All Things Combined: Movin' on Up... Townsville and Cairns

7AM view from our balcony, Cairns

We are heading up the Eastern side of the Australian Coast. In the last two days we visited Townsville and Cairns. Both days included tours. My brain is about to explode after 9 hours of information overload by all our knowledgeable guides.

Townsville is Australia's largest tropical city. The city has high hopes for the future as they revamp their city center in anticipation of increased tourism. We had a choice of two tours while here. We visited the world's largest living coral reef aquarium , pretty amazing place with guides to match. I learned about coral, reefs and fish. Andy would LOVE this place. Wish I could bring this tank home! Where's the bubble wrap?

One of the fun parts of the tour was when we role played in the Museum of Tropical North Queensland. What a great idea this was. First we heard the story of the Bounty and their mutinous crew from a storytelling volunteer. The museum had a cannon set up just like ones on the HMS Pandora in the late1700's. They asked for volunteers to run out the cannon ( load and fire them). The five were dressed up a bit and the role play began. The floor of the 'ship' lifted and started rolling like a real ship. Sound effects and lighting added to the drama. The volunteers from the museum had fun with the tourists yelling commands, berating them, and threatened to throw them overboard. Nicely done.

The cannon faced a large harbor. We only aimed/fired on French ships.

Rations on the HMS Pandora: a glass of water and a bit of bread a day

coral reef aquarium

remodeling the city center for future visitors

Our next port, Cairns. I felt this was another place I could live, or at least come visit with family. I liked the town, the gardens, the boardwalk, the blending of old Victorian and modern. What I find interesting is that with the all beauty of The Great Barrier Reef, swimming on the beach is not something you do here unless you like salt water crocs and poisonous box jelly fish. You can only swim in enclosed beaches. Available also is a Lycra suit that you pull up from you feet to your head leaving an opening for your face. Mittens are part of the suit.

It was unbearably hot and humid here. We visited the Botanical Gardens and the resort town, Palm Cove. A few went to the Barrier Reef for a day. To swim the Reef you took a 90 minute boat ride to a docked pontoon. There was fenced off snorkeling, diving, an underwater observatory, a submarine, lunch, and sunning available. Penguin suits available for rent. It sounded like fun. Maybe next time.