The web says: Townsville lies on the Queensland coast and is located about 17.5 hours drive north of Brisbane and almost 5 hours drive south of Cairns. The area is a vibrant mix of sub tropical rainforests, sandy beaches, rugged outback and quaint coastal townships. Visit Townsville for a sleepy, country holiday.  It has a population of 120,000…

 I was lucky to have two cousins living there who shared their town with me.  My friend and I flew in on Virgin Australia airlines it was about a two hour flight.

My cousin took us to lunch at a nice restaurant on the beach and we got an up close view of black cockatoos eating nuts that had fallen from the trees:

The hills above the town provided marvelous views of the city:

The next day I went for an early morning walk along the Ross River.  The locals get up early to practice rowing on the river:  

The lovely river walk gave me plenty of chances to observe Australian water birds:

The floods and the hot weather further north made it a wise choice not to go to Cairns.  Instead we visited the Coral Reef Aquarium in Townsville:

The Aquarium visit included a quick visit to a sea turtle hospital:

I celebrated my birthday with my wonderful cousins and we packed up for a four day adventure to Magnetic Island where we were promised a chance to see koalas and wallabies in the wild.  We said goodbye to Townsville from the ferry: