Drive further north towards Cairns, with stops in Townsville and Mission Beach

In Townsville we stay in a hotel for the first time on our trip. Great views from the 11th floor over the harbor and the city! 

We spend the afternoon in the Queensland Aquarium and in the turtles hospital. 

In the evening we go down to the waterfront. There is a nice community festival, where whole families spend their Easter Monday together, listening to really good life music. Some impressions:

We finish the day with a walk along a lookout point, the lagoon, beach volleyball, cafes, and lots of people doing the same. It reminds us of a typical Sunday evening walk along Hannover Maschsee...but much warmer, and much more sea.......

The next day we drive to Mission Beach. On the way we have a very nice walk up to Yourama waterfalls, with pretty rock pools. Doro returns halfway, as she feels attacked by mossies. I am proud of the wonderful pictures I can take.

We have coffee 

...and tea on the porch of our B&B where we are warmly welcomed by Sharon and Phil, with Trixi the dog.

Great event in the evening: we spot our first wallabies on a walk, accompanied by Trixi, and have dinner in the purple house, a really funny bar & cafe with trivia night and GERMAN BEER! 

Next morning we look around our B&B, the beach just 100m away. 

Looks pretty, doesn't it? But take care:

There are some other strange signs to be found along the roads:

Cassowaries! Which we saw only on signs, not in nature. What a pity. But the locals assured us, that they really exist.

We did not find any sign saying: Speeding has killed locomotives! We find many of the above signs on the "cane cutter way" leading through numerous areas of sugarcane fields, because during harvesting season, the cane is transported to sugar mills with trains. 

The highlight of our drive ist the Paronella Park. José Paronella, a Spanish immigrant, built a tiny castle with waterfalls, used to produce electricity, in order to illuminate the whole house and gardens. He also created a ballroom, a cinema, a restaurant, a swimming pool and organized festivities and wedding functions. In the ballroom he installed the first disco light by using a ball with hundreds of mosaic mirrors, reflecting blue and pink lights. That all happened in the 1920ies. Unfortunately almost everything was destroyed or damaged by floodings, fire and finally cyclones. In the early 2000es, a tourist who came along discovered the beauty of the place, bought it for 400 thousand  $ and developed it to a tourist attraction. 

The alley of kaori trees, planted as very tiny plants by José, which are abot 80 m tall now and can get 1000 years old! That means that they may be adored even by a generation living in the year 2900 +. Unbelievable.

Remains of the lower buildings.

On the way back we found the following recommendation for ladies in a pub:

Guys, this is indeed a male friendly country.