Gypsy Cruising

9 August

Townsville

Celeste and I will each be flying back to Sydney today, me for just a couple of days.  A good part of the laundry is already done and we've got the boat generally pretty clean.  Today's plan is to walk to the top of Castle Hill, a very imposing 286 metre tall pink granite monolith that dominates the Townsville skyline, then return to the boat before heading to the airport around midday.

The day started completely fogbound.  This is apparently quite a rare occurrence.  The fog lasted in some form for most of the morning and eventually extended right out to Magnetic Island.

The marina just before sunrise

As ever, the walk up to Castle Hill was a challenge but an enjoyable one.  It was a nice way to bring this cruise leg to a close.  One thing that struck us was the beauty of many of the homes we passed, many of which looked to hark back to Federation or earlier.  The shoreline is equally beautiful with a string of grand old buildings.  Townsville has obviously been a port of some wealth for many years.

The veil of fog hanging over the city

Looking north and over to Magnetic Island from Castle Hill

Townsville city

We covered 250 miles this leg, firstly doing a circuit around the Whitsundays and then breaking free to do four longer day sails up to Magnetic Island.  Some of the places we visited in the Whitsundays were firsts for me and provided me wonderful experiences.  Sailing to Gloucester Passage, then Cape Upstart, Cape Bowling Green and Maggie took me further north than I'd ever sailed and showed us parts of Australia that are both generally unknown and also beautiful in their isolation.

This was essentially Celeste's first experience of boating through these areas, and it's been a treasure to see them partially through her eyes as well.  I think she found the cruise as fulfilling as I did.  In return she introduced me to salads, tuna wraps, porridge and even some yoga, while my intake of cheese, biscuits and soft drink plunged dramatically.  I enjoyed that too.