townsville.

jim's mom wanted to see the great barrier reef and they wanted to see townsville, so we decided to take a little 4 hour drive up north for a couple of days before we left for tasmania (that's right, tasmania - posts coming soon!).

on the first day, we spent most of it taking a little tour of townsville and enjoying the strand - it's a beach with cafes, shops and a walking path with piers and what not.  pretty cool.

anne LOVED the water!

then, we did something, in all of our times we have been to townsville, jim and i have never done!  there is, what i would like to call, a mountain in the middle of the city - called castle hill.  we decided to drive up it to see what's at the top.  on our way up, there were literally hundreds of people using this mountain of a road for exercise!  it was 2.9 k up to the top, but imagine walking/running a little over 1.5 miles on a 10 degree incline - that's what this would be like.  

anyway, once we got to the top i was so amazed at what we had been missing.  the views were incredible, providing 360 degree views of the city!

 
i love finding new things... a huge thanks to anne and tom for suggesting it!