2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip
Day 74/105 - Townsville, Australia - Billabong Sanctuary and Castle Hill
UPDATE:
I was able to spend time in better WiFi today and got the videos uploaded from yesterday. Check out the snorkeling videos in
yesterday's post.
We find ourselves in Townsville, Australia today. Townsville sounds like a goofy name. Make up your mind - it is a town or a village? Actually, Townsville is named for Robert Towns who, with investors, was responsible for the development of Townsville.
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| You only pay for what you need... |
Townsville is lovely with nice, hilly areas surrounding the city.
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| That's Castle Hill in the background - we're going there today |
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| This is a huge sugar port - that ship on the left of our dock will transport raw sugar |
Our tour today was the optional tour, Townsville & Billabong Sanctuary. According to the internet, a Billabong is a pond or pool of water that is left behind when a river alters course or after floodwaters recede. Billabong Sanctuary is a preserve for animals in an area with lots of natural water features.
We saw tons of cool animals that all appeared to be well cared for. I will be using Google Lens to provide descriptions of most of the animals. Blame it for incorrect identification, not me.
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| Magpie goose |
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| A convention |
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| Plumed whistling ducks |
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| They were all over the place |
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| Mostly ibises |
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| Wombats |
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| Monitor lizard |
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| This little guy was running around the handrails |
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| Koalas - we were allowed to get next to, but not touch or hold them - we didn't have the koalafications |
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| Snoozin' |
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| Does this look comfy? |
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| Out cold |
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| Gallinule |
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| Our guide brought out a non-venomous snake |
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| That's an appropriate tat... |
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| Next up was a two to three-year-old crocodile - its mouth was taped for safety |
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| The guide said to not hold it so close as it could swipe its head and break glasses |
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| Turtles |
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| They have several crocs here - this one, Jupiter, is blind in one eye and missing several teeth |
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| Feeding it a chicken |
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| Crocs have the strongest bite force of any animal |
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| Serious teeth |
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| Crocodile orthodontia anyone? |
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| A prehistoric tail |
There were lots of other, smaller crocs as well.
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| Relaxing kangaroos |
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| Wallabies were just hanging out too |
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| Possibly a Muscovy duck |
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| Kookaburra |
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| I think this is a whistling kite |
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| Pink cockatoos |
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| Bush-stone curlew |
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| Australian brushturkey |
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| Bearded dragon |
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| Possibly budgies |
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| Emu |
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| Ibis seminar |
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| Red-tailed black cockatoo |
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| Southern cassowary |
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| These are enormous birds |
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| Cassowaries are the third heaviest bird on earth after two breeds of ostrich |
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| They can range from 4'11" to 5'11" high and weigh between 37 and 154 pounds |
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| They eat fruit and don't digest the sees - their droppings are filled with seeds and natural fertilizer so they are credited with spreading vegetation |
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| Ritchie the McCaw |
Our visit was terrific and I definitely recommend this place. Next, we drove to Castle Hill, a large hill in the area offering panoramic views. It is a giant pink granite monolith just a few meters short of being classified as a mountain.
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| This stone was originally erected in Sydney over the grave of Robert Towns, the person this town is named for |
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| Cleveland Bay |
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| I can see our stateroom from here! |
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This absolutely stunning Ulysses butterfly was zipping about |
To make it even better, the AAF – Australia Air Force – was doing maneuvers with what appeared to be F-35s and we got to watch the action.
Our bus finished with a tour of the city before returning us to the ship. We headed onboard and grabbed lunch and then headed back out, taking the shuttle into the city. A local map showed street art throughout the area, so we walked around and spotted all of it.
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| This sign just struck me as funny |
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| A bush-stone curlew, hanging out in town |
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| I wish I could explain why the camera didn’t focus on this, but I can’t - still, you get the idea |
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| Many of the art pieces were positioned so it was impossible to get a decent full image |
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| This wasn’t part of the official street art, but it looked cool |
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| This also wasn’t official, but they did a nice job painting the building so I thought I’d include it |
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| Another unfortunate placement |
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| The city buses even look like art |
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| Another unofficial piece |
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| A favorite |
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| I like this one too |
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| Another unofficial work on a closed business |
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| We both liked this one |
We saw every one of the listed pieces plus a few bonus ones. It was quite hot and we were happy to meet the air-conditioned shuttle for the return trip to the ship.
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| Viking Orion, looking fine |
As we sailed, we caught a portion of the sunset from the Explorers’ Bar.
We are sailing south to the Whitsunday Islands for tomorrow’s adventures.
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