Townsville
The largest city in Australia’s tropical north enjoys more than 320 days of sunshine every year. But there’s more to the destination than just size and sunshine ...
Townsville folks love reciting the facts because the energetic north Queensland settlement has a swag of enviable statistics to spruik. Not only is the destination the largest city in Australia’s tropical Top End — a regional population of almost 300,000 people makes Townsville bigger than Darwin or Cairns — but the spot also enjoys more than 320 days of sunshine every year making it a wintertime playground.
There are direct flights from four Australian capitals, as well as two international destinations with Air Niugini hopping to Port Moresby and Jetstar to Bali, with Tiger the latest domestic airline to serve the city recently adding direct flights from Melbourne that have travellers spending less than three hours in the sky. But there’s more to the destination than just size and sunshine, so here are six more facts and figure sure to inspire a tour of Townsville.
Townsville sits between two UNESCO icons
While Townsville serves as a gateway to rainforest, reef and outback it’s the first two that get all the glory with visitors eagerly embarking upon day trips to immerse in these legendary northern ecosystems.
The Paluma Range National Park, a 45minute motor north from Townsville, is a tiny segment of the vast Wet Tropics of Queensland which stretches 450km along the country’s northeast coast and has been an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988.
Start a visit to the rainforest by exploring Little Crystal Creel — a chain of gurgling waterfalls feed pools that provide the perfect place to take a dip on a hot day — then venture along the mountain road to Paluma which is a historic hamlet with shops lining the main street and walking trails disappearing into the jungle.
Those looking to stay a little longer should pack the camping gear and pitch a tent in the national park or make reservations at Hidden Valley Cabins which offer a serene off-grid experience from the property’s scenic perch on the Paluma Range’s western slope.
The Great Barrier Reef is a two-hour boat ride from Townsville with SeaLink — the company that runs the Magnetic Island ferry as well as excursions to the Cape Cleveland Lighthouse and Orpheus Island — host daylong outings to Kelso Reef that include snorkelling sessions to spy the colourful coral ad vibrant fish just below the surface.
Adrenaline Snorkel & Dive is the only Townsville tour operator venturing across the deep blue to Lodestone Reef where guests can embark on underwater adventures to spot rays, giant clams, clown fish and reef sharks.
The Adrenalin team also take experienced divers to see the SS Yongala, a ship that went to the bottom off the coast of Aye in 1911 that’s now considered to be one of the world’s top 10 dive sites, with one outing including night dives to the wreck.
Maggie is home to Northern Australia’s largest koala colony
Not only is Magnetic Island — or Maggie, as the locals know it — home to the largest colony in the country’s north but it’s also considered to be one of the healthiest with the community mercifully chlamydia free and most breedingage females producing a baby every year.
The best way to see these animals in the wild is by completing the Forts Walk, a ``moderate’’ 4km hike that takes in a complex of WWII forts as well as offering spectacular elevated views across the island, with locals recommending visitors look for droppings on the ground rather than trying to spot the camouflaged creatures in the branches.
Townville was home to 50,000 allied troops during WWII
While Townsville is a military town, with hundreds of army and air force personal and their families stationed around the suburbs, men and women in uniform are nothing new with the area home to more than 50,000 Australian and American troops during World War II.
Many of the temporary wartime residents lived in Jezzine Barracks, the complex crowing Kissing Point at the northern end of The Strand, and today there’s a walking trail with footpath murals and information plates explaining the role the location played during the Battle for the Coral Sea.
Toby Dean from Tour Townsville offers a military history tour that takes in museums, memorials and monuments with this former soldier helping visitors piece together the wartime people and places so important to the town’s story.
Australia’s highest waterfall is just up the road
Nearby Ingham — the rural enclave 100km from Townsville established generations ago by the Italian migrants that settled to grow cane — is home to Wallaman Falls which, with a 269m drop, is Australia’s highest permanentdrop waterfall and Girringun National Park’s most famous landmark.
Spend a day exploring Ingham and stop at Tyto Wetlands which boasts more bird species than Kakadu, join an indigenous guide from Mungalla Aboriginal Tours to discover 45,000 years of Nywaigi culture, and head to Lou’s Food Emporium when hunger hits to stock up at the market locals say is north Queensland’s best deli.
Townsville is the spot to savour Australia’s best breakfast
Jam, the stylish open-all-day restaurant at one end of Palmer Street, was honoured by the Australian Savour Awards for serving Australia’s very best breakfast and while there’s everything from eggs Benedict to Townsville tiger prawns on the morning menu the Asia chicken omelet is a local legend that’s been on the menu ``since day dot’’.
But the good eating doesn’t stop there with the Townsville now home to two esteemed eating precinct with City Lane and Palmer Street buzzing at meal time, Hoi Polloi is a laneway-style cafe serving great coffee, Michele and A Touch of Salt offer fine-dining experiences, CBar offers water views, and Beet Bar offers interesting healthy options.
And there even something for ice-cream lovers with the Frosty Mango on the Bruce Highway near the Paluma exit, Juliette’s on the foreshore, and Gelatissimo on The Strand.
Reef HQ is home to the biggest coral reef on land
The world’s largest coral reef up on dry land sits at the heart of Reef HQ complex with the enormous glass-walled tank holding 2.5 million litres of water and a cultivated garden of coral providing the habitat for 150 species of tropical fish as well as sharks and turtles.
Reef HQ is not a commercial aquarium, but the education centre for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority which is based in Townsville, and as well as the vast central tank there are smaller ponds and displays around the walls to let visitors get up close to the marine life living off the coast.
Reef HQ is also home to Townsville’s Turtle Hospital which has treated 220 creatures since opening in 2008 and there are two behind-thescenes tours into the wards every day so visitors can meet the “patients’’ receiving care and learn more about the valuable work being done to save the sick and injured rescued from the reef.