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Townsville 26/01/07
Hi all,
Yeah, I really should have thought it through a bit more.......I got off the ferry from Magnetic Island at Townsville with not alot of time to spare before my coach was due to leave so I hurried onto the bus, got told off by the driver for sitting in the bit reserved for old people (there was only me on the bus - Oz bus drivers have limited social skills - fact!) and panicked at every red light. I also discovered that I had left my beloved Volcom cap at Base - gutted. I arrived at the transit centre just in time - no coach! Oh no, I've missed it.....nope it was actually running 3 hours late! After I had practically killed myself trying to get there on time and found that some genius coach driver earlier on the route had forgotten to put any fuel in the coach and so it broke down somewhere around Brisbane. Well, I could have had a temper tantrum like everyone else but I decided to make the most of a bad situation. I put my bag in storage at the transit centre and asked what was happening in Townsville for Oz day. To my delight there was a free open air concert on at the entertainment centre and it was only $1 to get there on the bus. I hopped back on the bus and found it was the same bus driver who told me off only 10 minutes before. He gave a snidy laugh and asked if I had got lost as I was now going back to where I came from. I just laughed, walked on, past the OAP seats and sat down, determined the mean bus driver wasn't going to spoil my so far, crappy day! Anyway, so I walked up to the entertainment centre and found it was like a huge family fun day with loads going on, kinda like the one on Pheonix Nights but in the sun! I quickly found the concert which was pretty good, Ozzie bands I hadn't heard of, but I felt like I was finally experiencing some real Ozzie living. I was soon distracted away from the concert when they announced that the live sheep shearing show was about to start! And when they said you could have a go I nearly knocked down the group of five year olds that were heading for the front seats so I could get the best spot! It was quite funny to watch this poor sheep being dragged out of the pen away from his friends and into the hands of a farmer, who scarily didn't look too dis-similar to the serial killer out of Wolf Creek! They held the sheep down while, one by one, people out of the crowd had a go with the clippers. I didn't get a go, they must have been able to sense my Pomminess. At the end of the show, after watching his shaven wool being handed out to the kids, the poor sheep was pushed back into the pen, shaved and caged, looking silly in front of his still fluffy friends. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him, hope the other sheep didn't bully him......The next thing to catch my eye was the huge superman bouncy castle with slide and a ball pond attached, gutted, kids only. Ok then the climbing wall........kids only, the arts and craft fair......kids only, that's it, the bar.....no kids allowed - hurray!! After an ice cream, a glass of wine and a display of fine iron mongery I decided it was time to head back for my coach. I had really enjoyed the fun day as it wasn't a touristy thing for holiday makers and travellers, it was a real event for Ozzie's and it was exactly how I imagined these kind of things would be in Oz. Back at the transit centre the bus driver shook his head and said that it could be another hour yet.....still not losing my rag I headed to the shamrock, the nearest pub. Result the Liverpool/Chelsea game was on, I had already watched it but I could watch the scousers beat Chelsea again. The pub was a proper locals pub, not a backpacker one, which made a nice change, and since it was a public holiday it was quite lively. The bar man was really friendly and as soon as he realised I was English my drink was on the house and I was introduced to everyone. I have found that the further up the coast you go the friendlier the Ozzie's are! The cricket was on so I got a bit of stick off the group of army lads in the corner but other than that I had a laugh with the locals. The hour flew by and I saw the coach pass the pub so I said my goodbye's and boarded the coach. As soon as we got on a film was played called Eight Below, it was so sad, I found myself fighting to stop the tears. Good film, I would recommend it. The driver had told us that as we were running late we wouldn't be having any rest stops so that we could make up some of the time. It worked and we managed to make up 1 1/2 hours - I was impressed until that is we turned onto the highway and found that a lorry had over-turned! Police, ambulances, tarffic queue's - great. When we finally arrived in Cairns we had made up about 5 minutes of the time lost! Could anything else go wrong today.........
Lots of love Jules x x x
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