Castle Hill

Castle Hill is a Townsville landmark, and it attracts lots of people who are keen on their fitness, as they tackle the various paths to the top, or maybe run up the road route. I’ve even seen ladies running while pushing buggies up the hill – now that is impressive!

Normally I am working on my fitness and hiking up it as fast as I can, with no stops apart from very occasional brief pauses to catch my breath - if I absolutely need to. This time, I was taking a friend up there to show her the route, and were doing it with a bit more enjoyment in mind and our cameras in hand.

The Hill up ahead

The route that I go up begins at the road, but then turns off onto a trail heading steeply up the side. The track covers rough ground, but is well-maintained, and affords wonderful views. From some directions you can see Magnetic Island sitting serenely out to sea. I love looking out to the island and day-dreaming about the koalas!

Other views look out over the town’s port, a less pretty vista. The sun is rising in this photo – people who know me well will be amazed to find that I am ever up early enough to see the sun rising!

There is wildlife on the Hill too, and on this most recent trip up there I heard a rustling in the undergrowth. Venomous snakes are an issue in Queensland, so I was worried about what might be causing the rustling. A quick check (from a safe distance!) didn’t reveal scales though, but rather spines!!

I got to watch it snuffling around while desperately trying to dig my camera out of the pouch. Of course, it had hidden it’s little face by the time I managed to get the camera switched on and pointed in the right direction, but I was still very excited: I had seen my first echidna!!!!! 

I watched the little guy for quite a while, but then I needed to carry on. The rest meant that, for a change, I got to enjoy the scenery of the path as I carried on.

I love the tropical foliage

The last section of this path is a set of seemingly never-ending steps. My legs burn and I struggle for breath as I walk up them, but I am determined to make it to the top without stopping again!

We've come a long way...

...but there's still a way to go!

Once at the top of the path, I normally turn downhill on the road to jog back to the bottom as normally the Hill is tackled for fitness training. This time I turned uphill on the road, for the short walk to the car park at the top.

Here there is a mister to cool you down, but it was so humid anyway that the mister made no difference. 

We took in the views from the top instead:

I live over in that direction somewhere!

The view over Cape Pallarenda

This monument is to Robert Towns, for whom Townsville was named after he founded it in 1865.

Angry skies brewing!

There are a few plantings up here too, with what for me is the Flowery Trinity of Tropicalness: Hibiscus, Frangipani and Bougainvillea.

Then it was time to head back down the road, and the threatening skies release their rain just in time to make it impossible for my camera to focus on this tree full of sulphur crested cockatoos.

So that’s Castle Hill, all the more exciting to me now for having seen an echidna!

I’ll just leave you with these beautiful frangipani flowers that we saw in a garden at the bottom, just because they are so pretty :)