More Time in Townsville

Reef HQ Great Barrier Reef Aquarium

Hm should we or shouldn’t we.  After all we had been to Seaworld and Underwater world – so should we see this aquarium as well.  Mr L and Mr C were super keen – it will help they told us, it will help us when we go out to the real reef.  The weather wasn’t sensational so off we went.  Reef HQ has the largest living coral reef aquarium in a very large tank with a walk through tunnel.  

If you ever get to Reef HQ make sure you check the website before you go so that you can take in at least some of the feeding presentations and the trip (next door) to the Turtle Hospital – what you see there will of course be dictated by what injured turtles had been brought in.  They had about four when we were there but it was cool just seeing their set up and even things like xrays of turtles.  They had recently bought a really large tank for any leatherbacks that might come in, but they haven’t had to use it yet. 

We spent half a day in Reef HQ and really enjoyed it.  Some of the exhibits were a bit tired, but overall it was a great place to visit and the enthusiasm and knowledge of the staff made it more special.  As a parent it was also gratifying to see our boys often the first to have their hands up in response to a question raised.  It seems that information they are exposed to during this trip is getting into our boys brains and they are really learning about a wide range of topics.  Mr C found it very hard to leave a ‘research table’ which held information and videos on reef topics which are displayed on the table and on the wall.  We all enjoyed the more hands on talks and especially the trip to the Turtle Hospital.  And at the end of our experience, maybe Mr L and C were right and it did help build up our knowledge for a trip to the reef.  It has definitely made the boys more excited about the prospect – but very circumspect about cone shells.

Message from Reef HQ:  If you see a cone – leave it alone!

Swimming in Townsville

Yay we scored a sunny, clear, lovely warm day so we went swimming!  We loved the availability of swimming pools in Townsville.  In the last post we explored the Strand and the Rockpool, well there is another set of free swimming pools on the river further inland.  We arrived not too early in the morning and had a pick of pools to ourselves.  Eventually a few more people turned up but in chatting with a life guard we had met at the Strand, we discovered many locals find it too cool to swim at this time of year.  Their loss.  We swam for hours at the Riverview pools, ate lunch there and then took the boys to the waterpark on the Strand. 

Castle Hill

We finished the day with a trip up Castle Hill which we had been seeing almost wherever we went around town.  We drove up the hill (as we had pretty much done our dash with exercise and daylight by then), but there were so many people walking, even cycling up this hill for exercise, it was impressive to watch (especially as this is a good steep hill which really would give you a good work out).  There are a number of short tracks on the top with amazing views.  We were even treated to a small controlled fire down one path.

13 - 18 June Time in Townsville

We really liked Townsville – it probably helped that it wasn’t continually raining and trying to blow our caravan away, but there was such a good diversity of things to do here and we could see ourselves coming back for a holiday here.  When the weather was inclement we were able to escape to the Tropical Museum and Reef Head Quarters.  When it was nice there are fantastic walks and free pools and good kids parks in Townsville.  This time we stayed at a caravan park far from the sea and just outside Townsville – there was no bouncy pillows, or pools, but it had a great atmosphere and the kids loved the freedom to ride around up and down the grass hills near our van.

The Strand and Fort Hill

You can swim in the sea in Townsville, we didn’t because the wind was still blowing a bit - I had assumed that you couldn’t swim up this far because of the crocs, but apparently not.   However, Townsville has also built a lovely strip along the sea called the Strand.  The Strand included a beach with life guards and located just near this was a lovely free pool called the rock pool which was bordered by a cool kid’s park with the grooviest six person swing we have ever seen (actually it would be the only six person swing we have seen).

At one end of the Strand is Fort Hill which had a lovely walk with interpretative signs and even radio recordings explaining all about the attack on Townsville in World War II.  David and I were aware of the raids on Darwin but not Townsville, it’s good to know that our twins aren’t the only ones learning on this trip.  It was also cool not just reading about what happened, but also listening to the old radio recordings.  The kids had a great time exploring the hill and learning about the different guns and how the old fort used to work.

Fort Hill walk is also provides a great vantage point to see Castle Hill which has a very imposing presence across the whole of Townsville.

After all our walking and exploring we finally discovered a gelato shop on the Strand which had the best views while you are enjoying your cones.  Some days it’s a hard life, not.

The Museum of Tropical Queensland

Definitely the biggest spider we have seen yet!

The Museum of Tropical Queensland is a branch of the Queensland Museum located in Townsville.  The museum, in large part, is built around the HMS Pandora which was the ship sent to catch the famous Bounty and her mutinous crew, the Pandora sank off the coast of Queensland in 1791. Hundreds of artefacts have been recovered from the wreck and are on display in this museum and there is a type of replica including one of the cannons.  You can be part of Running out the Gun where you can learn how to load and fire a cannon.  They choose members of the audience to take part and crew the cannon.  In our case our family was the audience so I was crew # 1 and 3, Mr L # 2 and 4, the presenter had to be # 5 and Mr C was the powder monkey (David was taking the photographs).  We had a blast (ha ha) doing this, it was one of the best hands on learning exercises we have done on our trip.  We all learned our parts and managed to coordinate enough to fire the cannon.  Then we had to do it in under 60 seconds. Both Mr L and Mr C got a turn at firing the cannon and we all received gunners certificates (we believe we made a major contribution to sinking the enemy fleet – just not really sure who the enemy was).

 Put your backs into it!

The museum also has a really kids friendly display called the Enchanted Rainforest, which focuses on North Queensland’s rainforests. Built around a recreation of a quandong tree and featuring a slide and rope bridge, the kids had a great time exploring and learning about rainforest plants and animals – without them being able to bite or sting.  The museum has a small but interesting range of dinosaurs, a cool coral exhibit and while we were there a whole gallery of stuffed African animals.  We had gone there expecting to be able to while away a couple of hours – we stayed much longer than that and only left because the museum was closing.