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Saturday, 26 November 2016

27 November 2016 - Charters Towers to Bowen

Well surprise, surprise, last night we slept without the air conditioner on.  We remained optimistic that as we got closer to the coast, the temperatures will be lower.  Our optimism was rewarded for, by the time we settled down at today's destination, Bowen, there was an excited breeze blowing.  We selected a beachfront parking spot so we are copping the lot, without complaint.

A couple of years ago we passed through Charters Towers and came across an amusing sight about 10km out of town.  We were delighted to see the object of our affection was still there.  The photograph tells it all.

271116 It's still there
The road from Charters Towers was excellent and it wasn't much more than 50km that we came to the Mingela Range.  This provided us with some worthy photo opportunities.  The Great Dividing Range was with us and it stayed with us most of the day, in one form or another.
271116 Going down the Mingela Range 50km
from Charters Towers
271116 Great Dividing Range nearer the coast
271116 More Great Dividing Range
271116 More Great Dividing Range
271116 From our morning tea stop at Reid River
We decided not to go into Townsville but turned south at Woodstock.  For the 30 or so km before we reached the Bruce Highway we passed through some seriously dry countryside.  
271116 Dry country on the Woodstock to Ayr road
271116 Dry country on the Woodstock to Ayr road
271116 Colour amongst the dry brown 
We were surprised therefore to come across many mango orchards.  There did not seem to be many mangos on the trees. Some were on offer alongside the road for $1 each or $15 a bucket.  They looked a bit green to us. 
271116 Mango orchard

Further along we came to what appeared to us to be lychees.  The orchard was fully covered with netting.
271116 Lychees (?)
271116 Lychees fully covered including sides
As suddenly as we came across the dry barren segment, we left it, and were in the sugar cane farms on the Burdekin River flood plains.  There was bright green everywhere. We passed by Wilmar's Pioneer and Inkerman sugar mills.  Cane was being harvested and we were lucky enough to see a cane train on the move.
271116 All of a sudden there was green

271116 Sugar cane up to the mountain
271116 Cane train
The nearby mills were into the crushing season of course.


271116 Wilmar's Pioneer sugar mill

271116 Wilmar's Inkerman Mill
By now the traffic density had picked up and peaked as we drove through the sizeable town of Ayr. 

271116 Town of Ayr, take 1
271116 Town of Ayr, take 2
271116 Town of Ayr, take 3
271116 Town of Ayr, take 4
We crossed the mighty Burdekin River via the very impressive Burdekin Bridge. 

271116 Burdekin Bridge
271116 Burdekin Bridge heading towards Home Hill
271116 Burdekin River from the bridge
271116 Burdekin River from the bridge in the other direction
Next was Home Hill on the other side of the Burdekin.  Both towns looked prosperous, although Home Hill is a good deal smaller than Ayr.


271116 Approaching Home Hill
We decided to not deviate into Abbott Point, the major coal exporting port for the northern Bowen Basin coal mines.  We have been there before and we seem to have a home wind behind us at the moment.

It is not as hot in Bowen, a guess at ~32degrees, but the sky is a brilliant blue and there are whitecaps on the bay outside the caravan park.  Heaven..... 

The rocky foreshore is the result of the 2010 cyclone, which removed all the sand.


271116 From the caravan park looking north
271116 From the caravan park looking south
The tropical trees are big and beautiful up here.


271116 A large frangipani tree





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