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Day Seventeen – Townsville to Melbourne – Crystal Creeks and City Streets

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Matt took a half day off work today so I spent the morning packing up my bag to leave and then around lunchtime Matt came back from work. We headed to GYO to pick up some Karachi chicken, the best God damn chicken you’ll ever have in your life. We then made the hour drive out to Little Crystal Creek to go creek swimming. I did a lot of this when I was in Cairns and it never ever gets old. This is probably one of my favourite things to do ever. I never get bored and could just stay there for the rest of my life. If I lived here I would just head down to the creek at the weekends with my friends and go rock jumping, rock sliding and swimming in the refreshing creek.

We did a lot of jumping and damn it was scary, probably one of the biggest rocks I’ve jumped off but there were like four other people there doing it and one thing about me is if I see others having fun I can’t miss out on it. I needed to be doing what they were doing and I needed to be doing it just as well if not better. Unfortunately we couldn’t spend a whole host of time here because we needed to get back on the road to get me back in time to catch my flight.

When I arrived back home I quickly showered and changed round before heading the the airport. We arrived at the airport forty minutes before my flight was meant to depart. Pretty nerve racking when you’re in the queue to check your bags and the flight is already boarding but oh well, I caught the flight and had maximum amount of time in the creek earlier so cutting it fine pays off.

Once on the plane I caught up on writing and just chilled for the three hours. A crazy German man sat next to me trying to tell me all about his life. It was quite an interesting life with many stories but he wouldn’t listen to anything I said in return and it started to grate on me. I’ve found that a lot of peope love talking about themselves and don’t spend enough time listening, particularly men. It becomes quite frustrating.

When the plane arrived we disembarked onto the runaway and the first thing I notice about Melbourne is ‘damn it’s cold’. It’s meant to be summer here but 12 degrees ain’t summer to me. As the flight was domestic the whole journey was pretty easy and it took me no time to be outside and boarding the skybus into the city. Once in the city I took a taxi to my hostel and checked in. The hostel was really nice and pretty quirky but everyone in my room was asleep and it was hard to see which beds were taken so I stumbled around and found a bed which seemed empty and climbed in. I spent a good few hours awake just in case there was an owner of the bed who may come back at anytime and wake me up but I soon fell asleep.

Day Sixteen – Townsville – Happiness is Both Alone and Together

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I spent the day by myself today with a car. I had to get up early to take Emily to work and to go to my doctors appointment so it meant that I had a perfect fresh start to have a full day. This is definitely something I needed after all the lazy days.

After my appointment finished I went to the rock pool for a good swim. It felt so good to have some proper exercise and to just swim up and down like I’m used to and I know I’m good at. After this I drove up to Castle Hill overlooking Townsville. I climbed over the railings and down to a rock outcrop far away from the path. I sat there for two hours by myself and looking at the phot above you’ll know why. I could sit there all day.

I had to leave this gorgeous view to go meet Matthew for lunch. We went back to the place we had cocktails the other night for a greasy pulled pork sandwich. It was good, I really like the hipsterisms in Townsville. I just didn’t expect them to had made it here and I like it. I think out of all of the fads there have been, emo, punk etc, hipsters is the best. We may have to agree to disagree.

After lunch I headed over to the aquarium and spent the rest of the afternoon there. Aquariums are some of my most favourite places in the world. I sat for a good hour watching this one fish. He had so much character and he seemed so happy and lively, he was very entertaining. I could definitely relate to him and I think he liked me to. Just before I left I checked out the turtle hospital where they bring in sick turtles and nurse them back to health before releasing them into the wild again. It made my heart break. There were turtles who had swallowed plastic bags which makes them float and if they float they can’t dive down to collect food so they start to starve to death. Other turtles had been hit by boats cracking their shell. A turtle shell is connected to their spine so it’s like a boat hitting you in your back and snapping your spine, paralysing you. It was nice to see people doing something for these turtles but there was only enough room for ten turtles in the hospital. There must be so many other turtles who are also being affected by man made issues. I just wanted to write about this here to raise a little extra awareness around the world.

We went out for dinner tonight as it was my last no to in Townsville. We went down to a surfbar on the seafront where it was nice to here the sea waves as we ate. Another one of my favourite places is the sea at night, it’s so calming and romantic and reminiscent of good times in my youth. After dinner we headed to the new chocolate shop which had opened in town. The queue was pretty massive but we waited anyway getting plenty of free chocolate samples. I bought some chocolates for us and for myself I bought a small pot of liquid chocolate. Why not indulge?

We then went home to nurse out chocolate comas and had a little play on Emily’s new PS3 playing buzz. I was much better at it than I expected to be.
Today was an absolutely quality day. I loved every minute of it, packing it full and exploring as much as I could in Townsville and ending it happy and safe with my family. Let’s hope there are plenty more of these days in the next week.

Day Fifteen – Townsville – Look After Your Body and Mind

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Latest start this whole trip. So ashamed… 12pm rise. But hey ho. I spent the day running errands. I went to the doctor for a check up just cause you should ey. I didn’t have a car so it was a 50min round trip in 38 degree heat. Not too bad and I needed to stretch my legs and clear my lungs after all the stress I’ve been putting my body through.

After the doctors I took a walk around town just because I really needed to sweat more… After that I came home and took a well earned dip in the pool trying to work on my Queensland tan while I can.

I really wanted to let Matthew and Emily know how greatful I am to them for looking after me so I walked down to woollies to pick up some groceries. I could Matt and Em stuffed mushrooms on toast with salad (amazing, tasty, if I do say so myself) and for dessert I rustled up a Mary Berry lemon pot. It was a nice way to show the guys how happy I was but also gave me a chance to something I love; cooking.

We spent the rest of the evening lounging around and enjoying the company of family. It’s funny how quickly I’ve reverted back from the crazy Cairns backpacker lifestyle into a nice sophisticated family lifestyle. It’s intriguing how quickly we can adapt and change and how life just drags us down paths. I think it’s so important to find the strength to protect yourself and pull yourself away from these paths to find new ones. Otherwise we will spend our whole lives floating down the same rivers. I’m having an amazing time here in Townsville but I’m going to be glad to move on because I know there are just as amazing things in other places.

Day Twelve – Cairns to Townsville – Family Reunions

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I had yet another hangover this morning proving I’m only burning the candle at both ends. I had to be up early to make it down to the bus stop to catch my bus to Townsville. With pack on my back I walked down to the fleet terminal and waited for the 6hour bus ride.

Once on the bus I slept laying down for as long as possible until a guy had to take the seat next to me. So I spent the rest of the journey listening to music, looking out the window and thinking about the amazing times in Cairns. It’s just constant sadness here where you have to leave but you soon forget it and get over it. Then you realise that something else incredible is going to happen and you never know what to expect. It was s good journey and a good time to reflect.

I arrived in Townsville around 2pm and Emily (my sister-in-law) picked me up from the bus station. We ran a few errands before taking me back to the apartment. I waited on the sofa while she went to go collect Matt (my brother). I should probably say again that the main purpose of this trip is to come to Australia to surprise my brothers. So as I’m sat on the sofa I hear them coming in through the door. Matthew looks at me in sheer confusion not really recognising me and then runs at me and gives me a massive hug. It’s definitely a bigger reaction than I expected and it really touched me. It was so good to see family and a real familiar faces.

We got changed and went out for dinner in The City Lanes Townsville. We had some amazing Japanese food and some cocktails in quite a hipster area of town. Not a concept I thought existed in Australia but I loved it. It was damn hot and we were all tired especially me who was running a ten day hangover so we went home and I slept the best I had slept in a long time. Exhaustion mixed with contentment formed the perfect basis for sleep. Yet again I went to bed beaming from ear to ear.