tropical rainforests were bare and most trees were uprooted. Most houses were roofless and some were just piles of rubble. It will be a while before the tourists are back here!
Onwards to Cairns.
