Reef HQ Townsville

From our quiet Whitsundays we headed to a place on the greyhound map called Bowen, as it was on the map we thought it must have something going for itself and after our not so exciting previous week it was good to get the opportunity to make a few new friends. And that we did. Our three friends who were in fact the only three people in the hostel …

Slowly crossing all the jobs off the list. Camera has been cleaned, ports assembled and the washing machine is sparkling. Still lots to do but work and bird club meeting today.

Visited the Australian Pavilion at World Expo in Yeosu, Korea, via videoconference today. Craig and I take the visitors for a dive at Reef HQ.

Friday 22< …

Spent a couple of days in Townsville before heading across to Magnetic Island. Climbed Castle Hill- hard work! All the locals jogging up past us- they are clearly not phased by the humidity! Also went to Reef HQ which has the largest living coral reef of any aquarium. It has a turtle hospital which was so cute! Some of them were massive and others …

We are on the southside of Magnetic Island in a little area called Picnic Bay. There is not much action in Picnic Bay since the ferry was relocated 2K up the road to Nellie Bay in 2003. Like many places we have been we had never heard of Magnetic Island until we started the trip. When we were planning our flight plan Clark said something about …

Today we went to the aquarium! We went on 3 little tours. The first one the person told us about sharks. Also there was a diver in the tank who told us all about predators. They are animals that eat other animals. Then we went on the dangerous animals tour. The box jellyfish is the most dangerous. If you are stung by a box jellyfish, you will die …

<18/9/13 Balgal Beach to Townsville We tried for an earlier start so that we would have time to make camp and then sight see Townsville city. All went according to plan and when we arrived at the Rowes Bay caravan park to check in at about 9:45, they had allocated us 2 sights nearly together. This was a surprise as they have a "no booking policy …

... and back up to the top again. Much easier said than done, but well worth it!   The day in Townsville started at Reef HQ, a very impressive living coral reef aquarium. We meet again with many of the Great Barrier Reef's fish, and a extremely ugly ...

... virtual coral reef was a possibility but I was holding off to see it up close and personal on the Great Barrier Reef itself. One thing Townsville does seem to have though is mozzies which by the time I returned to the hostel I was surprised there was ...

... like a trapeze artist, upside down from the bars. It wore us out just watching her! There are two really good museums in Townsville, Reef HQ and Museum of Tropical Queensland. Reef HQ is the education centre for the Great Barrier Reef, and a very good ...

... away so will see where we end up. Distance Mission Beach - Townsville 239km drive time around 2.5 hours    Costs Entry to Reef HQ with our "acquired" student ID - £13 each Loaf of bread - £2.27 Bottle of 550ml coke from petrol station - ...

... with all our newly found daytime activity. Keen to keep up the momentum of yesterday we headed to Townsville's other main attraction, Reef HQ. An aquarium based around the Great Barrier Reef, the brochure and tourist board proclaimed its brilliance and ...

... I decided not to risk heat exhaustion and just admire the mountain from the city rather than to other way round. I also visited the Reef HQ aquarium which was quite good and tickets allowed two day entry so on the second visit I made sure I was there ...

... ) and then returned back for a day before moving on again. There's not a huge amount to see here, but the main highlight is Reef HQ. It is a museum dedicated to reef/coral/fish and is brilliant. They have a huge saltwater tank with millions of fish, ...

... going to pour all over you... it is a very strange experience, but one that is fun and almost feels 3-D! We popped back to the Reef HQ for a 4pm tour of the Turtle Centre - it only had one young turtle and a turtle on deaths door there... it is ...

... Townsville to another garage and left the van for the afternoon. We caught the bus to the center of Townsville and after a spot of lunch, went to Reef HQ, a big aquarium. It was a pretty cool aquarium complete with glass tunnel, shipwreck, sharks, sea ...

... , Phil, Alan and Simon in the hostel, went to the local market (not a patch on others) and we went to the local aquarium, Reef HQ.  We paid extra to see the Imax film about the barrier reef which I found disappointing as it did the reef no justice ...