Townsville and Barf

After the Whitsundays I left Airlie Beach pretty quickly on the Greyhound to head up to Townsville.  Not so much to see Townsville, but to go to Magnetic Island.  At the time though I figured, why not check out Townsville at the same time?  Because there's not much worth checking out, that's why.

The people made a great impression on me (a fellow backpacker that had been living there for awhile helped me out with directions as soon as I pulled out my map), but the town did not.  Admittedly, I had a particularly unfortunate experience.  I went to check into my hostel at the very reasonable hour (especially by backpacker standards) of 8:30.  The front desk had been closed since 7.  I had to call someone to get a code to get my key out of a lock box.  The only pay phone was broken.  Luckily, it was nice backpackers to the rescue again and someone let me borrow their mobile.  I finally got checked into my room, only to find that it smelled like old cheese.  Lovely.

So, I thought, what better way to make up for a little bad luck than with a good dinner and maybe a splurge on a nice glass of red wine?  Well, there would have to be somewhere open to eat at for that to be a solution.  The only place that seemed to still have their kitchen open was a restaurant that wouldn't let me in with my flip-flops.  I finally settled for street pizza (a ridiculous $4 compared to the $2 at home!) followed by my much craved glass of wine at a bar.  I went to bed feeling a bit better and looking forward to checking out the next morning.

Unfortunately, the next morning came a little sooner than planned.  I was awoken early by what may have been stomach flu, but I'm guessing was food poisoning from my lovely street pizza experience.  As soon as reception was open and I could drag myself out of bed, I moved into a private room and spent the day being ill.  Boo.  There's nothing quite as lonely as being really sick with absolutely no one to help you out.  But I survived.  By the evening I was well enough to make a trip to the grocery store for some popsicles and I was almost back to normal by the following morning.  All ready to head over to Magnetic Island!