Bowen to Hervey Bay

First of all, the big news. Our blog has made it into print!! In the current issue (Issue No.175) of the monthly caravan magazine, CARAVAN & MOTORHOME ON TOUR, there is an article about how to start and keep a blog whilst on the road, and our blog is featured. We are really excited! There are a number of photos and a story about our blog, and it all starts on page 139 of the issue. A few months back we were contacted by the magazine and asked to complete a questionnaire and send in a few photos, and now the article has been published. So there you go. Instant fame, and all in the name of having a great life!!

Coral Coast Caravan Park, Bowen

Bowen, and especially the area around Horseshoe Bay, is lovely. As you can see from the photo, we had a fantastic spot by the sea, and the sunsets were spectacular. The weather was mixed, being wet when we arrived, but fining up to some warm sunny days, before turning quite cool again. The park was full of long termers, people from down south, who come to the same park year after year, to the same sites. They all know each other, and it gets a bit "cliquey". We were invited to the first group "Happy Hour", which is more like a scrutineering, with lots of questions about how we managed to get on the site, when one of them has to move back a couple of rows the next day. Anyway it is all good fun, but no more "happy Hour" invites. Our new neighbours, Penny & Eric from Leeton, are really nice, and we start our own "Happy Hour" scene. Seems that Penny & Eric didn't pass the scrutineering last year. See, it isn't all champagne and roses around the caravan parks. Maybe I should write a Soapy script like "Desperate Caravanners"!!!!

Bowen sunset.

The area around Bowen is a real food bowl. Famous for vegetables like tomatoes, and capsicum, and leafy greens. Of course, it is also really famous for mangoes, but we are out of season. There is an abundance of cheap, fresh produce. On the Sunday, there is a market in the park beside the caravan park, and it is a beauty for fresh produce. We really stocked up. There was also a Spit Roast man there, serving up terrific hot roast meat rolls for breakfast! Bloody good!! There was also a guy doing some great looking omelettes, alongside his wife, who was doing a roaring trade, with her fruit and cream laden, artery clogging, waffles. Thankfully they were next to the St.John's Ambulance tent!

Our waterfront property at Bowen.

Bowen was made famous during the filming of the movie Australia. Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman must have been very busy, as they were regulars at every establishment in town! No wonder the film went over budget. The water tower on the hill in the centre of town, still carries the huge BOWENWOOD lettering. The town is very spread out, and many of the buildings carry some fantastic murals, depicting the towns history, especially the Catalina Bombers that were stationed here during WW11. The concrete aprons along the harbour front are still there, and there is a monument to the men who served on these wonderful old aircraft.


We of course found the best coffee spot in town, with the quirky name of Food Freaks. It was really excellent, and became a regular stop. Unfortunately for Hugh and Nicole, it wasn't there during filming, but then it is probably a greater achievement, to have a pie at the bakery named in your honour! Actually, the bakery was pretty good too!


We really had a nice break at Bowen. Not much touring, just relaxing. Our neighbours Penny & Eric, were really keen golfers, and they invited us to join them for a game at the local Bowen Golf Club. We had a lovely day. It is a well kept and challenging 9 hole course, situated right along the beach, and offers some fantastic vistas. There are two very different tees on each hole, so the course plays as 18 holes.

Blacks Beach

It wasn't long before we were headed south for Mackay. Back through all the sugar cane country, which is incredibly wet, and causing the farmers some concern, as it is harvest time. We arrived at the Top Tourist Andergrove Caravan Park, where we stayed last year, and so began the first of a couple of set backs, that just emphasises that all is not beer and skittles on the road. John strolls into the office to be told we don't have a booking. John produces all the details of the booking, and then gets that steely look you get when the person knows they've stuffed up, but will never admit it! "Well we don't have any sites, and I wasn't the one you spoke to. Besides do you know how much rain we've had." Thanking the concerned lady for her compassion, and still wondering what I had to do with the weather, we were then showed two sites we could have. When the guy walked on to the first site and his feet sank up past the ankles, I remarked that it was probably a bit wet for a 3 tonne caravan. He responded with "its drying all the time." As my recovery vehicle is in for repairs, I went for the phone, and thankfully we got one night at nearby Blacks Beach. This was a beautiful park, and is now on our "must come back" list, so maybe Ms Grumpy did us a good turn in losing our booking! Despite all the begging, we could only get one night, so had to extend our stay at Rockhampton for an extra two days.


We arrived at Rockhampton, and you guessed it, the girl I spoke to, hadn't extended our stay! They were expecting us in two days time!! At least the young guy in the office did a great job in retrieving the situation. We were put on a temporary site for one night, at no charge, and then moved onto our proper site the next day. This Top Tourist Southside Village Caravan Park, is not in a great position, and is almost a dormitory for the mining industry with a huge number of cabins, and less and less caravan sites. The brochure neglects to tell you, it is jammed in between the Highway and the Railway. I have to tell you, there is a lot of coal going to Gladstone, 108 carriages at a time! Each train goes slowly past, sounds its horn to make sure you are awake, and then goes cachunk, cachunk, cachunk, as 432 axels and four locomotives go by at the rate of around 4 trains each hour. We had four very disrupted nights sleep! Thank God for Sexie Coffie. Yes, one of our favourite coffee spots is here in Rocky, and we are daily, blurry eyed visitors!

Happy Wanderer Village Caravan
Park, Hervey Bay

We arrived in Hervey Bay, stopping at the Sexie Coffie head office for coffee on the way! We also stopped in at Proserpine, so Carolyn could get a bit of retail therapy, at the amazing "Colour Me Crazy" Gift Shop. It is a classic shop, offering nursery, fashion, jewellery, kitchen, indoor and outdoor furniture, and much more. It is one funky shop, and the gift wrapping is better than what you buy!!
Our Caravan Park is the Happy Wanderer Village Top Tourist Park. As usual, I had booked a site with no trees, so we could get our satellite TV. The Olympics were starting, and the guy I spoke to was on my side. As you can see from the photo, we didn't quite succeed!! I was not a happy wanderer!! Why do caravan parks do this. Promise you everything, and then when you get there, tell you they don't guarantee sites!! Then the guy across the road tells you he has had the same site for the last ten years!! They wouldn't move us, so when the wind blows no TV. I told that woman in the office, she is the reason we lost that relay. If I'd been watching we'd have won!!

Enzos on the Beach at Scarness.

Off the soap box. Thankfully the weather has been good, albeit a bit cool. Hervey Bay is a nice area. It is a region really, with villages set along the water front. There is Point Vernon, Pialba, Scarness, Torquay, Urungan, with its fantastic wooden pier that juts way out into the bay, and the Hervey Bay marina precinct. It is also the gateway to Fraser Island, which sits across the bay. It has a real seaside feel. The villages along the water are full of cafes, restaurants, ice cream parlours and fish 'n chip shops. There are caravan parks nestled on the thin strip of land between the water and the Esplanade. There is a terrific walking track/ cycleway, that goes all along the waterfront. The bikes are off the rack, and we really enjoy cycling along the track, in the cool morning or late afternoon air. There are so many good choices for coffee. We really like "Enzos on the Beach", at Scarness. Right on the beach, it is good food and coffee, in an amazing setting. If I had a cafe, I would like my name to be Enzo. It is such a culinary name.

Dinner with Cheryl & Phil.

Our friends Cheryl & Phil, and their little dog Tess, are also in Hervey Bay. We had been keeping in touch by email, and when we thought our paths could cross, we made it happen. They were the ones that alerted us to the fact we were in the magazine. Phil must wait at the newsagents door for the first issue! After paying homage, we allowed them to provide us with morning tea, as we called by for a visit. It is great seeing a familiar face. We hadn't seen them since Bateman's Bay in April last year, so had a lot to catch up on. They did WA last year, so we were interested to learn about that trip. We also had a nice dinner at a local Italian restaurant called Santini, and managed to fit in the markets at Torquay on Saturday morning. These markets were really underwhelming, so we adjourned for coffee and cake. They headed off on Sunday morning, heading up to Yeppoon.

Close up with a whale.

Whale Tail.

Hervey Bay is most famous for whale watching, as each year the humpback and southern right whales travel up from Antarctica along the east coast, to have their calves and shelter in the warm waters of the huge protected waterway between Fraser Island and the mainland. It is the beginning of the season, whales have been sighted, and we had some lovely still days,  so we decided to do a whale watch cruise. We chose a small motorised catamaran called Freedom 3, and together with 30 or so other travellers, from all over the world, headed out to find whales. It was a wonderful day, except that John left the camera SD card in the computer, so we only had the little camera which uses an XD card. We saw a lot of whales, and got up very close. It was the most incredible day, aided by wonderful weather. Would recommend this boat to anyone, as it was friendly and the food was very good as well. The highlights were a tail stand, a manoeuvre a female does when feeding. We saw a juvenile whale just practicing, right beside the boat. Fantastic, as the whale holds itself vertically in the water, with its tail right out of the water, and gives it a real shake. The other real highlight occurred just as we were starting back. As the boat accelerated, a whale started to surface on a collision course with the boat. Just when it looked like the whale would hit the boat, it threw itself sideways out of the water and avoided the collision, all right beside us! It was one of those moments when there is a dreaded silence, as everyone inhales in horror, then there is a huge cheer of relief. Absolutely unbelievable. You would not believe that something so big could turn itself so quickly, and me with my SD card safe at home in the computer, and a flat battery in the spare camera! Paparazzi I ain't!! 


Well, tomorrow it is off to Coolum on the Sunshine Coast. We will be there for about 10 days, getting in a bit of golf with my mate Pete, while Carolyn gets a Noosa fix.