Blogs from Bowen, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

Bowen turned out to be the sleepy coastal town that the tourists essentially bypassed (unjustifiably so). The town lies at the northern end of the Whitsunday Coast, and has several islands just offshore. Only 6% of the one million travellers who navigate the Bruce Highway in the north of Queensland detour into Bowen. The locals and other travellers asked that we not tell anyone about Bowen. We found Bowen to be a gem of a place to stay. Bowen was also one of the key locations where the film Australia was shot, the town being used to portray Darwin in the 1940’s. Bowen is home of course to the Big Mango, and is the source of the original Kensington Pride Mango (aka Bowen Mango), Australia’s most popular mango. The first mango tree was planted in Bowen ... read more

Wow this has been a BIG driving day. Rob decided we would try to get far enough north so that we can spend another big day and get to Port Douglas tomorrow. So thats what we did! We left Agnes Water pretty early. Hippy's all sound asleep at that hour. Almost saved our $12 onight cost but the rangers were at the entrance as we left. Paid up and off we went. We grabbed some breaky at a weird little roadside cafe. The gal was only expert at fluttering her eyebrows at Rob, NOT coffee and toasted sangas. Oh well, you get that! Hit Rockhampton for petrol and kept on. Cuppa stop at Marlborough, the sign near the picnic table was a bit of a worry (see the pic). So much Queensland scenery. Its is an ... read more

Townsville was abuzz this morning with a major fun run taking place through the city streets as well as Sunday markets along Flinders Street. The market stalls were set up in the heart of the central shopping district and with Sunday trading in full swing it seemed tourists, locals and small business owners were all winners.We had an awesome almond croissant for morning tea and after a trip to the barber it was time to bid Townsville farewell. The scenery along the drive today saw the mountains slowly recede closer to the horizon with green grazing plains taking their place. We rolled into Bowen mid-afternoon which was home to Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Australia’ during 2007. It looked to be an amazing experience for all involved and the film makers appeared to have been inclusive of the local ... read more

Well raining again, nothing new here. We left Port Douglas a little disappointed with the lack of sun but never the less had a great time and saw all the things we wanted to. We didn't have too much of a plan but to just as far south as we could. Much of the area we were about to drive through had been affected by cyclone Yasi. We saw first hand the destruction it caused of houses, farms, crops, even some beaches. Banana plantation crops were broken in half, no wonder the cost of Banana's is $11/kilo here right now. Yikes. Many of these farms will have to start completely over. The further south we got the more water in the fields we started to notice. It was also slowly creeping closer to being on the ... read more

Eerder per toeval in Bowen beland. Probeer maar eens naar het westen te rijden om het regenwoud in het binnenland te bezoeken als daar helemaal geen weg naar toe is. Bowen is een vrij dode stad, maar kleine anekdote: Blijkbaar is de film 'Australia' met Nicole Kidman en Hugh Jackman hier opgenomen. In het dorp hebben de stukjes oud-Darwin nagemaakt, die je nog steeds kan zien. Ook leuk: op een bepaald stukje strand komen zeeschildpadden hun eieren leggen! Voor de rest is Bowen eigenlijk maar voor één reden bekend onder de backpackers: hopen werk in de fruitpluk. Maar omwille van tijdgebrek en euh… paspoortgebrek moet dit nog maar eventjes wachten. We hebben wel ons goede hart getoond: slaapzak uitgeleend aan dakloze backpackende Duitsers, die zijn nachtje onder sterren moest doorbrengen. Én 's morgens hem toch maar ... read more