This first week in tropical Townsville has been spent playing tourist. This is partly because my mom has been with us and will return home soon, and partly because we have a van rented for the week and are trying to make the most of it. There will be time soon enough to work on settling in...perhaps that will be next week.
Our first full day we explored the towns official beach front called 'The Strand'. This is a 2 km strip, that has a souped up splash pad, playgrounds every couple of hundred metres, roped off and stinger (jelly fish) free beach areas as well as a rock pool area at the end that is a pool type area where water is pumped in and out of the ocean but there is no risk of undertow or waterlife and was wonderful for our little crew. The only mistake we made was parking at one end and realizing too late that the rock pool was at the other end. The paved strip will be perfect for strollers, rollerblades and jogging. There are lots of birds to be seen, but we learned to watch our heads because the larger ones would throw fruit from the trees; something that my oldest innitally took the blame for as my husband was convinced he was the one throwing it! While we explored the rock pool that first day, today we returned (my mom and I now with bathing suits thanks to the return of our luggage) to truly swim in the ocean and play on the beach. My oldest made friends instantly and enjoyed playing in the waves. As my friend had suggested, sandcastle building toys are certainly the best way to attract friends under the age of 8!
Earlier this week we also explored 'The Billibong Sanctuary'. This was a delightful place for the kids. Small kangaroos and ducks are hanging around throughout the park and buying a bag of food from the front ensures that they will come over for a visit. Later in the day we also realized that putting some of the grain on the foot rest of the stroller would ensure that our youngest was included in the adventure. She particularly enjoyed petting the kangaroos and grabbing fur and ears in her sticky little fingers. The kangaroos didn't seem to mind at all as long as they were being fed. We were also highly entertained by the turtles that were easily lured out of the water by our lunch bread bits. It quickly became a scene with horror film possibility as what seemed like all the turtles from the large pond began swimming toward us, their black little heads bobbing in the water. As the shore near our feet began to boil with turtle heads, we stepped away from the shore only to have them creep out of the water in search of more food! I never dreamed that turtles would climb so high on my list of 'creepy' animals.
We learned some fantastic things about other animals as well. My oldest got to hold two lizards at once, one in his hands and one on his head! He was delighted to pose for photos. One of these lizards defends itself by confusing it's prey: it's head and rear end look the same! It uses the head-butt defence.
Our first full day we explored the towns official beach front called 'The Strand'. This is a 2 km strip, that has a souped up splash pad, playgrounds every couple of hundred metres, roped off and stinger (jelly fish) free beach areas as well as a rock pool area at the end that is a pool type area where water is pumped in and out of the ocean but there is no risk of undertow or waterlife and was wonderful for our little crew. The only mistake we made was parking at one end and realizing too late that the rock pool was at the other end. The paved strip will be perfect for strollers, rollerblades and jogging. There are lots of birds to be seen, but we learned to watch our heads because the larger ones would throw fruit from the trees; something that my oldest innitally took the blame for as my husband was convinced he was the one throwing it! While we explored the rock pool that first day, today we returned (my mom and I now with bathing suits thanks to the return of our luggage) to truly swim in the ocean and play on the beach. My oldest made friends instantly and enjoyed playing in the waves. As my friend had suggested, sandcastle building toys are certainly the best way to attract friends under the age of 8!
Earlier this week we also explored 'The Billibong Sanctuary'. This was a delightful place for the kids. Small kangaroos and ducks are hanging around throughout the park and buying a bag of food from the front ensures that they will come over for a visit. Later in the day we also realized that putting some of the grain on the foot rest of the stroller would ensure that our youngest was included in the adventure. She particularly enjoyed petting the kangaroos and grabbing fur and ears in her sticky little fingers. The kangaroos didn't seem to mind at all as long as they were being fed. We were also highly entertained by the turtles that were easily lured out of the water by our lunch bread bits. It quickly became a scene with horror film possibility as what seemed like all the turtles from the large pond began swimming toward us, their black little heads bobbing in the water. As the shore near our feet began to boil with turtle heads, we stepped away from the shore only to have them creep out of the water in search of more food! I never dreamed that turtles would climb so high on my list of 'creepy' animals.
We learned some fantastic things about other animals as well. My oldest got to hold two lizards at once, one in his hands and one on his head! He was delighted to pose for photos. One of these lizards defends itself by confusing it's prey: it's head and rear end look the same! It uses the head-butt defence.
Not too be outdone, the Wambat goes with a complete butt defence. Apparently after making a quick sprint get away, it will return to it's burrow. If it's persuer has not relented, and sticks it's head in after the wambat, the wambat will crush the animals skull by pushing it's butt up against the top of the burrow. Deadliest butt out there apparently! We also got to see and feed the extremely endangered Cassowary and take a gander at some lazy Koalas. (Not Koala bears for all you Canadians...just Koala. Next to the accent, calling them bears is the quickest give away that you aren't a local!)
Finally, the hilight of the day was watching the crocodile feeding. Our guide was particularly entertaining as the Crocs were being pretty lazy and took some significant enticing to get them to eat. My favourite statistic was that apparently more Auzzies are killed by coke machines than crocs per year. He had some other interesting statistics about things that were more likely to kill you than crocodiles, and in the end I left worrying much less about crocodiles and much more about coke machines.
In spite of all the incredible information and new sights, the kids were still most excited about the relatively small, on site swimming pool. We again revealed our tourist tendencies as we found the temperature fantastic for swimming...but were the only ones who seemed to feel this way! It was the perfect close to the day for the little ones, and quite refreshing for us as well!
Yesterday we ventured out of town toward Paluma Village with the hopes of getting some bird watching accomplished. We stopped to swim at the base of a waterfall. While we have all had the opportunity to swim in rivers before, this was the first time we got to swim in a rainforest river! It was refreshing and exhilirating and the sights were breathtaking! There was a banana tree along the shore, and wild turkeys running around. I also met a lovely girl from the YWAM team that was also cooling off in the river.
We continued on from this spot, up the narrow and winding road toward the village and the hiking trails we were hoping to explore. Unfortunately it started raining and continued for the rest of the day. We were on the look out for wild Cassowaries, but without success. We decided to walk the Rainforest trail in spite of the pouring rain. I carried my youngest in our kid backpack, so she had the best rain shield. She cooed with delight through the whole hike. She loved sticking her hands out to feel the water and took everything in. We didn't see many birds, but the sound of the rain in the dense and aged forest was intense and and exhilerating. I'm not much for plants, but the vegetation was certainly impressive. My oldest enjoyed the walk, but my husband ended up carrying our 2 year old for most of the hike.
After this little endeavour, my husband and the kids settled into the van and enjoyed inventing super hero type characters and storylines, while my mom and I checked out Paluma Pottery. We met the potter, Len Cook, who was a friendly gentlemen who had created some beautiful work. I only wish I had more money to buy some of it to add some character to our functional white dishes that we currently have. I was lamenting having had to surrender so many of the wonderfully ecclectic and sentimental items that had added character to my house back home and my mom generously bought me a fantastic blue mug to work toward building a new mug collection. She felt that the mugs were a little to small for Canadian sized coffee tastes, so settled on a small jug for herself with the intent of using it as a mug. ( We have both discovered that Australians in general likely consume a great deal less coffee than we do. Oh Tim Horton's, how I miss you already! ) Visiting the potter's studio was a rich experience as the display room was connected to his workspace and we had the opportunity to see him at work shaping pots. He then explained how the patterns were formed and the many glazes that were used in making each piece. The pieces were in the potters hands for between 6 to 12 steps depending on the colour and intricacy. It made me think of how God led Jeremiah down to the potter's house for a little object lesson, and was yet again a good lesson for me. I am struggling to let God reshape me, reshape my family's life. Though I am sure this is where we are supposed to be, I'm still struggling to surrender in the midst of it.
So here we are, exploring this new space, with the opportunity to stand in awe of new sights. My heart is still tired, because of how much it took to get here, but each new day is part of the adventure and I'm hoping that I will able to embrace this part of the journey more fully soon.
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