By the numbers
1 bus
6.63 kms
8718 steps
The morning did seem to be clear when I got up and moving, although I was up before my alarm went off as I tried sleeping in. I wanted breakfast with coffee and visited one of the places where I knew I could get something quick and easy, which was Maccas. I had a coffee so that was something to wake me up and get the engine running for the day. The plan was actually to catch the bus into the great unknown that was Townsville. I didn’t know what was going to happen on arrival as everything was in lockdown in that area. I did watch the press conference and it said the lockdown in Townsville would be lifted that night, which made me happy even if I had only 4 hours of it once I arrived.
Making sure I was ready and had everything packed including a full water bottle so that I wouldn’t need to worry too much. I was keeping an eye on the weather as I could see the clouds moving in and I didn’t want to get wet at all. I put the key through the mail slot and the funny thing was it fell under the door and outside, so I pushed it back inside. The weather was getting worse as I walked to the stop and could feel the rain trying to start. Around 5 mins at the stop and the heavens did open, so I was lucky there. I even found I could look at my bus coming into town live with a location shown on the map. There were not many people on the bus and few going into Townsville. We were told once we set foot in the city we would have to wear a mask. The first stop was just up the road at a servo where we could get food. I looked and there wasn’t anything there I was interested in.
The journey north included conga lines of caravans with Victorian number plates, road works all the way up, but at least the traffic was moving. I was looking at the different towns like Bowen’s big Mango and the town itself seemed to have heaps of space especially on the streets. There were no huge issues on the trip up and Twitter provided me with a name to the bus. It was the rainforest dog. At least now I know the vehicles have names and I was watching the scenery go by as you could see sugar cane, cane trailers and more towns like Ayr. Though I was getting excited when I went into Townsville and the city looked very quiet. Along the way I found where I wanted to be tomorrow as the museum was going to be open the day after lockdown. I soon found just how hot Townsville could be especially when wearing a mask. It was uncomfortable, but I soon made my way to the motel. I was able to check in and then it was time to wait out the lockdown, although I did look up the rules and that did include exercise and getting essentials. That was what I did do as I thought it would be easier and cheaper to have a few meals at the room since I had a microwave and a fridge with a freezer. I didn’t know where anything was apart from Maccas and I could have my morning toast, which was boring, but who cares.
I went back to the motel room and sat waiting out the lockdown, although I was watching TV and looking things up online. Once 6pm came about out of curiosity I went for a short walk and the city had come alive with people and cars everywhere. I think I prefer a city that looks alive than one that is dead silent. It was good to see people walking about, but there was a chill in the air. It was on dusk and at least now people are happy to be out and about. Hopefully they wont get a bit too noisy at night. Nearby there is a huge hill in the city that I could try to walk up, but if the heat today is anything like it has been then I might have to rethink that idea. I am I get up to.
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