Day 311 – North Qld (21 July)

Midge Point, Townsville
Took Coco for an early morning walk along the beach and watched the sunrise.  It was exceptionally pretty and Coco enjoyed the run along the beach with no one else around.  We packed and left for the trek to Townsville – north 320kms. Looking at a map Townsville would be in line about 3/4 of the way to Broome from Port Hedland.  It is the capital of North Queensland. Townsville lies roughly in line with 80 Mile Beach in WA (380kms south of Broome).  There is talk of making Townsville the second capital city in Queensland and directing the population boom in SE Qld to here although the locals believe the infrastructure would have to be improved upon a lot to make it sustainable.  Townsville is one of the few places that has had an increased population growth during the recession with an average of 5000 people moving here last year alone.  It sure is a big city – don’t think we have seen so many shopping centres and showrooms.  We are staying at a Seventh Day Adventist convention centre that has an area set aside for campers and caravans.  A very basic no frills place but OK for a few days.  It is very central within walking distance to the largest shopping centre in Townsville called Stockland.  The park backs onto the river which is very nice and has some great cycleways for walking.   Can walk forever.   There is fenced off leash doggie playground along the river that has agility equipment for the dogs to play on.  It is very well done.  I took a reticent Coco in there as there were lots of other dogs for her to play with but ever since she got dragged through the fence by her tail she is not keen to get near a fence with dogs on the other side.  I persevered and she spent the time sniffing the garden edges and then sat at the gate to go out.  A friendly german shepherd took a shine to her and followed her around the park but she wasn’t interested.  She must have an attitude as dogs start to come towards and then back away – she is funny and only seems to take to a few dogs.   The weather is just perfect about 27 in the day and down to 18 at night.   Bliss!