Lauren’s Special Place

Monday was my final full day in Townsville and I knew I wanted to do something special, you know, something representative of my time here in Australia. Lucky for my I have terrific friends who know exactly what makes me happy – nature (or what Lauren creepily termed her “special place” because it is her favorite place in Townsville! Lauren and Boyd took me to the Pallaranda which is a park located on the northern beaches of Townsville. We arrived at about 4:30pm and simply strolled down the sandy beach dotted with stones and boulders ranging in size from grapefruits to large cars. It was low tide but the waters were slowly reclaiming the tide pools and mudflats we were wading through. The snapshots were incredible. Magnetic Island just to the right, Castle Hill off in the distance to our backs, craggily scrub and bouldering hills to the left and a setting sun to the fore: perfection.

The three of us mucked around for a good bit, you know, getting stuck in the “quick sand”, looking for marine life and occasionally snapping some photos. The beach approached an almost perfect ninety degree turn to the left just ahead of where we were walking. As we swung around the outcrop of boulders our eyes were met with the most magnificent sky I have seen. The sun, while yes, it was setting, was covered ever so slightly by thin, flat clouds that masked the event in a vibrant expanse of color and texture. More so, the water perfectly captured this episode, complemented by the textural variance of the boulders and ripples left behind from the tides. It was absolutely the perfect way to say goodbye to Australia as a country because it was demonstrative of the two things I fell in love with Down Under: the people and the land.