Goodbye Townsville....

So this last week was our final week in Townsville. Andreas and I were pretty laid back and took it easy. We were saving some money by not doing any big expeditions since we will be driving alot now for the next 2 weeks (5000 Kms round trip) camping and staying in other accomodations.

We went up Castle Hill again, last Monday and then again just this past Sunday. Love that hike. We took Tiggy the dog twice and she just loved it. She is such a sweet dog, I am already missing her so much.

The main excitement of the past week was the radiator top tank of Mandy cracked open. Andy was driving and we were at a busy intersection when he noticed steam coming out under the hood. Suddenly the temperature gauge went from middle of the scale to hot! We were like "Ahhhh we need to get off this road!" The street light turned red, then the engine failed but after a couple tries we got Mandy started and turned right into a side street, pulling to the curb. Then we looked but had no water in the car to speak of. We were planning on going to a nearby house and ask for some water for the rad, but a lady was walking by so we asked her if she lived nearby and we could get some water from her. She had a full water bottle on her actually, so let us empty it into our rad. That cooled it down enough for us to get home. (5 mins) The next day we took it to a radiator shop and had it replaced and a rad flush and refill. We are very thankful to God that this happened in Townsville and not out in the boonies on a desolate road to Kakadu.

Sat morning I went to a ladies morning at the church Andreas and I attended here in Townsville. It was a fun morning and I met some more women from the church.

The homeowners came home from their holiday yesterday and we were happy to see they were happy with our housesitting ability. Margaret was very glad the animals loved us and were well taken care of. It was such a blessing for us to be able to live in a home for a month for free. Townsville was such a beautiful city too. At the dinner that night Trevor had a open half full bottle of this delicious red wine. He saw Andy and I enjoyed it, so offered us an unopened bottle from his fridge. How generous, it's made by Bailey & Bailey (Australian) and the label is "Two fat ladies". Well there would be one fat lady if I bought it often :P

Now we are staying in Cairns for the night, then we are off into the interior.....

My answers to the Bethesda Ladies:
Ilse - No we stayed in a resort (4 star) for our honeymoon in Fiji, since then we have camped, in a tent, or stayed at people's houses. No we didn't burn our lips, though we did burn our backs and chests.

Andrea - We loved the horseback ride, it was so fun and I was thrilled that my horse stayed ahead of the other 3 horses in line, it liked to lead! Our honeymoon was fabulous.

Gaal - Yes most backpackers hostels have shared lounges/living rooms, with a TV and comfy chairs. Hostels are like dorm rooms with bunk beds, shared bathrooms and kitchens. Fun was to meet people.

Staff - we saw a Koala at the Billabong Sanctuary and Andreas and I patted it. Then we also saw one live in the wild on Magnetic Island. They are very cute!