Beach time in Sunny North Queensland and the sun is shining nowhere to be found.

Grabbing budget dog, umbrella and camera, I seized the opportunity for a different kind of walk.

In Townsville it hardly ever rains, so it is exciting when it does.  BTT is littered with tropical posts featuring BLUE SKIES but there is still beauty to be found on a cloudy day.

Looks like Night, but it is 8 a.m.

No Sun + No Wind = Good Reflections

Sodden fallen leaves.

And happy foreshore vegetation.

 A cloudy day captured, to treasure during the long hot dry months.

**Tropical Island Alert**

On week-ends Florence is sprinkled with yachts and power boats, an indication of it’s safe anchorage and inshore coral reef.  On week days you could well be the only person on the beach. Buoys mark the extent of the reef, where boats are not allowed to anchor.

The pot holed road that leads to Florence helps keeps the crowds away.

Occasionally we venture over from Townsville in our faithful old boat and anchor for an hour of snorkelling and beach walks or climb the rocks for a different perspective.  This week we are so lucky to be house-sitting on the Island, which means we get to visit Florence several times – these photos are actually taken on two different days.

Years ago before they closed the final stretch of access road, we would drive our hire Moke onto the foreshore and …

There are many images of sunshine, great views and fun times to share from our week’s house-sit on Maggie Island.

But today I am fast forwarding to our final day.  The skies have turned overcast, with gusting winds and rain squalls blowing through.  I like that side of  Island Life – a counterbalance for the brilliance.

It seemed appropriate somehow to leave on a dull day.

I walked across flowers in the grass to take one last beach walk.

Nelly is not famous for it’s Watersports – Horseshoe Bay fills that role.

It is not full of childhood memories  – ARCADIA holds that place in my heart.

It is not the quiet backwater that is Picnic Bay.

Nor does it’s afternoon sun dissolve into the sea like at WEST POINT.

Here are some of the things Nelly Bay is:

The staging point for Magnetic Island, where the harbour …

When I think of adorable furry creatures on Magnetic Island, I immediately think Koalas, which can be found both in the wild and in captivity.  But while koalas are my undisputed favourite, they do tend to sit high in gum trees and are very shy.

Enter the Allied Rock Wallaby. 

If you rent a holiday home that backs on to a rocky hill on the island, chances are you will have some of these cheeky late afternoon visitors.  But even if you are just on the island for a day trip you can still see and feed wild rock wallabies.

To find them turn right when you leave the Nelly Bay Ferry Terminal onto Sooning Street and head up and over the headland onto Marine Parade in Geoffrey Bay.  Follow Marine Parade to the far end of Geoffrey Bay, then turn right …

The Barge from Townsville had just delivered us to Nelly Bay on Magnetic Island in the north of Queensland, Australia.  Our house-sit was only five minutes away from the barge terminal so within an hour we had unpacked and were off exploring in our car.

It had been many years since we had visited West Point and even then it had been in our boat, so we really had no idea about the condition of the road.  We both had memories of a dirt track so were pleasantly surprised to find that the bitumen continued past the golf course at the back of PICNIC BAY.

Five minutes later, while smugly congratulating ourselves on our good fortune, the road surface changed to dirt.  It wasn’t a bad dirt road but there were occasional pot holes which limited our speed.  All the better to soak …

My early morning walk along The Strand in TOWNSVILLE revealed what could have been -A Japanese Zen Garden?

This post is linked to COMMUNAL GLOBAL.

As the 25th April approaches I remember our last ANZAC Day IN SPAIN.

ANZAC = Australian and New Zealand Army Corp.

Brilliant red flower heads, sparkling in the Spanish sunshine.  

A recently found Poppy tucked into a memorial plate at the N.Q. Garden of Remembrance at ANZAC Park, Townsville, Australia.

At Dawn on the 25th of April,  ANZAC  Services around Australia will commence.

Why That Time and That Day?

At 4.28 a.m. on 25th April, 1915, Australian and New Zealand advance forces, landed at Gallipoli as part of the Allied Forces Gallipoli campaign in WWI.  The battle result was an outstanding victory for the Ottoman Army led by Mustafa Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey.  He graciously wrote this tribute to the Allied Soldiers buried at Gallipoli (in part):

… you, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons …

Along the Strand beachfront, in TOWNSVILLE, North Queensland, a distance of 2.2 km there are no less than four swimming enclosures.  But today we are interested in just one. 

The Tobruk Memorial Baths.

The Olympic Connection

In 1956 and 1960 they were a training venue for the Australian Olympic Swim Team of which Dawn Fraser was a member. 

Who is Dawn Fraser?

She is a much loved Aussie hero, who held the 100 m freestyle Olympic record for 15 years, and was the first woman to swim the 100m in less than one minute.  Her 58.9 sec record was not broken for 8 years after she retired.  The Australian Swimming Union banned her from competing for 10 years after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, because she walked in the opening ceremony against their wishes, wore an old swimsuit (because it was more comfortable) and …

You know how Budget Dog Buffy and I enjoy walking on the Strand every morning.

Well, the last few days here in Townsville, there has been the slightest change in the weather.

The corner has been turned, from Hot and Steamy, to warm with a hint of delicious coolness.

Even so it was still hot in the sun, causing Buffy Dog and myself to slow our pace under the shade of the Pacific Almond trees.  But we are not the only lovers of these huge leafed trees.

The local black cockatoo brigade are big time exploiters of them.  As fast as the groundsmen can tidy up beneath, the birds break the branches and chew and discard the nuts.  They really are (loveable) vandals.  Pathways are covered in their litter, providing a challenge for the roller blading, scootering and skate boarding fraternity.

This morning …

Today I have some questions to put to Writer, Traveller, Photographer, Food Lover and Blogger, Krista Bjorn.  When I think of Krista’s blog Rambling Tart, I think of beautiful words that pamper my soul, home made delicacies to salivate over and travel shots that have me packing my bag.

Meet Krista in her favourite Wellies:                            All Photos Courtesy of Krista Bjorn.

First of all Krista – How did a Danish/Canadian lass end up living on a Queensland farm?

A few years ago I went through a series of traumatic events and decided to make a fresh start in a new country. I’d always wanted to live overseas so I listed my top three requirements for a place to live: sunshine (I NEED sunshine!), English-speaking (I was under the delusion that Aussies spoke the same language I did, and somewhere blond …