I have lived in Cairns for nearly 6 years. How time flies when one is, er not watching a pot or something.

Early on I learnt about the Cairns-Townsville rivalry. Each city seems to think that it is the capital of the Far North. Townsville used to always have the spot on the Australian Weather map, but Cairns stole it because it has more tourists.

Even locals talk with disdain about visiting Townsville (aka Brownsville). When I told colleagues I was visiting Townsville this weekend I was usually asked why. When I explained it was for MIML™ to sit his AMC exam it was then ok- I had a reason. I was basically told that one would not go to Townsville for pleasure.

Even yesterday when MIML™ was sitting his exam and I had time to explore local shopkeepers asked me why on earth I was visiting Townsville. I was given lectured to by one about how much more cultured Cairns is and how Cairns people are less redneck. Ok… if they insist…

But my impressions were different. Townsville is a gorgeous city. It has old buildings. It has the best coffee I have tasted in a while. It has more Irish pubs than the rest of Australia put together (Well I think I saw 7!) and it has a bottle shop on every corner, with one or two within every block.

Apart from getting lost after relying on my jebusPhone’s maps, I found it a pretty easy city to navigate. There are so many shopping malls and whilst there is no Myer, Myer is meant to be moving there in the next few years.

The feature that got me the most though was The Strand. Yes, The Cairns Esplanade is lovely, but The Strand is something else. It has a beach! It has lovely cafés with homemade cakes and ice-creams. It has views over the harbour at night with lights. Last night the moon was almost full and MIML™ was holding my hand as we walked and I melted. Now it was warm but the company and the scenery was superb- pretty magical in fact!

I am rather taken by the place. Could I live there? I don’t know. Perhaps not with everyone dissing it so much. We do hope to go back, not for more exams, but to take the kids and explore it a little more.

Tags: AMC, MIML™, Townsville

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 at 9:40 pm and is filed under MIML™, Stuff, tropical living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.