Body clock back to correct timing! This morning we headed out of the motel to the local landmark, The Big Mango! As expected there are many mangrove orchards around the area.
As an added bonus there was a geocache in the area, this time we managed to find it.
We then headed towards the town centre and stopped off at the local airfield where they had a diorama featuring the RAAF Catalina PBY-5A seaplane. Unfortunately there were no full size aircraft there. As we left the airfield we passed a large salt reclamation plant. As there is so little rain here, salt water in ponds evaporates at a greater rate than the rainfall. There are a number of ponds where salt water is pumped to and left to evaporate, the resulting salt is then skimmed off and left in large heaps for up to a year to allow what little rain there is to purify the salt further.
Our next stop was a lookout point known as Flagstaff Lookout, there was an information centre and indoor viewing area, but it got damaged by a cyclone (southern hemisphere version of a hurricane) last year and has yet to be repaired. Below are some views from the lookout.
On our way down from the lookout we stopped at Kings Bay, but decided against walking on the beach as it was getting a little too hot!
From there we headed into town which has a number of murals on its buildings.
As well as the numerous murals there were a couple of interesting looking buildings in town
We also spotted this MGB
From Bowen we headed up the coast towards Ayr for our lunch stop (note no snacks this morning). After my traditional pie for lunch we continued north to Townsville, our first large city for a few days, it has a population of 178,000 which is 50,000 more than Darwin.
We’ll be staying here for 3 nights so decided to splurge out a bit on accommodation. We have a combination condo apartment / motel room / hotel room on the 3rd floor. Not sure how to describe it, but it great and has all the amenities we need.
We had a rain shower move in from the ocean which gave us a rainbow, and an Ocean kayak-er a good reason to head to shore!
Now it’s time for a beer, I chose it for the name, no idea what it will taste like!
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