my first leap

The trees are called ‘Morton Bay Fig’ trees. Because of the roots growing from branches and rooting themselves into the ground, the branches can expand to lengths unlike the size of normal trees. The roots are so windy and twisty and occur so often that they can create cave-like structures for you to funnel through. The figs are edible but tastes like saw dust, I’ve been told!

The birds are either ‘Rainbow Lorikeets’ or ‘Indian Minors’ that are brown (I’ve been told) but I don’t know because I didn’t see them and didn’t hear or catch them today so they may remain a mystery. Also, the fact that they could be common seagulls or hiperactive children has not escaped me.

Crazy but true, the shops in the city centre shut at 1.30pm except (I noticed) newsagents which close a little later, how much later I’m not sure and didn’t hang around to find out. Also, I found this lonely small Chinese supermarket/newsagent in the Mall. I don’t think they get many Chinese customers because when they saw me (I bought a grass jelly drink and a coconut drink) they accousted me; they speak Mandarin and very little Cantonese and I speak Cantonese and very little Mandarin, we tried a-futile-sort-of-attempt to communicate; I gave up and waved goodbye. The drinks remind me of Asia and how much I miss it’s tropical fruits, amazing smells and sights. Australia is beautiful and the place I’m staying at is way more luxiurious than any 5 star hotel with its outdoor pool to dip in after a jog and the people are interesting, but I’m itching for Asia.

Talking about jogging, I jogged with Cullen and Ian yesterday along The Strand. They left me half way, on my request that I take my time (they have longer legs and they’re used to the humidity) as that was my third jog ever in my lifetime and I somehow strained the muscle on the front side of my leg, it’s true, so for half the way, I kind of did a hop, skip thing, luckily in the dark with the sea shimmering a navy blue black otherwise, someone would have called the local asylum.

After the jog, a shower and a drink, I met Tim and Katherine and we all went back to watch football – England vs Paraguay – I had already told them I might go to bed (the night before being such the party popper that I am, I went to bed at 8pm, an hour of graveness). Alas, Cullen’s temptations of Chinese starter nibbles and feeling I should at least see England kick off, I managed to stay awake to see England score their first goal. I still don’t know if they’ve won, no doubt I will find out later.

I’m surprised to see that Sunday at the Mall is more lively than Saturday at the Mall; today they have market stalls selling arts and crafts, live music and singing; such a hustle and bustle so different from it’s normal sleepiness.

I’m hoping to climb Castle Hill today, then pack, and catch a ferry to Magnetic Island. I am a little freaked about the scuba diving. I love the sea and am not scared of anything in it except I’d rather not be eaten quite just yet; it’s the machines I’m a lot concerned about. Hey ho, I’ve been told it’ll be ‘tu meke’ (awesome, NZ term from Nick) and I’m looking forward to feeling comfortable and enjoying the sunken ship with ghosts; seeing a couple of harmless sharks and stingrays and I’ll be as happy as a monkey’s butt after relieveing himself. Oh, here too, if you come from November to May, be careful of the little jellyfish the size of your finger nail, they can be lethal, I was told by the taxi driver who got me to Cullen’s and who rolled all his words together in a low lazy drawl so I didn’t catch anything else he said but I guess it was fascinating stuff whatever it was.

As you’ve noticed, no photos. I’ve given up on the idea as I’ve got over 400 now and to upload every time, it would be a nightmare so I will trawl the internet for an equivalent when I can and when I can’t find something, I will try to describe as best as I can. Hey ho, there you go.

Tags: Market, The Strand, Townsville, Travel

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 11th, 2006 at 12:57 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.