Townsville, Australia 11/24/2025

Townsville is known for its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef, access to multiple outdoor activities, military significance, and diverse attractions.  I can't believe that one of its claims to fame is being the home of the longest horns on a Texas Longhorn steer named JR. 

 

My sister and I went on the included Townsville Orientation.

At 7:30 am the ship was doing a pirouette to back into its berth at Quayside Terminal.  The front thrusters were pushing the ship to the port side...  

And a tug was pulling the stern.  There were probably thrusters and tugs on the port side doing just the opposite.

The berth we were backing into.

Water must have been a little shallow because the thrusters were stirring up the mud. 

Backed in with passengers disembarking for the day. 

The Quayside Terminal was up where the red and white star is located on the right. 

Townsville gets 300+ days of sunshine a year.  That sounds just the opposite of Ketchikan, Alaska, which gets 300+ days of rain.   Townsville has created almost 500 acres of reclaimed land. 

You can see Castle Hill from anywhere in town. 

So the port is actually at the end of Ross Creek, which doesn't even flow all the way through town.  There is a Ross River to the south. 

The Australian towns I have been to have great bike lanes.

Queensland Country Bank Stadium is a $293.5 million state of the art stadium officially opened in February 2020.  Right off the bat it hosted a series of events, including a community day, a concert featuring Sir Elton John and the first North Queensland Cowboy’s rugby team home game.  It has a seating capacity of 25,455 for rugby games, and can accommodate up to 40,000 spectators for concerts.

I've heard of X rated hotels but XXXX?  

Just this photo is evidence that it wasn't taken in the USA.  Driving on the opposite side of the road. 

Now for one of Townsville most uncommon features. The blue encircled area is where you can find the racetrack for the Townsville 500.  Since 2009, this supercar race has seen some streets in Townsville blocked off to regular traffic so they can become part of the racetrack. 

The next couple of photos are taken around the #10 on the right side of this photo.  The pit complex (long white building with red end) can be seen just to the north of the road.  Red arrow denotes direction of travel.

Reid Park Pit Complex

The Townsville Train Park provides miniature train rides to the community. 

Officeworks is an Australian office supply chain

Crossing Ross Creek again. 

The Townsville Rail Station provides access to the Queensland Rail line. 

Townsville Masonic Temple

Townsville Courts buildings

St James Cathedral

The Second Townsville General Hospital was opened in 1951 and served as the town's hospital until 2001.  It is now apartments. 

The front of the old hospital had rounded ends while further expansions extended to the SW. 

Saw this house as we headed toward Castle Hill.  I wouldn't like to try to get in and out of those garages. 

Poinciana grew along the road. 

View as we started the climb up the hill. 

Saw several driveways that angled up from the road and wondered if the owners of the houses had to drive up to the top of the hill to get turned around so they could actually enter the driveways. 

Homes in the Castle Hill neighborhood all cost more than 1 million Australian dollars. 

Castle Hill has an extensive trail network 

Here you can see another section of trail but the trees in the background all look burnt.  The city does annual controlled burns on the hill. 

The Summit Lookout doesn't have many people on it when we arrive with our two tour buses.  It was soon crawling with people. 

View from along Radar Hill

Starting from the northeast.  The strip of gray area in the top middle is the Belgian Gardens Cemetery. Out beyond the cemetery is the Townsville Airport. Our guide said it was remarkable because it was used by both the Royal Australian Air force and commercial flights.  I didn't find that so unusual because I know several in the US that are joint military and commercial. 

Cleveland Bay was, of course, named by Captain James Cook during his 1770 voyage, likely in honor of John Cleveland, Secretary to the Admiralty. 

Noticing its effect on the ship's compass, Cook named the island across the bay Magnetic Island.  

This speck of level land on Castle Hill is supposed to contain four lots.  Must be small lots. I'm sure the price tag is quite high. 

On the southeast side of the hill, you can see the stadium, Ross Creek and the Ross River.

To the south the town and its suburbs go on for quite a distance. 

The memorial from the grave of Robert Towns, founder of Townsville, was placed on the top of Castle Hill 61 years after his death in Sydney. 

Restrooms on the summit. 

The road to the top of Castle Hill was undergoing hillside stabilization work so it was only one-lane, with alternating uphill and downhill traffic. 

South side panorama lookout. 

Yes, there were people hiking up and down the road instead of on the trails. 

Example of road width as other bus leads the way down. 

Another one of those steep, uphill driveways that would be hard to access when driving uphill. 

Paxton Street entrance to Queens Gardens

In the Google map of Townsville, only one of the 15 tennis courts at Tennis Townsville was marked for pickleball.  Maybe the pickleball craze hasn't hit Australia yet. But yet I found a notice for a pickleball tournament that had been held there, so maybe the Google photo is old. I later read that there are five courts lined for pickleball. Just down the road is an indoor pickleball club. Looks like it only has about 3 courts. 

Queenslander house. Wikipedia defines it thus: "The quintessential Queenslander is a single detached house made of timber with a corrugated iron roof located on a separate block of land.[1] They are all high-set, single-storey dwellings with a characteristic veranda that extends around the house to varying extents but never entirely surrounds it. In later years, many have been renovated to enclose part or all of these verandas to create extra bedrooms. The under-house area is often also enclosed to provide extra living area to these houses, which leads to the common misconception that an authentic Queenslander has two storeys."

That's one way to create some shade for your car if you've made the garage into extra living space. 

A Queensland Umbrella tree. 

Looks like this Queenslander has been mostly enclosed. 

There are three different types of ibis in Australia - the Australian White Ibis, the Straw-necked ibis and the Glossy ibis.  I saw the first two in this large grassy area in town.

Next stop, The Strand, a beach over one mile long. 

Interesting, a statue in the water. 

The Ocean Siren is a 12' high illuminated sculpture that portrays a young aboriginal girl holding a traditional indigenous communication device, a Bayliss shell, while looking out towards Magnetic Island and the Great Barrier Reef. 

Surprise!  That gray statue isn't just a statue.  At night, it lights up.  The sculpture's color changes based on daily water temperature data from a weather station on Davies Reef. Go to the Museum of Underwater Art website to read more about it. 

The Strand is home to the Outrigger Canoe Club. 

What you see here is actually a slow death for the host tree. Strangler figs start their lives as epiphytes, germinating from seeds deposited in the branches of host trees by animals. They grow on host trees, gradually choking them to death as they develop heavy aerial roots that eventually reach the ground. 

Outdoor gym 

Artwork entitled "Foreigner" The city of Townsville website quotes the artist description of the piece. "The body is inspired by a box jellyfish and made from an old hydraulic tank to signify Townsville’s involvement with the mining industry.  The propeller on top of the sculpture is in reference to the military presence in Townsville, and the artwork is made to look like an introduced or foreign species to reflect the biosecurity threats North Queensland faces."

fountain 

St Patrick's Convent.

Townsville Custom House.  Next to Queens Hotel where Lyndon Johnson stayed.

The Townsville Cenotaph commemorates those who have served in the various conflicts in which Australia has been involved. The monument, in the form of a clocktower, originally commemorated those who died in service or were killed in action in World War One.

We were let off the bus at Anzac Memorial Park on the Strand.

Hey, an old tree that has survived without being plagued by strangler figs. 

This one wasn't so lucky. 

Beachside view of the pools.

Local residents keeping an eye on things. 

Roadside view of pools.

This display east of the pools lists the 39 Townsville residents who represented Australia in the Olympics from 1960 to 2022.

Electric scooters are common in this area too. 

Bad photo but the luxurious Ardo Hotel is owned by the Morris Group, founded by Chris Morris.  He's one of the top 50 richest Australians. 

The Ville Resort-Casino

Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre

The tour bus had to turn around in a wide area, but he also had to dodge this abandoned scooter. 

View of our ship from the opposite side of the creek. 

Quayside Terminal

The SeaLink ferry service also utilized Ross Creek. 

HMAS Townsville, named for the city of Townsville, Queensland, was a Fremantle-class patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy.  It was decommissioned in 2007.

What an ignoble tale.  The Australian Joint Stock Bank Building, built in 1888, is now The Bank Nite Club.

Another historic building now used as a restaurant, bar and event center.  The former Burns, Philp & Company Building on Flinders Street is a local landmark, dating back to 1895.

Like most small cities, Townsville has its share of murals.  This is a sugar glider.  Native to Australia and New Guinea, sugar gliders are small, nocturnal marsupials known for their ability to glide through the air.

Constructed in 1976 and currently the Hotel Grand Chancellor, this building is known by the locals as the Sugar Shaker due to the fact that it looks like a giant sugar shaker. The odd shape of the building has been said to represent the importance of sugar to the Townsville port and area.

Back over Ross Creek on our way back to the cruise ship. 

The Victoria Bridge is a pedestrian bridge over Ross Creek 

Interesting chimney top. 

The Empire Hotel has been in business since 1901.

Back to the quay, we browse through everything the vendors had on sale before reboarding the ship. 

Ship being escorted out of the bay. 

Looked out later and this boat was directly outside our verandah. 

It was a tug getting ready to assist us in our departure. 

The Port of Townsville has been a significant export facility for sugar and molasses, with over 8 million tons of goods crossing its wharves each year. It is Australia's largest sugar, lead, copper, zinc, fertilizer, molasses, and live cattle port, as well as the largest container and automotive port in Northern Australia. What you see on shore is the bulk sugar terminal.  It was constructed in 1959, with the first bulk loading of sugar successfully done in August of 1959. This marked a significant development in cargo handling, moving away from the inefficient and costly bag method of transporting sugar. The terminal's completion included the construction of a mechanical bulk sugar loader and a new pier to accommodate equipment for bulk loading.