Cape Pallarenda

Townsville

Copyright: Peter Bell/Wikimedia Commons
DESTINATIONS australia townsville Do & See Cape Pallarenda

Cape Pallarenda

The Cape Pallarenda Conservation Park is a 44-hectare protected conservation park 10 km north-east of Townsville. The park offers 15 walking and mountain biking trails of varying lengths and difficulty, fishing and boating, bird watching and shell collecting. Cape Pallarenda was a strategic defence location in World War II and structured from that era can be spotted along the walking trails. The former Cape Pallarenda Quarantine Station is now heritage-listed. It was built in 1915–1916 using the materials brought over from the original quarantine station on Magnetic Island.

Do & See

There is plenty to do and see in and around Townsville. The tropical climate allows for lots of water-based activities, such as the free water park, swimming pools and Reef HQ Aquarium. The wreck of the SS Yongala just off the North Queensland coast, measuring more than 100 metres, has been labelled one of the world’s top 10 diving sites. Also, just 135 km to the southwest is Charters Towers, a living history site, which was established during the gold trade in the late 1800s. Today it contains a number of superb historic buildings. For families and nature lovers, there is Billabong Sanctuary with its wombats and koalas, as well as the Reef HQ on Flinders Street. Culture is catered to at the Aboriginal Centre and at the National Heritage Complex in the West End.