Townsville

Castle Hill stands tall at the heart of Townsville, and offers the best views in the city looking over the water and towards Magnetic Island. A massive pink monolith towering over anything else in Townsville, it serves as an ideal landmark for visitors to orient themselves. You can drive there or enjoy a scenic walk, and take in the panoramic 360-degree views of everything below. Getting a snap of the sunset as it dips below the horizon is definitely worth the trek.

Beyond its role as a prominent city landmark and scenic lookout point, Castle Hill holds significant historical importance. During World War II, the hill’s strategic position was utilised by American soldiers. Legend has it that these soldiers proposed demolishing the hill and using its rock to construct a bridge to Magnetic Island. Today, a World War II observation bunker stands as a reminder of Castle Hill’s military past, adding another layer of intrigue to this iconic site.

Townsville offers two of the best places to dive within the central Great Barrier Reef. The first is the Museum of Underwater Art in Australia (known as MOUA), and we can guarantee that you’ve never seen anything like it.

MOUA is the first of its kind in the southern half of the world and also acts as a platform to encourage discussion around reef conservation and restoration, as well as the indigenous history and their connection to the reef. Located on the John Brewer Reef, it is essentially an underwater greenhouse with a beautiful mix of art and science. It’s a staggering 72m and fringed by coral reef, easily accessible by dive or snorkel.

By far one of the best shipwreck dive sites along the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the SS Yongala dive site. This famous site beholds a shipwreck that was once a luxury passenger steamship that sank during a cyclone.

In the early 1990s, the shipwreck disappeared with no survivors and wasn’t found for decades. It has since earned itself a reputation for being home to some of the best diving in Australia as it is mostly intact and now as a flourishing eco-system of underwater wildlife. You will need a dive certificate to access it, however.

The Paluma village and rainforest is a very special place that is worth visiting on a day trip from Townsville. Nestled in the misty rainforest, the village is embedded in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and surrounded by national parks.

The weather is significantly cooler than the heat that Townsville faces, so if you’re looking to cool down in the Summer months, it’s a good idea to head here. In many months of the year when the mountain is covered in mist, you can smell the smoke from the wood stoves and backyard fires throughout the village.

If you choose to visit Paluma, the McClelland’s Lookout is one of the best spots to take it all in. The lookout is surrounded by plenty of spots for a picnic and a chill out. From there, you can continue along the surrounding rainforest paths in several different directions. In our opinion, the Witt’s Lookout path has an upper and lower lookout worth visiting.

The tracks through the Paluma rainforest are abundant with rainforest life, including the ever so famous bush turkeys, and hundreds of species of birds. Be sure to take your time to appreciate the sounds and smells this magical place provides, and definitely don’t miss out on the fairy-tale looking waterfalls, such as Cloudy Creek Falls, Ethel Creek Falls, and 20m cascading Birthday Creek Falls. So pack some hiking gear, snacks, a picnic, and maybe a victory beer for your lookout spots, and you are ready to go!