Australia - Friday May 6 - Welcome to Townsville

Townsville, Queensland was quiet at 5:30 am on Friday as we arrived after our long flight. After going through customs, we rented a car and drove around to get our bearings. Up Castle Hill, down by the Strand, in the still of early dawn we gazed at the small red-roofed houses and the trees so unlike any trees we had seen before.

We had an early lunch at a fish 'n' chips shop that was a favorite of David's when he was there on his mission. David recommended the barramundi, which was a mild white fish and very delicious. Along with the steaming fish and chips, liberally salted and doused with malt vinegar, we had dim sims, which are like eggrolls, only instead of being small and cigar-shaped, they are large enough to be a meal, and are shaped like a drawstring bag. The journal says that in addition to having chips, we had "fried potatoes." Perhaps David could explain the difference.

We then checked into our hotel, the Travelodge, which is not the sleepy-bear motel we know so well. This Travelodge was a concrete monolith leftover from the US Army during World War II, its eight floors towering over the rest of Townsville, and was the local luxury hotel that conferred upon us instant respect wherever we went. After settling in and naptime, we drove around some more, looked at the beach and Queen's Park.

Dinner was at the hotel's restaurant, The Reef. The Reef prided itself on its seasonal menu, meaning that a fruit was featured each month, and showed up in about half the dishes on the menu. The fruit of the month was something tropical, like mango or papaya, and bored us mightily after a few days. But The Reef, like the hotel, was a pretty special place to the locals, and it was the only restaurant in the hotel, so that first night was repeated more than once.

And so ended our first day in Australia.