Townsville Culture Day

It had clouded over when we got up today so we decided to have a Townsville culture day and see some of the sights. We started off by heading up Castle Hill to the viewing point to have a look all over Townsville. It’s a long winding road that’s made even slower with sleeping policemen all the way up. We were surprised how many people were walking or running up in this humidity; I feel a lot more comfortable when the sun is shining, as soon as it clouds over I really feel the heat somehow. Its well worth going up here as you can see 360 degrees all around and if you get a bit of blue sky would make great photos.

When you come down it leads onto the Strand so we decided to drive to the end where the rock pool is as we hadn’t managed to walk quite to the end in the heat because Claire is a bit of a wimp. One more thing for the kids to enjoy and there is a full length swimming pool at the other end of the Strand. We then drove to the other end of the Strand and parked up where we had a walk down Finders Mall which is in the process of being revamped before heading off for the ReefHQ Aquarium. Luckily they gave a discount for the old and students so I got double whammy. They always give me a sideways look when I ask if the do student discount but its worth it and it makes Claire laugh.

Inside I saw a living fossil but I guess he wished he was a little deeper down below the reefs. They have somehow transported part of the corral reefs to this place and it gives people that don’t want to snorkel or dive a chance to see a part of what its like around the reef. They haven’t transported the huge corrals its more the small ones that are attached to rocks but its quite authentic. Claire didn’t like it much because they all seemed to be keeping their eyes on us at first. I’m glad I saw the shark here and not while snorkelling other wise I might have clouded the water. There were all sort of fish in there including the little seahorse which to me doesn’t look like it’s a product of evolution somehow. Can you spot the deadly Stone fish next to the sea snake?

We popped next door to the Aboriginal culture centre where I took this photograph. Before I could take any more I was surrounded by the ticket seller who I thought was going to snatch my camera and rip the film out of it if there were any in there in the first place. You are not allowed to take photographs in here!

We decided to leave the museum and zoo for another day because Claire couldn’t take any more excitement in one day. I have to bribe her to go anywhere like this; never mind she needs another T shirt anyway.

We headed home via our favourite shop - Woolworth’s where we stocked up again with steak and chicken and more salad and headed home for a spot of reading by the pool where I finally managed to finish off my fourth book in 8 weeks. We couldn’t decide between the steak and chicken so I did half of each; I’m getting the hang of this delayed shutter already.