Day 8 Bowen 31.5.18

After a nice sleep in we headed off for a bike ride around Bowen. I managed 20km but the others soldiered on and did 28kms. It was very windy and quite challenging in places, but the views along the foreshore, the company & the coffee made it worthwhile.

1 of 2 big mangoes

Did I mention it was windy

hard earned morning tea

We climbed up Rotary lookout, which took some effort.

Lots of rocks & stars to climb

Finally at the top

Horseshoe bay

The view to the top of the lookout

In the afternoon Mark and I took a drive back to horseshoe bay to try some snorkeling but the tide was way out and the water was too murky. I saw 2 fish and live coral as we exited the water!

We refueled at $146.9, which was really cheap as everywhere else was $155.9.

Tonight was pub night so we walked the 600m to The Grand View Hotel had the most delicious meals, more great company and I rolled home again after eating way too much 🐖.

Day 7 30.5.18 Bowen

Today was a little challenging 😏.
We set off earlier than expected to drive to Proserpine for morning tea in the park. Unfortunately half of Australia had the same idea and we couldn't get a carpark so we decided to drive on to Cedar creek falls. When we got there a sign said no caravans allowed due to no room to turn around. So we had morning tea by the side of the road. Google advised only 500m to the falls so we walked and walked and walked for 1.2km noticing many places to turn the vans around in. The boys went back to get our car as Yvonne's foot was still sore. Turns out it's actually broken 😱
Thankfully the falls were spectacular and worth the effort.

Our morning tea stop

Lots of little fish 

I tried my hand at fishing but no luck.

After that it was on to Bowen, stopping at the big mango for a mango sorbet. Beautiful views across the water.

Set up camp and had a swim.

Mark and I went for a walk exploring Bowen, hoping to find a coffee shop. Failed, couldn't get a coffee 😭 so we went home and had a nana nap.

Murals in town.

I decided to pan cook a 'pizza'. Clever me set the smoke detector off so I quickly put the pan on to the bread board which is plastic of course and melted.
Today we travelled 232kms
Thank goodness tomorrow is a new day 😎

Day 6 Mackay 29.5.18

Warning: Copious amounts of photos to follow as we had such a great day 😃
This morning we rode along the bluewater trail into Mackay botanical gardens. Longer but less hilly, 28kms, but we still managed to find the compulsory coffee shop.

After lunch we drove a 150km round trip to Finch Hatton Gorge. Beautiful rainforest walk with cascading water and lots of boulders. Yvonne and I were brave enough to get our feet wet. The water was crystal clear and very chilly.

I got wet at Finch Hatton Gorge

Yvonne has a sore foot so the boys went on to the wheel of fire falls while the girls meandered back to the car.

Markie cooked a delicious salmon and veg dinner on the BBQ and we all had dinner together, catching up on each others news and planning our next move further north tomorrow.