Year 2 -15 May 2025 – Horseshoe Bay – Magnetic Island to Breakwater Marina- Townsville

We woke at a reasonable time as I wanted to leave by 8.00am to get into Townsville at High Water as there is a shallow channel. We had a quick breakfast and then upped anchor at 7.45am and headed round Magnetic Island and South to Townsville which we could see in the distance. There is a deep channel for cargo ships which comes out almost to the end of Magnetic Island so for about 9 nm. It was a warm sunny day and interesting to see a slightly different rock formations on Magnetic Island which seemed to have a lot of large boulders on its shore.

Townsville lies a little over half-way between Brisbane and Thursday Island (at the top of Australia) and it is Australia’s largest tropical city. It lies on the East side of Ross Creek. The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of the Sunshine Coast). It is unofficially considered the capital of North Queensland. Townsville hosts a significant number of governmental, community and major business administrative offices for the northern half of the state.

Part of the larger local government area of the City of Townsville, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland. The city is adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef. The city is also a major industrial centre, home to one of the world's largest zinc refineries, a nickel refinery and many other similar activities. As of December 2020, $30M operations to expand the Port of Townsville are underway, which involve channel widening and installation of a 70-tonne Liebherr Super Post Panamax Ship-to-Shore crane to allow much larger cargo and passenger ships to utilise the port. It is an increasingly important port due to its proximity to Asia and major trading partners such as China.

Dominant sectors of its diverse economy include defence, administration, health and education, manufacturing, energy, transport and logistics. The city is a national hub for renewable energy, in green hydrogen and polysilicon, as well as the centre of Copper String 2032 being Australia's largest renewable transmission project. Townsville is Australia's 'fortress city', home to a large part of the strategic capability of the ADF, offering essential services including maintenance and supply chains including one of the largest military bases in Australia] as well as a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base that can accommodate most military aircraft in service. Townsville is the industrial heart of northern Australia with a GRP of $15.1 billion in 2023. The city is served by Townsville Airport and the Port of Townsville, the largest general freight and container port in northern Australia.

Popular attractions include "The Strand", a long tropical beach and garden strip; Riverway, a riverfront parkland attraction located on the banks of Ross River; Reef HQ, a large tropical aquarium holding many of the Great Barrier Reef's native flora and fauna; the Museum of Tropical Queensland, built around a display of relics from the sunken British warship HMS Pandora; Castle Hill or as it was originally known Cootharinga, the most prominent landmark of the area and a popular place for exercise; The Townsville Sports Reserve; and Magnetic Island, a large neighbouring island, the vast majority of which is national park. James Cook visited the Townsville region on his first voyage to Australia in 1770 but did not land there. Cook named nearby Cape Cleveland, Cleveland Bay and Magnetic(al) Island. In 1819, Captain Phillip Parker King and botanist Alan Cunningham were the first Europeans to record a local landing. Townsville was named after Robert Towns, a successful entrepreneur and businessman, who provided financial support for the development of the settlement in 1866. Although he only briefly visited the town, he agreed to assist the new settlement, leading to it being named Townsville in his honour.

We motored on (as we were going directly into the wind we had) and past Nelly Bay on Magnetic Island to which you can get a ferry. We then had to continue over quite a shallow patch until we came to the channel to the marina. Although it was high water we only had at various points 0.6m under the keel. We came round the breakwater and into the marina and the fuel dock was helpfully on our starboard side. We filled up with diesel and petrol of the outboard. I then had to get round to our berth and without a bow thruster which was a bit of a challenge trying to reverse into our berth but I eventually managed it and having a marina man on the quay helped. We moored and sorted ourselves out.

I check in with the marina and brought up the gas cylinders to fill. They refused one and hopefully will be able to fill the other. I arranged to see a workman at 2.00pm who is going to see if he can repair the fridge lid which has started to crumble inside. He is also going to make another pair of wooden steps which are on their way out and he will look at the blind in my cabin which has come loose. At 3.30pm I had an engineer come round who is going to try to fix the bow thruster. He says that the boat will have to come out of the water and so we had to contact another marina who can lift her out on 3 June 2025. It then depends on parts needed. The problem is that I will not be there. I am flying out tomorrow to return to the UK for my brother Andrew’s memorial service and then I had planned to go home in June and so will stay until I return on 25 June 2025. Apart from tomorrow there will be no blog again until 25th June 2025. I will therefore have to arrange someone to take Stormbird for the lift out.

The marina had a barbecue which we went to at about 4.30pm and there were prawns and sausages etc and free beer and wine. They then had an open session for feedback. This has never happened in a marina in the UK to my knowledge. We then went off along The Strand and found a restaurant called The Spirited Goat – which was Italian and we had a great meal. I was treated as Skipper for my last night and I am grateful to Paul, John, Angus and Peter for their generosity. After the meal we went to a Sports Bar for a nightcap and saw a very physical game of Rugby League by ladies between Queensland and New South Wales.

We have had a great three weeks and enjoyed it and I am sorry their trip is cut short slightly due to my brother’s passing. However, they will make the best of it in Townsville I am sure. The picture of the day is the approach to Townsville.

Need/Opportunity Year Three

I am in need of one more crew from Cairns to Indonesia. You could join In Townsville at the end of June and sail up to Cairns of join in Cairns on about 14 July. We will then sail to Indonesia on about 17 July and arrive 1,100nm) on about 22-23 July. You can then stay for a bit and then leave when convenient. If  interested do email me.

In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK.  I am looking for crew from Reunion to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com