a couple of days in Townsville ...

After arriving at Rowes Bay, we took the time to set up the tent on Wednesday evening since we were staying for a couple of days. It is much more comfortable when we can spread out a bit. (And separate the children, when necessary!)

Mutineers trying to escape Pandora's Box
as HMS Pandora was sinking. Ella thought
this exhibit a bit rude!

On Thursday morning we drove into the city (mercifully without the caravan, dodgy directions, poor rear vision and accompanying blue language!) intending to visit the Maritime Museum, but we saw the Museum of Tropical Queensland first, so in we went. The main exhibit focussed on the sailing ship HMS Pandora, which was wrecked on the reef in 1791. It was despatched from England to capture and return the mutineers from the HMS Bounty. Captain Edwards captured 14 men who had returned to Tahiti, but didn't discover Fletcher Christian and his colony on Pitcairn Island. The men were imprisoned on a roughly constructed hold on deck, which came to be known as "Pandora's Box". Three mutineers were trapped in the hold and drowned, along with 30 sailors when the ship went down.  A 1:24 scale model (which had taken 7000 hours to build) captured the boys' interest, but Ella was disturbed to learn that there had been a cat on board. She was terribly relieved to find that it had been rescued and made it in the longboat to Timor!  

Ella patting the rescued ship's cat!






Dave had a teaching moment with the out-of-control kids in a holiday club who were visiting the museum. One kid started trying to kick his way into Captain Edward's cabin, but soon stopped when Captain Church threatened to keel-haul him.

There were a Canadian couple who were volunteers at the museum from the dinosaur dig at Richmond. They had a tray of fossils for children to choose one to take home. Jackson and Marcus spent ages talking to them, and Marcus was presented with a fish vertebrae which is 100 million years old. He is thrilled, of course, and has spent hours scratching away the dirt from around the outside of it.

It was really hot, so we decided to take the kids to the waterpark on The Strand for a picnic lunch. The waterfront is still being reconstructed after the damage caused by Cylone Yasi. They had a ball there, and managed to cool down successfully!



Magnetic Island from Castle Hill

 Castle Hill, which dominates the city skyline, beckoned us next, so we chugged up the steep road to the top. Absolutely fabulous 360 degree views of the city and the coastline. After exploring all the summit lookouts, we drove back to Queens Gardens, which we spotted from Castle Hill. A hedge maze kept the kids occupied while we had a much needed coffee! After another evening walk along the waterfront at Rowes Bay, we were all exhausted and glad to get back to the van.



Castle Hill from Queens Gardens


Mundane duties called on Friday morning, so it was a while before we got going to Reef HQ, the National Education centre for the Great Barrier Reef. This aquarium is filled with coral exhibits and many tropical fish, most of which have hilarious names. Marcus couldn't contain himself, and wandered around with a notepad jotting down the ones which amused him. His list contains such beauties as "the Onefin Flashlightfish, the Upside Down Jellyfish, Pacific Double-Saddle Butterflyfish, and the Humpnose Unicorn Fish". We spent a couple of hours enjoying the aquarium (Dave and I found it remarkably relaxing - but then, we were comparing it to the school of fish we are travelling with!) then went to the waterpark for a quick dip. Lachie and Ella got in, but it was cold and so we didn't stay long.




Fighting hit fever pitch on Friday afternoon as the kids were all exhausted and there were some less than idle threats about returning home. Don't think this is all beer and skittles! In fact, there has been no beer; and had we a set of skittles, I couldn't vouch for it still being complete as some may have been inserted where they were not designed to go!

We were tempted to let the fish have them!

Driving back from the Reef HQ, the kids heard some strange noises in the van, which we diagnosed as the brakes. We were expecting to get them done in Cairns, so we booked it in to the local garage for a brake reconstruction. Luckily we could extend our stay in the van park.

Dave drove the Blunderbuss to the garage this morning, so the boys got organised to go fishing. They came back rather quickly, with Lachlan looking like a thundercloud, as it was low tide and the vast mangrove mudflats made fishing impossible. Lachlan's comment of the day was "Low tide is just STUPID!" Dave said he'd have a word with the moon for him! Uncle Peep, you've got a fisherman in the family!

Walking back from the Rock Pool

Sans vehicle, the best option seemed to be walking a couple of kilometres to the Rock Pool for a swim. It is a huge pool filled with filtered sea water, and we spent a lovely few hours there. While there, we heard from the garage. Bad news. Someone has removed the brake pins and they are missing (goodness knows how, we had it serviced just before we left) and the Blunderbuss is in quarantine until they can be replaced. The mechanic said he's never seen them missing before, and will search for some new (old) ones in the wreckers yards on Monday. Failing that, they might have to be ordered from Japan ... looks like we are in for another few days in Townsville! There are far worse places to be stuck and we are really lucky nothing awful happened as we were driving here.

The boys are off fishing again as I write, but I think I'd better get some dinner organised!

Stay tuned ...