January 4- Townsville, Australia

We sailed into  Townsville in the commercial port. The first thing we saw was a slow train filled with zinc. Each car was being sprayed with water as they moved along.

 There is a huge sugar refining facility here. 1.2 million tons of sugar are refine

d and exported from here.

Our bus  took us to the top of Capital Hill where the view was terrific. 

The town is named for Robert Towns- a sea captain who commissioned the building of a wharf to service the new cattle industry in 1859. Jim is standing beside the grave of Robert T0wnes. 

We visited a wonderful Reef- serving as the Headquarters of The Great Barrier Reef. The fish we saw was so colorful.

This town was a big military base during the wars. There are more unusual old buildings  that are protected as heritage buildings and cannot be torn down. Some are in great shape and some are not. 

We saw some beautiful beaches with pathways and parks all along. We noticed a really cool playground climbing set-up with a big bucket on top in one of the playgrounds. The bucket fills with water and ever so often just tips over and gets all the children who are  climbing wet. Since it is hot and humid all the time, I guess it must feel good and no one cares.

Since this is summer the schools are out for a combination Christmas and summer holiday. They have been out since the middle of December and don't go back until the end of January. Now that would take some adjustment.