A Great Way To Spend A Day

I had a pretty dreamy day yesterday. I didn’t take any photos, I've been getting a bit slack with photos lately, but luckily I can share a couple of photos taken by other people.

It’s really warm and sunny here in the tropics, in Townsville, north Queensland. I was going to add ‘at the moment’, but it’s pretty much always warm and sunny here… It’s pretty great, although we are in drought at the moment after the driest weather on record and we have water usage restrictions. We also might have a cyclone very soon, so admittedly it’s not entirely great. (If the cyclone does develop, it will be called Stan. Stan the cyclone doesn’t sound very scary!)

Still, it is pretty great here, and getting to spend a day doing something a little different with some lovely people makes it all the better :)

The day began early to beat the worst of the heat, and we met up near the rockpool swimming pool on the Strand. We all met on our bikes, mainly vintage models, and we began with a gentle ride around the paths of Townsville, leading the home of one of our group for refreshments of chilled juice and slices of watermelon, followed by a coffee stop.

That's me, the second rider :)

After chilling and chatting awhile, enjoying the company and the coffee and the fact of being out and about, we finished up the social ride and went our separate ways. Many of us went the same way though, into the nearby street markets selling various handmade items, fresh fruits, plants, and foody bits. Bumping into another of my friends, we stopped for a catch up only to gradually meet back up with various other friends from the ride earlier – a perfect time to go for some more coffee!

A bit later that afternoon I returned to the Strand to go for a swim in the sea. At this time of year, the swimming here has to be done within stinger nets, to minimize the risk of getting stung by the dangerous local jellyfish. Following my swim by reading my book on the beach for a while, I then walked around to the rockpool swimming pool (a free, outdoor, sea water swimming pool) where I bumped into a friend from earlier again. We went for a swim together in the rockpool, where we decided we would get a fish and chip supper. We carried our paper parcel back down to the Strand, where we sat on the grass listening to noise of the ocean as we ate. We followed up with yet another coffee and some easy conversation, before it was time to head off home.

What a great day :)