Bowen, Queensland 🇦🇺 2021

Date: 1-2nd May 2021

Travelled: 176 kilometres from Cape Hillsborough to Bowen  

Visited: Bowen, North Queensland.  

Stayed: Harbour Lights, Bowen, $42pn. All services.  S20.01492, E148.25195 

Budget: 21 days @ $136 per day

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We get an early start in Cape Hillsborough. The nitwit camping behind us in a small people mover obviously didn’t have a good nights sleep. She decided to start assembling a gazebo at 6am by 10 past she’s banging in pegs with a hammer. On behalf of our fellow campers I took the opportunity to tell her she was an inconsiderate prick.

That done we have a coffee some fruit and ready the Jayco for the road once again. It’s a relatively slow and bumpy ride back to the Bruce Hwy once again. We note most of the road signs refer to it as the Pacific Coast Way or PCW obviously sound a bit more touristy than you know what.

We have the GPS set for a free stop in Proserpine…

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Yes more billboards…

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Map of Proserpine, the icon showing the free stop behind the Church

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We soon find the RV parking spot behind the Church on Main Street, park and walk off to explore Proserpine. The town is clean and tidy but seemingly very quiet. Walking back to the Jayco, we notice the motorhome parked next door has a sign offering haircuts. Before you can say ‘foils’ Pam is over knocking on the door and getting a haircut.

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We decide it‘s a bit early to sit around Proserpine for the rest of the day so we reset the GPS for Bowen another 80kms up the PCW.

Seeing diesel at $1.29 we stop for a fill, sounds boring enough until some guy swings into the forecourt sees the bowser is on the wrong side and does a U-turn straight into a pylon and smashes the side of his car. He straightens the car, a Landcruiser, then calmly fills it with fuel and drives off. He was either drunk or driving his ex-wives car would be my guess.

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The guy from the servo’s mate…

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Map of Bowen, the icon on our overnight stop.

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We soon find the Harbour Lights Caravan Park which is as you expect across the road from Bowen harbour and marina complex. Anyway it only takes a few minutes to settle in. The day is warm, the sun hot but the breeze cooling if you can find some shade.

After chatting with our neighbour for 10 minutes we head off to explore Bowen.

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So our first afternoon in Bowen is done. After a couple of drinks in the Grand View we make our way back to the Jayco noting the local pool is less than 100 metres from the campsite.

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It’s a late start today, being a Sunday on a holiday long weekend in Queensland there seems to be no hurry to do anything too much. We have our coffee and fruit before walking up to the pool.

Entry is free as it should be. There’s just Pam and I and the Lifeguard, come Covid Safety Person, come gardener. The pool is very impressive, it obviously had a set of diving boards at some stage as the final third of its 50 metres is 3.5 metres deep. Pam found the deep end disconcerting to swim over but I suggested it was just psychosomatic.

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Pam loves that washing machine, so she runs a couple more loads through. Must admit it‘s good to go for a long walk and not have smelly clothes hanging around for two weeks which often happens when we travel in the Hymer.

The afternoons drift past as we go for a late walk around the marina and harbour complex. There is a small Yacht Club out there but it didn’t catch our interest.

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Another quiet evening passes as we have dinner in the Jayco and watch an episode of The Undoing. So we have an early night, it‘s an early start in the morning as we have a 200 kilometre drive to Townsville and we need to be there around 10am…

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Michael and Pam

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