The Twin Cities: Townsville and Thuringowa

Any city planning department that develops the creek behind your back fence so that it looks like this deserves a pat on the back. And this photo is not a rarity. Throughout the twin cities of Townsville and Thuringowa there are countless examples of such thoughtful, even inspired planning which makes a suburb not just a dormitory but a destination. 

Townsville, the original of the two cities, nestles contentedly round the imposing bulk of Castle Hill, overlooking the justly underrated backwater of Magnetic Island. I remember holidaying in Townsville from our home town of Mount Isa. Fifty years ago Townsville was little more than a country town with a cosy down at heels beach side feel to it in the vein of Deception Bay or Yeppoon - one of many of Queensland's then (and still) less visited destinations. Fifty years later it is up there amongst the top of Australian cities.

The Strand has won the accolade for Australia's best city beach several times, and deservedly so. The row of wooden shuttered houses that once peeped over at Maggie were torn down. Parks, jogging tracks, fountains, recreation areas, cafes, fishing jetties, and mega tons of sand were added along with thousands of native trees, all documented in a fascinating tourist brochure guide to 'the trees of the strand'. Every day, it is packed. Townsville gives the impression of being one of Australia's fittest cities. There are always people  jogging, walking, biking, working out. The obese ones are there, sitting on sagging benches opposite Wendy's in the air conditioned malls, eating fat free ice creams.

But to really see how vibrant the place is, get up before sunrise and walk/run/ride/puff your way up one of the tracks that winds up/across/down Castle Hill. The Goat Track is wonderful. Pause half way up as the sun rises over the Coral Sea. Watch in awe with hundreds of others (and a few wallabies) who perform the ritual each morning. Delightful. 

And then go down to the Strand for breakfast at one of the wonderful cafes along the beach. That is living.

Thuringowa is the new city. The way they have developed new suburbs, planned public gardens, lined  Ross River with parks, walkways, theaters, sports grounds and so on and turned muddy creeks into delightful ponds such as the one pictured above in the Willows - plus, plus, plus. Parts of it flood and the cities are not free of bureaucratic bungling (or bribes).

Downsides? Of course. The old city was turned into a pedestrian mall years ago. It died shortly after and now only survives on life support. Vacant shops. Derelicts. Garbage tins overflow with discarded Big Mac boxes and Bundy Rum cans. Everywhere, there is the feeling of decay. Why shop in the city when you either can't park or have to pay exorbitant parking fees when you can go to an airconditioned modern mall? I wish them well, but I can't see it ever working. Fifty years ago it was the heart of the city. Now it is its appendix and in danger of developing peritonitis.

That aside, the twin cities are an uplifting place to visit. Cairns has its hinterland but it has little else. Townsville has a few minor attractions within an hour or two drive such as Ravenswood, Charters Towers, Paluma and of course the decadence of Magnetic Island (I use the term in the sense that applies to old people's hospices). That aside, I love visiting T and T. But you do need Castle Hill! After a meal at one of the excellent restaurants in revitalised South Townsville, once a down at heels port suburb, now a trendy strip of bistros, bars and bonhomie, you will need the exercise. Servings are twice what you get in Melbourne or Sydney, and at a cheaper price. Topped off with a two dollar clean skin from Dan Murphy's Liquor Barn, the twin cities are a delight that deserve a higher profile as a destination.