Move Along

Here we are in Bowen.  We made tracks to here Sunday afternoon with the intention of spending two nights here veging.  That is what has happened.  Just as well that is all we had in mind.  The weather was atrocious.  Wet and windy.  A cleaner where we are staying said Bowen gets a couple of cold days a year.  This is one of them.
Townsville had been good but once we knew it was over, we were just keen to get here.  On the way we visited my mum’s gave site in Ayr.  We were walking the rows trying to find it but Merril is great at finding stuff on the web.  She found a site that stated it was in row M number three.  There it was.  After a few pics of it and others with Merril in front of cane, we headed here.
I had never been real keen on Bowen as my view was influenced by what was the approach to the town from the north.  Salt pans.  Dry.  But that was 40 years ago.  It is different now.  Better.  I head heard how much some people liked it.  So here we are and they were right.  It is pretty.
The lady at the information centre though said the place was going backwards in that things have closed.  My impression was it is just outside the tourist trap of Airlie Beach but is very much like the Whitsundays.  Best of both worlds I reckon.  And the prices are reasonable.  In tourist traps it seems prices are virtually doubled because of the name of the joint.
I admit I like Bowen and question the sense of people wanting to be somewhere else.  I love the country.  There is a tribute here to Catalina flyers.  Dad was a navigator on one of those in the war.  We visited the site.
We head to Mackay today.  I got a surprise call yesterday.  A mate we intended to visit who is caravanning phoned to say he was in Mackay.  We hope to have lunch with him today.  We also intend seeing others we see on zoom regularly.
We are hoping the weather will be ok.  The forecast is not good but yesterday was clearing big time.  It is hard to know which way it will go.