Hello! I’m baaaaack!
I know I said I would have news for you today, but it’s been delayed until Wednesday. Sorry! In the meantime, here’s what I’ve been up to since I last blogged …
DD and I went to Townsville and Magnetic Island for a four-night mini break.
I chose the destination because I wanted something that was budget friendly and around 25C. I really needed to warm my bones and relax for a few days.
I was a bit nervous about going away as I haven’t had the best luck with holidays recently. Memories of catching COVID-19 in Fiji – and the dramas that followed – still haunt me slightly.
COVID-19 cases were really starting to ramp up again in the week or two before we flew out. Every time I coughed or sniffled I was convinced I’d caught it again.
But the day of our flight dawned without a positive RAT test.
Of course, I still managed to panic about stuff. DD slept in and was running 30 minutes late to collect me for our mini-break. As the rain pelted down, I hyperventilated as we threw ourselves into an Uber to the airport.
After reading all the media horror stories I was convinced the check-in queues would be out the door and we’d miss our plane, but it was super quiet – there were just a few straggling passengers going through security.
However, our plane was delayed, which meant a looooooong wait for our flight to Brisbane. Fortunately, DD used to travel so much for work that we could wait in the Qantas lounge in comfort.
Then I decided to worry about missing our connecting flight to Townsville … until we arrived at the gate and the air hostess announced that our plane WAS the connecting flight to Townsville. So we simply schlepped off the plane in Brissie for 15 minutes then walked straight back on it again.
We landed in sunny Townsville in the late afternoon, checked our bags and walked to The Ville Resort for sunset drinks at The Quarterdeck bar.
It was a stunning start to our adventure, watching the sky filled with gorgeous colours that perfectly matched my Aperol Spritz.
We’d been hoping to have dinner at the hottest restaurant in town, Miss Song’s at The Ville, but it had booked out eons before I tried to book earlier in the week, so we headed to Jam Corner for a degustation dinner instead … poor us … with matching wines, including a glass of French bubbles to kick off the festivities.
Our favourite dish of the night was the bug and reef fish tortellini with blue swimmer crab and chive oil. Luxe!
The staff at Jam Corner were lovely – I particularly liked the waitress who raved about how much she was enjoying the “cold” weather on what we regarded as a balmy night. Townsville was absolutely jumping, it was great to see so many people out enjoying their Saturday night.
The restaurant was only a few hundred metres away from our hotel and we went to bed feeling pretty thrilled with our first visit to Townsville.
The next morning, the weekly farmers’ market was livening up the street right in front of our hotel. We settled at an outdoor table with the Sunday papers to drink excellent coffee from the Piccolo Pedlar and eat Sri Lankan street food from The Kottu Hut. We loved the chicken kottu roti – diced roti bread stir-fried with scrambled egg, onions, chillies, spices, vegetables and chicken.
After a lazy hour or so at the markets we checked out of our hotel and headed to the ferry terminal for our transfer to Magnetic Island.
And I’ll tell you all about our adventures there tomorrow …
I hope the last week or so has been treating you well too.
Song of the day: George Harrison “Here comes the sun”
housegoeshome 
Wait….when did Townsville get hip?
It was very unexpected, but lovely surprise!
Ahhh blissful!