Townsville

A pleasant little town. As usual, the shops are set well back from the road under a deep overhang to keep the sun off. Temperature's a deliciously pleasant 28C falling to about 23C at night: perfect! The B&B has its own swimming pool which the owners keep at 30C with the help of solar panels. I'm no water baby, but it's great to be able to go for a dip as and when...

There's a biggish museum here, mainly devoted to the wreck of HMS Pandora: the ship that came out after the mutineers of the Bounty and then sunk off the Great Barrier Reef. A full-size reconstruction of the prow shows just how small these vessels were... They've recovered drinking glasses, dinner services, sail repair kits etc etc. All quite fascinating.

Went over to Magnetic Island for the day yesterday. Regular ferries and a good on-island bus service. Very much geared towards tourism, and yet I felt it would be quite a nice place to live, so long as one had a property set well back from the road! Palm-fringed beaches, sailing boats bobbing about in the bay, even the bi-plane used in the film the Red Baron. Certainly a good selection of places to eat and drink and admire the view...