We Are Now in Bowen

Yesterday, we arrived in Bowen as we gradually head back home to Melbourne.

Bowen is famous for several things. It’s known as the “Mango Capital of Australia” and boasts the iconic “Big Mango” tourist attraction. Additionally, Bowen is recognized for its beautiful beaches, particularly Horseshoe Bay, and for being the location where the movie “Australia” was filmed. It strikes me as being a ‘gentle’ town. There are a good number of  tourists but this place is not nearly as frenetic as the other Queensland coastal towns. It’s a good place for a restful stopover.

Before leaving Townsville yesterday, we visited the Anderson Botanic Gardens that we had visited on our last trip up this way. However, it didn’t seem to be the same place we had in our mind. That’s because we entered at a different gateway this time and drove a loop of the gardens which was  better for Jill. These gardens are mostly an arboretum with clusters of tropical trees of different types.

After leaving Townsville, we soon came to the town of Home Hill. We had read about the famous bakery there and scouted around loking for it. Unfortunately it, like so many other places we have tried to find, was closed. We soldiered on, crossing the Burdekin River again to continue on our journey south.

Sometime down the road, we found a sign leading to a WW2 historic site, so we decided to investigate. A couple of kilometers down a side road, we found ‘Charlies Hill’ – a knoll that rose about 70 metres above the surrounding plains. 

Constructed by the RAAF in 1943, the No 211 Radar Station on Charlie’s Hill was one of twenty radar installations along the North Queensland coastline. These operated to give an early warning of approaching enemy aircraft during World War II. Not many people are aware that Townsville was bombed twice by the Japanese in 1942 and defences like these were critical for protection.

The igloos of reinforced concrete that provided bomb-proof protection for the radar equipment can still be seen. The wooden towers which supported the transmitting and receiving aerials have been removed. However, foundations from various structures near the igloos are still there.

Later, we found a sign pointing to the tiny sugar town of Giru. The name of the town and the locality derives from the railway station name, assigned in March 1916, derived from “goru”, a type of a species of sugarcane from New Guinea which was successfully experimented with and widely grown in the district.

The Invicta Sugar Mill was originally located on the Richmond River in New South Wales. In 1906, it was relocated to Bucca near the Kolan River near Bundaberg. In 1919, it was moved north to the Haughton River in the Burdekin district, where the township of Giru grew around it. It commenced crushing there on 4 August 1921.

The population of this little town is only about 300 and I would imagine that except for the storekeeper, post oiffice manager and publican, everyone else works in the mill. We enjoyed a coffee by the well kept and neat park with a little war memorial and the CWA Hall.

We reached Bowan in the early afternoon and settled into our cabin in the caravan park for a two-night stay.

Today, we were very slow to get up and get going. We used our time to visit some of Bowen’s beautiful beaches.

Horseshoe Bay is the prettiest with its little beach surrounded by rocky outcrops. I climbed the hill behind it to get a good view from the Rotary Lookout. I was certainly puffing heavily by the time that I reached the top.

We drove past a number of other beaches before getting to the most northerly one – Queens Beach. It has a park on the foreshore and one of the biggest fig trees that I can remember seeing. I can imagine children having a lot of fun playing amongst the many roots that hung down from the branches.

On my way across to the water, I was startled as a metre-long snake slid across the track into the grass in front of me. I enjoyed watching some wind surfers for a while who were moving at high speed parallel to the shore.

When the tide goes out here, it really goes out. There wasn’t much water at the town beach when we visited earlier today.

But, there were some interesting abstract patterns left in the sand by the receding water.

There are quite a number of murals in Bowen but the ones tnat stand out are those on the water supply tanks above the town. They show a series of local attractions such as Whitsunday Islands, Whales and Mangos.  Unfortunately, you cannot get close to them as the tanks are protected by a high fence. The best that i could do was grab a photo from the road below.