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Date: June 2005
Location: Townsville, Queensland Australia
If he's very lucky, that cute silver-screen clown fish Nemo will one day turn into a girl, because that's the only way he'll outgrow all the other fish and become king - er queen - of his fellows.
That's right, dear Finding Nemo fans: Nemo must become a dominant female to become the leader of his fellow fish. In the clown fish world, it's the female who presides over the males of the sea anemone.
But should some nasty fate befall her, the next biggest male will change sex into the main female. So Nemo's only hope for long-term survival is to become Nina.
I was ignorant of Nemo's eventual fate until I visited the amazing Reef HQ complex in Townsville, North Queensland. You can see Nemo in an aquarium right after you walk in the front door.
But Nemo-style clown fish are only a small part of this impressive complex. Reef HQ's claim to fame is a huge, two million litre aquarium filled with mountains of live coral and teeming schools of reef fish.
Giant windows look into this wonder-world and the effect is as though you are walking on the seabed of the Great Barrier Reef itself. It's perfect for those daunted by snorkelling or scuba-diving, or who have small kids.
Plenty of smaller aquariums dotted around the main tank offer lots of fascinating diversions, such as the nocturnal exhibit with its fluorescent corals and fish that flash in the dark.
An underwater tunnel passes through the predator tank and a reef shark passed so close to me against the glass I jumped.
A sea turtle called Lucky lives in here and holds her own against the sharks. Her prey are the scuba divers who present the predator show. She chases them for a scratch on the shell.
Kids will love the touch tank (I picked up a star-fish) and ReefHQ sometimes offer overnight campouts for kids where they can spotlight the deep, dark depths of the aquarium at night.
Emerging suitably impressed, we headed next door to another of Townsville's impressive edu-tainment complexes, the Museum of Tropical Queensland.
Pride of place here is a life-size part-replica of the Pandora ship, which gave chase to the delinquents who mutinied on the Bounty and cast Captain Bligh adrift in the late eighteenth century.
Pandora discovered 14 of the mutineers at Tahiti (the rest sailing their way into history at Pitcairn Island) and Captain Edward Edwards tossed them into a hellish custom-made timber box which became known, of course, as Pandora's box.
On the return voyage, Pandora struck the Great Barrier Reef on Cape York and sank, killing 31 crew and four of the prisoners.
Since being discovered in 1977, The Pandora has yielded up all kinds of treasures that reside in the museum, including the officers' china, the captain's dinner plate (marked with a c), implements used by the ships' surgeon, bottles, barrels, personal effects, drinking glasses, a cannon and much more.
Elsewhere, the Museum of Tropical Queensland is a delight, highlighting the history and cultures of tropical Queensland with intelligence and a bit of self-depreciating humour - a plastic model of a towel-wrapped man in a mocked-up bathroom came complete with mosquito bites. Kids will love the tropical science centre with its 36 interactive exhibits.
But Townsville isn't only made up of fascinating education complexes.
We headed to the Flinders Mall and into the Brewery, an airy pub housed in a large colonial building.
This Townsville icon brews six local beers on site and they have picked up awards in Australia and England. I taste-tested the Townsville Bitter and wouldn't hesitate imbibing this light-flavoured beer, something Townsville residents are prone to do at the popular Brewery.
Later, we found ourselves in Palmer Street, enjoying frozen margaritas in the balmy air on the terrace at Cactus Jacks. The eat street was abuzz with diners and we soon sat down for a divine al fresco dinner at the locally famous Michels. Starting with Japanese oyster shooters doused in saki, I moved onto a generous serving of grilled king salmon with lemon butter and the freshest steamed vegetables.
Feeling fully satisfied, it was only a short stroll to our accommodation, The Anchorage, where there awaited an airy, one bedroom self-contained apartment with a balcony offering views over the maritime museum, city skyline and the boats moored in Ross Creek.
One can't visit Townsville without a foray onto The Strand, the city's delightful 2.5km-long beachfront. Here, we ate brunch at the groovy C Bar right above the waves of the Coral Sea, overlooking Magnetic Island. My gigantic but delectable ham, sun-dried tomato, dill and sour cream omelette made me wonder whether I would need lunch.
As the waiter served me another flat white, I thought I could get used to life in the tropics.
For more information:
Townsville Online
Tel +61 7 4726 2728
- By Shaun O'Dowd
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