Tuesday 13 July 2010

Townsville




We arrived in Townsville on Thursday night and of course we hadn’t booked (do we ever learn!). Fortuitously Ian decided to call in at the Visitor Information Centre to enquire where we should go. We were nearly told where to go but the very nice volunteers found us the only Caravan Park that had space (did we not know it was the Townsville 400 Race on Friday, Saturday and Sunday …. of course we did!). We headed off to Black River Stadium where the rodeos are held, making sure we were there by 6pm because they lock the gates then! However it proved to be a great place to stay and we were very grateful for the power and water to restock.
Off to the race on Sunday after Ian initially decided it wasn’t really all that important. Can you believe I had to talk him into going! I must have scored a zillion patchwork points for that one! We were able to pre purchase our tickets on Saturday which made life a lot easier especially when I noticed that there was a bus service available to take us there and return. What a service. Townsville really know how to do it well. We walked straight onto a bus which took us right to the gate and picked us up after the event and returned us to the car at the end of the day. No queuing at either end. Hooray! It would certainly make you go again just for the service.
Now for the race. You will see from the photos that Ian’s interest was immediate when he saw the Jack Daniel Girls. We had to have a picture especially for our friend Scott. Ian remarked to the attractive young ladies that the photo was for the benefit of his friend! He otherwise would not have bothered at all ---- yeah right! They were a lot less attractive than many of the others, but I took a hit for the team, and Scott, anyway!!
The day was full on from when we arrived with lots of activity on the track before the main event which began at 1.30pm. There were a number of races to enjoy and this one with the Mini Coopers was particularly enjoyable right up to the point when one of the cars came into the concrete wall right in front of us. It certainly was spectacular but I suspect not a lot of fun for the driver. Within minutes, all the debris had been cleared, the driver escorted away in the medical car and the race back underway. We posted this picture for David and Diane because David is such a fan of the minis and we thought of them!
The main race was really exciting and as Ian was sporting his new Ford shirt we hoped for the right result. We’ve never had the opportunity to go to a race like this one and it certainly was exciting and the drivers are amazing at negotiating the curves of the track so close to each other as the commentator said “there’s not even room for a chamois between these cars!” On many occasions the commentators kept us very amused.
We also had a big screen right in front of us so we could watch the progress around the track which was terrific although once the main race began there were cars in front of us most of the time. I had no idea who was winning but tried to look as though I did! However at the end of the day Ford did win so that made a good day a great one. It’s a funny thing though I did notice a number of times when the screen featured things off the track like all the gorgeous girls who work for the various sponsors and I did reflect to Ian that I wondered if it wasn’t time for some women to be operating the cameras. I might have a chat to Kate and Wazza’s best man Billy who is a camera man about that when we return.
Anyway it was a fantastic day which we both enjoyed immensely and now we have a couple of days to do some sightseeing before Kate and Wazza arrive.

5 comments:

Stocky said...

APC & Stocky are now officially pissed, you could have saved some Jack Daniels for us. We don't drink bourbon normally but would have made an exception in this case.

Anonymous said...

Its a shame that they only had the ugly Jack Daniels girls at Townsville hey Dad?

Pete

Anonymous said...

Now u no y i drink jack it makes the girls look better (not that i need that for all of them) :-)

Scott

Anonymous said...

Careful Scotty......

Stocky said...

I wonder who Anonymous is???? Gee I wonderrrrrr!!!!!