Bowen

Boring Bowen.  Apologies to those who enjoy this place, but what is there to do here other than lie on the beach or fish?  Paradise to some I guess, but it was too hot to sit on the beach and we don't have a boat, so there's not a lot to fill in the day otherwise.  It's famous for two things though, its the oldest town in QLD and its where Baz Lurman made the movie Australia with our Nic and Hugh Jackman.  So anyway we arrived relatively early this morning after farewelling our lovely friends from Melbourne.  And I am already missing them.  So we called ahead to the parks and all were booked except the one we are staying in and its not exactly the nicest.  Its in a good spot and part of the Top Tourist Chain, but it has dirt and gravel roads so its dusty and gross. And the grass is near dead so it looks pretty average. We reluctantly unpacked in silence and quickly headed out to check out the town.  The trip out to Horseshoe Bay was beautiful.  The beach is just stunning. The walk to the look out was a little hair raising and the actual rail surrounding the look out was virtually non existent, but the view was incredible.  We also ventured across to Queens Park and Rose Bay.  Again pretty, but pretty uneventful.  Then we headed back into town and had lunch on the harbour foreshore where they've built great BBQ facilities and a playground.  We headed into town for a walk which took all of 20 minutes.  There's not much to talk about, but as expected, there were plenty of pubs.  So we stopped in for a drink at "The Grand View" which happened to be the pub that was used in the movie Australia.  One drink turned into a few and we ended up staying for dinner. Mr Max found a credit card under our table that belonged to Ms N Gruzlewski which turned out to be the chick off getaway.  Rick was excited and forever hopeful that she'd come back to find it. No such luck. A good end to the day at the pub and the only thing that redeemed Bowen in my eyes.  Can't say we'll be back in a hurry. We got a refund at the caravan park and are moving on tomorrow.