THE ANNUAL TOWNSVILLE GREAT ESCAPE

The Annual Townsville "Great Escape" (Grape Escape is more like it!) took place recently with an eager party of 11 donning sunglasses and summer attire and boarding the Friday afternoon flight to Townsville.

Following the late arrival of their plane into Townsville it was a pretty lively bunch that arrived at the Townsville Mercure at around 10.30pm ready for "a few quiet ales". Having left the Golden Wing lounge in Brisbane with extraordinarily low stocks of alcohol and looking for something to quench their thirst (it’s VERY hot in Townsville you know!) the illustrious group proceeded to "get acquainted" in the tropical surrounds of the Mercure’s poolside bar.

The following morning saw a relatively well-looking team board the ferry to Magnetic Island where a very trusting Mini Moke hire company was prepared to hire out 5 Mokes to the likes of us – poor fools!

Competition between teams was fast and furious. The Pascoe’s and the Lovetts discovered that a Mini Moke doesn’t actually have a speedo and that obviously means you drive with the pedal to the metal even when taking a corner! The Rowlands/Buckland/Nicholson and Lord/Pinwill teams got terribly confused after 15 or so Bacardi Breeze’s and 12 bottles of wine at lunchtime and thought they were in dodgem cars (it was just a "little" tap!).

It was on our way back to the ferry from the other side of the island that we discovered a little piece of heaven of earth! The Bacardi Breeze’s Bar as we affectionately named it was situated right on the beach (yep, pool tables and all) and the view was truly magnificent. Whilst the only sharks we saw were of the pool variety (Ray Buckland and Braeden Lord did a fabulous Tom Cruise impersonation with a pool cue!) I was content to continue with my research into tropical drinks…I didn’t know that Breeze’s came in so many delicious flavours!

That night saw the sunburnt southerners at the home of the Overflow Cowboys… Melbourne Storm looked like they were going to thrash the pants off the Cowboys but a furious comeback by the home side meant the final 30 minutes of the game was damned exciting – and that’s saying something coming from a Melbourne girl who’s idea of football doesn’t involve throwing the ball backwards!

A trip to Townsville is never complete without a visit to the delightful Townsville Casino and not being a group to break with tradition we simply HAD to go. Besides, Tony Pinwill had been extolling the virtues of 14 red since Friday night! Hmmm… probably best not to mention the casino after all, suffice to say Pinwill and Pascoe were still there at 3.30am when I left!

It was a much more subdued group who boarded the plane back to Melbourne and Sydney (very cute photo Paul Rowlands!). After seeing the most sensational beachside bar we decided we could’ve all stayed on Magnetic Island for "just a few more days". No Paullette, we’re not moving the Vic State office to Queensland!

Since this was my first time on the "tour" and also as this was "the first time girls were allowed," I can’t compare my experience to those of previous years. However I had about as much fun as a person can handle in 48 hours and I met some sensational people (and got to know some fabulous Cleanevent people too!) so the 3 day hangover was definitely worth it! Thanks for the invite! Love those Bacardi Breezes!