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Published: August 18th 2006
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Townsville Marina
Reef HQ is just in view So we have finally arrived in the dry tropics and the weather is indeed drier. After managing to persuade the campsite to let us stay another night on an almost official campsite we headed into town. First stop Reef HQ.
Everything in this part of the country seems to relate back to the reef and having seen it I have to agree it is pretty amazing. Reef HQ is basically a huge aquarium that showcases the reef and shows those not prepared to go on the sea what it is all about. It was interesting but for my money no better than the Sydney Aquarium. The best bit had to be the rather over the top film we saw about the pacific. It writer Russell Kelly, is obviously a frustrated poet as he tried to shoe horn as many dramatic metaphors and alliteration in as he could. Some of his more choice phrases included “Spreading like a five O’Clock shadow across the ocean floor., “Feeding on the plankton prairie.” and our personal favourite “Forged in the Fishy Furnace”.
After the Reef we thought a bit of Saturday afternoon shopping was in order. Unfortunately the people of Townsville have chosen
Koala
It's a muppet Saturday to be half day closing!! Hang on last time we came here everything was closed! Seriously isn’t Saturday the biggest shopping day of the week.
Rather irritated we went on a walk around and headed for the new Strand walk along the shoreline. It gave us an opportunity to look out to our destination for the morning, Magnetic Island, and see the best kiddies water play area anywhere. It had a huge bucket which filled with probably about 100 litres (25 gallons) of water until it fell over and covered all the kids below. As we were watching a guy acousted us and asked us to fill in a survey. Ah well just this once.
Next day we headed out early to catch the ferry to Magnetic Island. The crossing was quick and we were soon on the bus to Horseshoe Bay. In the bay there was a Sunday market on and we looked around it then headed down the beach. The whole of the bay is absolutely gorgeous and I can see why some many people fall in love with it.
After our walk we headed to the Koala park as we still haven’t seen
Lins and snake
Someone looks really impressed any Koalas in the wild and there is supposed to be a lot on the Island. We opt to take a guided tour with a ranger though they seem to be a bit pre-occupied with us holding crocodiles. When the ranger appeared he looked a bit green around the gills and was drinking Red Bull. We went into the park and were taken around a number of enclosures with Crocs (fresh and salt water), lizards (blue tongue and frilled), snakes and of course Koalas. The ranger was very informative and told us lots of information about spotting Koalas on the island and where to look. There was then the obligatory holding of snakes, lizards and of course the crocodile. We then went on short walk in a new forest that had been built as a haven for Butterflies and there really was hundreds of them. As we were leaving some people paid extra to have their picture taken with a koala. The photographer asked if the talk had been interesting considering how much the ranger had drunk the night before. That explains a lot.
Armed with the knowledge of where the Koalas lived we caught the bus to the
Russ and Croc
It was really vicious honest - no his mouth is not taped up. top of the hill. Unfortunatley despite my best efforts the bus driver didn’t stop there and drove all the way to Alma Bay. A bit annoyed we had a walk on Alma Bay beach and waited for a bus going back the other way. Ensuring the driver understood that we wanted to stop at the forts we arrived where we wanted to be.
The forts walk turned out to be a 2 and half hour walk and in two and half hours tim ethere was a gap in the bus timetable meaning when we get back we will have to wait over an hour in the middle of no where for the next bus. Ah well we are here now.
The forts walk is actually quite spectacular and takes you up to where the gun positions built in the Second World War against Japanese invasion were placed. They were never used in anger though a shot was fired in mild surprise when a US gun boat arrived off the coast unannounced. No one was hurt. The views up the bay are awesome as you can see the mainland and right up to the Palm Islands and beyond. What
Fort Walk
The view of the bay from the fort we didn’t see is any Koalas - they sly little critters.
We get back to the bus stop to start our wait for a bus to the ferry terminal. Just then a bus arrives going in the opposite direction. What the hell we’ll catch that and go to the pub instead.
Back on the ferry we settle down to enjoy the night view of Townsville as it approaches. Just then a guy approaches and asks if we could fill in a survey. What is it with Townsville and surveys - ah well why not.
This is the end of our time on the East coast. Tomorrow we head in land to start of our outback
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