Another “look around” day. We began by checking out a couple of the warehouses nearby – just across the road is a shopping centre for warehouse type businesses – Sportscene had lots of bargains, especially shoes and clothing. I bought a pair of $119 shoes for $79! Mum bought a set of dumb-bells for $20. She’s been on the lookout for a set since she saw a bloke in Emerald exercising with some. Toyworld had a massive building filled with just about everything you could imagine – Jack’s birthday was taken care of.
Next we wanted to have a look at the centre of the CBD and found it a bit sad, very sad actually, and definitely a long way inferior to Wollongong. The Townsville Mall is the subject of discussion just as ours is and many of the same options are being debated. Townsville doesn’t have any major department stores like Myer or DJs although there is some redevelopment about to be carried out. We were very disappointed with the CBD as there is just nothing to attract people to the city centre – markets are held in the Mall every Sunday and are apparently quite popular. We’ll find out on Sunday.
One of the big things in Townsville’s favour is parking. Apart from a number of parking stations there is a huge area just across the river where free parking is available. A free bus service runs to the city centre but as it’s only a short walk across a footbridge we didn’t wait for the bus.
Mum shouted lunch at the Cowboys’ Leagues Club which is in the Mall - $5.50 each and was quite good. It also gave us a chance to rest up and watch the swimming on the big screen.
Mum had a training swim at the pool on the Strand and did almost as much as yesterday. Given she hasn’t been able to swim for five weeks there’s a bit of catching up to do. I timed her over 200m breaststroke in the 25m pool and she was happy with 4 mins 40 sec.
Yesterday we came across a water playground on the Strand but the water is turned off on Wednesdays so we went back to have a look today. Absolutely brilliant. The kids there were having a great time even though it wasn’t very hot. Right at the very top is a huge bucket and when it fills with water it tips over and pours the water out. See todays photos!
We’ve decided to stay on here an extra four days so will now leave on Sat 23rd. There’s enough to keep us occupied and I don’t believe the car will be back on the road by Monday. Tomorrow we should get a better idea of the repairs time line. Where we’ll go when we leave is up in the air, probably back to Charters Towers for a few days – after that, who knows?
1 comment:
sounds like you have had a great time there and seem to find all the bargan meals!
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