Day 38. Townsville, Queensland.

4 hours on a bus this morning takes us up the Queensland coast to Townsville (about 2mm further according to our map. Lord knows how long the journey would be if we wanted to travel a distance of any significance).

It’s and odd place Townsville, and only after a shaky start does it start to win us over. As we step off the bus we can’t help noticing an all pervading stench of cow dung in the air. Not exactly what we’d been expecting from north Queensland’s major port, and the hotter it became in the afternoon humidity, the worse the whiff got. Very strange.

Then, when we arrive at our hostel we find our room hasn’t been cleaned or made up (a minor grump this, but a grump nevertheless).

And finally, neither of the camera shops in town carry the replacement model I’m after (more of a major grump this – I mean, Cannon isn’t exactly a obscure brand is it? And this is a town with a population of over 165,000. Pah!).

Anyway, no camera, so no photography to brighten the blog until we reach the civilisation of Brisbane.

Our luck begins to change when we make our way to the Aquarium. An imposing building by the harbour where all manner of weird and wonderful sealife hangs out.

The bloke selling tickets is an amenable old stick and lets us in for half price because they’re closing within the hour. This suits us nicely as we only really want to see the Leopard sharks, the Seahorses and those pesky Box jellyfish that make swimming so hazardous around here.

We then take a pleasant early evening stroll along the waterfront where, over a cool beer, the waitress explains why the town stinks so badly of cow poo.

She points to a large cruise liner moored to a jetty across the bay.

Look closely, and you’ll see there’s no swimming pool, quoits deck or children’s entertainment officer. No, this particular liner is where the majority of the region’s cattle spend their last few days before being shipped off to some God forsaken abattoir in New South Wales.

The ship is immense, and only when the six or seven decks are full does the thing set sail.

It’s enough to turn anyone vegetarian, she says.

Yep, can’t argue with that, I reply, before ordering my beef and sweet basil stirfry.