22/06/2012
The forecast was for a cloudy day with showers, a good day to have a drive around the place, Bowen covers quite an area. Flagstaff Hill was our first stop, a steep climb to a lookout point giving views of the whole bay and towards the WhitSundays Islands. We got some decent photos but they would have been better with some better weather.
We then took a look at some of the other bays, Horseshoe Bay in particular is superb. Here the reef is just a few metres out from the white sandy beach. We both wished we had our wetsuits with us. Just a snorkel and mask would be enough here but the water is too cold at the moment. We climbed a rough track up to another lookout over Horseshoe Bay, fabulous but would have been even better with a bit of sunshine. Back at camp the rain came, scuppering happy hour, we need a gin palace or equivalent!
23/06/2012
It rained most of the night and we have sprung a leak. The windscreen seal is letting water in and it drips into the cab, but it’s OK as it is only on the passenger side. No rain today though giving us chance to do a couple of walks. The lagoon in the middle of Bowen wasn’t particularly exciting, just a big lake full of algae and ducks but later we found another beautiful bay called Rose Bay. Another deserted beach where we ventured to paddle and had lunch. I have bought some sealant for the windscreen and the weather is closing in again, looks like another rainy night, a good test of my repairs.
24/06/2012
We are going through a patch of bad weather which has made us rethink the next couple of days. Today we were going to take a drive inland to Collinsville and back but we have decided to do that tomorrow, then carry on for a day or two before we turn east and head back to the coast. By then the weather should have improved., we shall see.
We had our usual one sided chat with the Shipston contingent first thing this morning. We will get our own back one day when they are sober! After that I had another attempt at waterproofing the van passenger seat.
Then we set off for a walk to NQSYC, that’s the Northern Queensland Cruising and Yacht Club. Jane signed us in as members of the NOSYC, Newbold on Stour Yacht Club. We didn’t swap yachty pennants but had a couple of beers before adjourning to the laundry room back at camp for happy hour. We chose it because it is sheltered from the force 8 gale and the rain, still 23C though. Jane is wearing jeans for the first time in over 12 months.
25/06/2012
Time to leave Bowen and say goodbye to our friends with whom we have shared several evenings happy hours. Gerry and Lydia emigrated here 37 years ago from Worksop but you would think they flew out last week, so strong is their pommie accent. Jim and Barbara are many generation Aussies now retired, both with a very good sense of humour. We will miss them.
It’s been a miserable day, rain and low cloud, OK for travelling, not so good for sightseeing.
About an hour down the road, after passing through thousands of acres of vegetable crops, we came to the coal mining town of Collinsville. No sign of any miners, just lots of fat people who moved at the speed of a fast glacier. We called in for a coffee and waited over ½ hour for 2 cappuccinos , and then they were awful…there were about 5 coffee grains in each.
Moving on, or nearly moving on, I managed to be navigated down the wrong road to another village with no way through and therefore having to backtrack. The next navigational error was in the extremely new coal town of Glenden where we somehow ended up at the town rubbish dump. Following that we missed our turn to the biggest lake for miles around , we did eventually wind up there and free camped for the night.
Lake Elphinstone looks to be a nice picnic and camp spot but right now it’s all a bit of a soggy mess as it seems to have rained all day.
The ablutions are a bit of a novelty, there are free showers and the water is heated in big drums over a wood fire. Not sure of the physics/mechanics on how the water gets to the shower, but it was called a “donkey shower” We reckon we will stick to our on board shower in the morning!
26/06/2012
Woke up to another miserable morning, drizzle and heavy mist, shame really as we reckon Lake Elphinstone is probably a nice picturesque spot. We drove through the murk and came close to having a minor disaster when we nearly lost a windscreen wiper. Just managed to pull over in time and fix it back into place before it blew away.
We are back on the coast at Mackay in a not very nice caravan park, run down and dirty, the site quite muddy. The mud is not really the camp managers fault, it’s down to all the rain we’ve had but a camp this size should have concrete slabs to park alongside and all rubbish picked up.
First impressions of Mackay are also not too good but to be fair we haven’t seen much of it yet. We will stay just one night here and look for a better park tomorrow
27/06/2012
Another grey damp start to the day with everyone around us packing up early and leaving this miserable van park.
We needed to pay a visit to good old Dan Murphy’s as essential supplies were getting desperately low, before moving off to what looked like a decent van park. We will never know what it was like as it was full, again, we haven’t legislated for school holidays. Only the crappy van sites have vacancies and there aren’t any free camps in Mackay so we have driven 40 odd ks up the coast to Cape Hillsborough.
This is much more like it, beachfront on a beautiful bay not far from the small town of Seaforth. We were lucky to get a site as there were only three left, but, it has it’s downside, the place is full of children ripping about on scooters and bikes and squealing!!
We didn’t appreciate how remote this place is and have only got enough food for a couple of days, family’s who are here must bring shed loads of grub with them. Of course there isn’t any internet or phone signal and we are only 40 ks from a big town. We can do two nights here then we have to go and re-supply. Got plenty of essential supplies though, just not enough grub.
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