NEW BERLIN – At about 7:40 p.m. last Thursday, the black projection screen in the Unadilla Valley Auditorium suddenly came to life and a marine biologist on the other side of the world told attendants in an inviting accent, “Hello everyone and welcome to the future. Right now it’s 9:40 a.m. on a beautiful Friday morning here in Australia.”

About 60 students, teachers and local citizens filled the UV auditorium last week for a distance-learning presentation that would connect them to the city of Townsville in Queensland, Australia, a place 14 hours into the future along the shores of the Great Barrier Reef.

Reef HQ Aquarium is an Educational Center for the nearby reef and contains the world largest living coral reef aquarium.

Sitting from her desk at the center, Julie Spencer then handed the video over to Marine Biologist Sandi Parmenter as she dove in the aquarium’s massive tropical tanks. She explored the area pointing out dozens of sea creatures in the constant swirl of life that surrounded her, all while interacting with the audience from a microphone in her SCUBA equipment. The program continued for just over an hour and included a sea turtle with a taste for biting inattentive divers and Cuddles, a 9-foot long nurse shark. Parmenter also had the audience play the “can you guess the coral’s name” identification game. The obviously named honey comb, brain and plate coral were among some of those discovered during the dive.