On a random Wednesday, we decided to drive to Bowen: a small, somewhat dilapidated town an hour and a half from Airlie Beach. It's old and eerie and you can feel it as you drive through. On driving into town, note the excessively large mango to your left. It's a famous landmark as Bowen is known for producing mangoes I guess. The people are really friendly and are delighted to show you where to go and what to see there. We started by driving through the town to a restaurant on top of a hill (it definitely has a name). It had some amazing views of Gloucester Island.
After lunch, consisting of some tasty calamari and a New Zealand Coke each (the tasty kind) we drove to Grays beach for a nice long swim. It's perfectly sheltered from the wind, smooth as a swimming pool. We tried to do a bit of snorkelling but there was not much to see. Grays is the prettiest beach but Bowen has lots of other beaches with some waves! Obviously the area is still recovering from the storm damage and that's what adds to the eeriness of the town. Lining the beaches, hundreds of neglected palm trees heavy with coconuts, were just begging to be harvested. I wanted to climb one of the trees and throw down some coconuts but Richard said that wasn't such a good idea. I told him then to go and shake one of the trees, certain that at least one of the nuts would drop to the ground, but he said that was also not such a good idea. After one last drive through the centre of town, to check out the historic buildings and pretty murals, we headed back past the massive mango and home, to Airlie Beach. Apparently, we forgot to check out one of the largest ever outdoor film sets -for the movie 'Australia'! Oh well. Next time. Maybe.
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