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Thursday Island is definitely a paradise…on this beautiful island, watches are necessary to keep track of the time!

Our 1 night stay at this small but beautiful island in the Torres Strait – known as Waiben in the island’s native language – was definitely way too brief. The island is so luxurious and relaxing that you don’t ever want to leave! Particularly as our holiday pulls to a close.

Whilst majority of our time was spent chilling on the beautiful beaches, we also dropped in to the historical Green Fort Hill, a piece of history on the island. The military history was very interesting whilst the views were just absolutely breathtaking – a definite must-see on the island.

According to the data collected from the 2011 census, Thursday Island had a population of 2610 people, with this statistic being broken up into approximately 51.0% females and 49.0% males.

The main employment industry of the island is the health care and social assistance division, with 24.7% of the population working for this industry. The other major industries are public administration and safety (20.4%), education and training (14.7%) and retail trade (7.3%). The main occupation of people who live on Thursday Island is Professionals (21.6%), followed by clerical and administrative workers (17.1%), community and personal service workers (13.6%) and labourers (13.2%). Data obtained from the 2011 census showed 63.1% of permanent residents over the age of fifteen identify as working full-time, 20.6% of the populace is working part-time and 4.7% are unemployed. A major industry is the lucrative pearling industry, which was first founded in the year 1885.

What’s unique about Thursday Island? It has a warm climate, with the year average low being 24.2 and the average 30.2, with there being an annual average precipitation of 1757.6mm. It is only partially self-sufficient for water supplies and has two wind turbines which generate a portion of the island’s required electricity. For thousands of years the island was populated by Torres Strait Islanders, and it is known for being the most northerly town in Australia. It is also the administrative centre for all of the Australian islands located between Cape York and the New Guinea Mainland.

Some of the recreational activities available on Thursday Island include aquatic activities, including swimming and fishing, as well as beachwalking. The island houses a sporting complex, a gym and the Ken Brown Oval for the fitness fanatics as well as a public library. Historical tourist attractions are also available as well as educational, medical and legal facilities on the island.

Migration is not one of the major factors driving change in this community – 82.6% of the population were born in Australia -, however there is still culture diversity on the island, with 47.7% of the island only speaking English – thus, 52.3% of the population can speak another language. There are not many factors that drive change, as the population has not been blooming – in 2001, the population was 2693; this number dropped to 2546 in 2006, and by 2011 it has risen to 2610. This indicates that natural increase must be a minor factor as for the past decades Thursday Island has remained stable in not only population but other factors including employment.

Thursday Island paradise and bliss, we bid you farewell. As our holiday draws to a close, we know that one day we will return to relax in pure coastal luxury…

See you soon…from the nostalgic larrikin, larrikin E.

Townsville is a great bustling city, a tourist’s galore, that a 2 night stop at simply does not cater for.

We checked into our accommodation exhausted but excited. We stayed at BIG4 Walkabout Palms Townsville on a powered grass site, excellent for our caravan. Larrikin A immediately pulled on her swimmers and ran at high speed to the excellent pool, complete with a waterslide. We spent the rest of the afternoon here, of course – larrikin M also enjoyed the waterslide, opting to ride it probably a total of 100 times!

We spent our full day exploring a range of the attractions available – the Reef HQ Aquarium, a top pick of larrikin A’s, was a great aquarium experience whilst larrikin M’s suggested Billabong Sanctuary – 11km out of Townsville – allowed us to get up close with beautiful native fauna. We then went and enjoyed the holiday park’s pool again before dining at Seasoned – a restaurant boasting delicious modern Australian food.

In 2014, Townsville had a population of 236,629 people, with this number being divided into 118,768 males and 117,861 females. The median age for the city is 34.5 years old. 18.6% of this population was born overseas, with the most overseas migration occurring from North-West Europe (comprising 4.2%). It has been said that Townsville welcomes 78 new residents weekly, which contributes to the annual population growth in this city of 2.4%.

Townsville Approximately 87,537 people work in Townsville, with the biggest industry being Professionals (approximately 15,680 people), followed by clerical and administrative workers (13,245) and technicians and trade workers (13,129). Townsville has a reasonably high unemployment rate of 10.6%, however, it was said to be approaching 15% in August 2016.

This city, which is adjacent to the main section of the gorgeous Great Barrier Reef, boasts a range of recreational activities alongside the well-catered-for attractions for all the tourists. Tourist attractions other than the ones previously mentioned in this blog include a lengthy tropical beach and garden strip referred to as “The Strand” and Riverway, which is a riverfront parkland attraction. Well known for its excellent diving and snorkelling facilities as well as its high availability of sporting clubs, Townsville offers endless options of recreational activities from sport to arts and culture, nature to shopping, scenic drives and walks to delicious dining and eateries…Townsville really does has and offers it all! To discover more about opportunities in Townsville, please visit https://www.townsvillenorthqueensland.com.au/things-to-do/.

Unique features of Townsville? Wow, there’s definitely many answers you could reply to that question! From the topsy-turvy climate the city experiences, including tropical cyclones, as part of a “tropical savannah climate”, to the tourist attractions mentioned above, Townsville is unique in many aspects, with only a few being outlined in this blog.

Factors driving change include the availability of work in various industries. A boom in population in Townsville has been directly linked to the town’s popularity for FIFO (Fly-in, Fly-out) miners as well as short to medium term workers brought in by the army base and other government services. This contributes to Townsville having a younger population than that of Australia-wide and Queensland averages. Similarly, the construction of high-rise apartment buildings contributed to the city’s urban layout allows the city to effectively cope with this rise in population.

Townsville can be described as utterly unique and a superb place to both live and visit…you definitely cannot cover it and see it all in only a few days! As we move on in our journey, we are eagerly looking forward to what awaits us.

Bidding “Au Revoir” or “Goodbye”,

Larrikin E