We knew there wasn’t a lot to see in Bowen, but wanted some time to visit some of the beautiful beaches and just have a general look over the town. We also needed to catch up on lots of washing which we hadn’t done for about a week. So I started early with the washing at about 8am, which was just as well, because not long after there was a queue waiting for the washing machines. Michael spent some time trying to fix the small keyboard we had brought which wasn’t working (it was a very old one given to us by Lauren and Hannah’s piano teacher – she didn’t want it anymore). He had no luck in fixing it – will maybe try again later. But by 10am we needed to move to the other site – a bit of a pain but it wasn’t a full pack up to move about 20m down the lane.  We also wanted to try to book a place at Townsville, our next stop – had difficulty again. The one we were keen to go to (Rowes Bay Caravan Park) had a system where you couldn’t book ahead. You could only book on the day you were first going to stay there and could then stay as long a s you liked. So we wouldn’t know if we could in there until ringing up the next morning. We found an alternative (but less favorable one) and tentatively booked in there. The kids had been riding bikes and exploring the beach again. They also had a half hour on the go-karts offered for hire by the caravan park. We had lunch, brought in all our clean clothes, which were now dry, and headed off for a bit of an explore of Bowen and its beaches.

We decided to go to the beaches first while it was still in the warm part of the day (the south-easterly winds that we’d experienced on the yacht were still around and making it a bit cold at times). We went to Horseshoe Bay, where I remembered snorkelling as a child with my Dad. I recognised the beach and would have liked to have snorkelled there with the kids, but the SE winds were causing a lot of choppiness in the water and it would have been too dangerous to swim near the rocks where the reef was.  We drove the 2mins around to Grays Beach which was a more north-facing beach and it was certainly calmer. Lauren, Sam, Hannah and I did try snorkelling there, but the water was a bit murky (possibly from the swell) and it wasn’t the best reef to try to see. I’m sure any locals who might have seen us would have thought we were mad, as the water was quite cold. We dried off and put on our warmer clothes to go for a drive.

 Our first visit was to drive past the house where Michael’s brother Richard lived when he was a policeman posted to Bowen. We took a photo on our mobile phone and sent it to him. He said it hadn’t changed a bit. Then we drove up Flagstaff Hill which had 360 degree views over Bowen and the islands at the top of the Whitsundays. Then we drove along the foreshore area which apparently has been done up over the last few years. We didn’t get out as the kids were still cold from their swim and it was windy outside. We drove through the centre of town and saw where the set had been for the movie ‘Australia’ (with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman etc) which was filmed in Bowen during 2 months of 2007. Because of this movie fame, the water reservoir tank on the hill near the centre of town now has a sign on it which says ‘Bowenwood’. We explained to the kids about the movie and thought we might try to watch it that night (although not the younger 2 girls) – but a technical hitch got in the way of that idea – will have to save it for another time.

We then headed back to the caravan park – had warm showers – had a BBQ dinner and a few card games and off to bed.