On my last morning in Townsville, I crossed the Victoria Bridge to the south bank of the Ross River, which flows through the city and empties into the Coral Sea.

Palmer Street leads down to the port. It’s a pretty area, with an array of restaurants, accommodation and the Maritime Museum. Again, apart from a few tourists looking for brunch, I felt like I was the only person around, though I guess the restaurants would draw diners later in the day.

After crossing back to Flinders Street, I spent some time in a lovely book shop, Mary Who? Bookshop, grabbed something for lunch from the supermarket, and headed back to my digs for a break.

I had caught glimpses of gardens on my way to the ferry terminal the day before and wanted to check them out. One block down from where I was staying is The Strand, a lovely boulevard, edged by cliffs on one side and Anzac Memorial Park on the other.

Anzac Memorial Park commemorates the wars in which Australia and New Zealand have been involved.

Memorials and plaques describe the various battles, especially the Battle of the Coral Sea, not too far away, when Australian and American troops fought together.

The gardens are lovely. I spent ages just hanging around, getting my energy back.

During the night I’d been awake, having suddenly realised I hadn’t decided where to go from here. In the end, I booked a flight back down to Brisbane, thinking I could maybe get back on the Tilt Train to the Sunshine Coast or maybe, as the lady I met on the first trip suggested, to Bundaberg. But in the end it was going to be too complicated, not to mention expensive, best left for another time.

It having been forty years since I’d last been to the Gold Coast, I thought I could slot that in on the way home. Brisbane’s Airtrain runs from the airport all the way to Helensvale, connecting there with the G-link tram, which passes through the very centre of Surfers Paradise and onto Broadbeach. Fabulous.

WHAT a difference.

I ended up in an apartment right in the middle of town. Such a luxury for me, though I wasn’t sure about the little cockroachy things scooting around the bathroom floor.

I enjoyed my couple of days there enormously. Everything in reach and you can jump on the tram down to Broadbeach if you want to go further afield. Surfers gets bad press sometimes but I think it’s a great place for a holiday, especially for families.

I booked my flight back home on Rex Airlines. I hadn’t realised they went between capital cities; I thought it was just regional. It was a very comfortable flight and half the price of the others. I’ll be checking them out in the future.