door takes us down onto the sand, the ocean is like a millpond!

So a few facts about Bowen then. It was here that Baz Luhrmann (him of Moulin Rouge fame) filmed Australia with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. It sits at the top end of the Whitsunday Islands and is surrounded by sugar cane and fruit farms notably Mangoes as another of Bowen’s claim to fame is a huge Mango that sits at the tourist information centre....odd does not begin to describe it!

Being in Bowen for only a day it was off on the bikes as we rode around Queens and Gray’s Bay to Horseshoe Bay. A small bay that lies at one end of the headland that makes up Bowen. The coastline is quite rugged with large boulders lining the beach but the sand is as you would expect, soft and perfect. We stopped for lunch at a great cafe right off the beach that cooked great food. Refreshed and revived we set off on a walking track that was supposed to take us up to the other beaches. This was a big mistake!!!! Now the sign did say no cycling but we thought that was ok we will just push them.

Now after a nice gentle introduction the path revealed itself to be more rigorous than when we walked the kings canyon. We ended up having to carry the bikes for well over half way and to top things off just that little bit more one of Trevor’s pedals split open on the way here so we were already up against it!

After walking with the bikes and carrying them for about an hour we were not finding it very funny so we fought through the bush on a not very well travelled path and got back to a road.

Disheartened and out of breath we made it back to camp and sat outside with a cold drink planning the next move.

Back on the bikes again we headed off to the other main headland in Bowen, through the very closed CBD we made it to the waterfront and the Santa Barbara Parade, a promenade that runs from the marina to the sailing club at the other end.

We cycled from one end to the next taking in an exhibit on world war two sea planes and devoured a lovely Mango sorbet to cool off whilst talking to a lovely English-Aussie who advised on options for our trip to the Whitsunday’s (we are still undecided though).

Back up through the town and we took in some of the murals that are another “attraction” of Bowen. The murals depict the diverse history from the towns early settlement period. We also looked at some of the old colonial style buildings along with the fantastic 1930’s art deco post office.

It was a slow ride back to camp and we settled down for a drink whilst the sun went down over the ocean. Dinner was a first as well as we had chicken in peanut satay that was actually really nice. We then settled down with a beer and chilled out ready for another day.

Bowen is far from remarkable and one day here has been more than enough although the beaches truly are great so it was more than worth it.

next >

< previous