We decided to have a few days in Townsville, we were picking up Jasons Dad, Kenny, from there anyway. We pulled into Breakwater Marina at around 5pm Thursday afternoon and struck our first problem with our motors. Our Port engine had decided to stop working, so the boys spent an hour and a half working to fix it so we could move from the fuel jetty to our allocated berth. By the time we had securely tied up it was too late to go for our normal walk to get our bearings, so instead we had a good feed on board and an early night.

Strangely enough, we ran into someone we knew again at Breakwater Marina, Scott Marshall, who used to be the harbourmaster at Couran Cove near our home. He had also relocated North in the last 12 months. He gave Townsville a big rap and pointed in the right direction to find everything and we were on our way! While Jason and Loretta took off in search of internet facilities, Jay and I took our time wandering around Townsville. We were amazed by the amount of development being undertaken in what I thought was bound to be a sleepy country town. Restaurants abound and anyone in search of a little culture does not have to stray too far. Of course there are the obligatory backpackers, as I'm sure we will find everywhere as we head further North, wandering the streets carrying their houses on their backs like turtles but apart from the pubs and nightclubs, there is a vast array of good restaurants.

Jay and I went to the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery to see a photographic exhibition 'Requiem: By the Photographers who died in Vietnam and Indochina'. It was not an uplifting exhibition and we left feeling sadder than when we entered but it was well worth the effort and I'm really glad we saw it.

We received a phone call from some friends we met through Paul and Gemma, Grier and Garth and made plans to meet for lunch. I must say, and as Grier and Garth have been following the blog, it was a much better experience than we had in Airlie Beach (sorry Richard). The food was magnificent as was the service and the company lovely, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We left to go to the Maritime Museum after making plans to meet on the boat the next afternoon for drinks.

The Maritime Museum was disappointing but given that it is run by volunteers, I wasn't really expecting too much. We had limited time to get through as we had bought our tickets prior to lunch and only had half an hour to get through after lunch. But still, I'm glad we had a look.

That evening we took a stroll along The Strand and met up with Jason and Loretta for a drink at Jamaica Joes. Jay and I tried the Pina Colada's there. They were good but lost points for volume. The Strand is very well set up and again there are a number of good restaurants. The last few places we have been to have been very well set up to take advantage of the outdoors.

The next day Kenny arrived. Jason's Dad is on board until Cairns I think and he arrived suitcase in hand to try life aboard the Makani Kai for a while. Jay and I had decided to go to the Aquarium and so we set off and left the others to get settled. The Aquarium was ok, but didn't have many sharks and we felt it was a bit more directed towards kids. We went to see what we thought was a shark feeding and it was a talk directed to children. Later that day, Grier, Garth, Grier's Dad Ian, Zosha and Zander arrived to see the boat and have a couple of drinks prior to us embarking on our big night out. Jay, Jason, Kenny and I went to Dairy Farmers Stadium to watch the Cowboys play the Cronulla Sharks. It was a great night, we really enjoyed it, apart from the fact that we have to eat healthy now for the next week to make up for all the stodge we consumed. There are no healthy options at the footy. Everything has meat, even the chicken pizza has bacon on it! So it was greasy fish and chips for us! But the match was good especially the last 20 minutes when the boys decided to play properly! We shared a cab back to the marina with another couple from the Gold Coast and went to bed, ready for our next adventure to Magnetic Island. Thank you and goodbye Townsville!