Location: Ayr, Queensland
Weather: Back to the way I like it, Simpson’s sky with just a few clouds. 29°c

The pleasure of being on the open road once more was refreshing! Having the chance to drive from one location to another in the same way that so many other people explore this vast country is something I’ll do more of next year…much more!

Now Bowen’s a pretty famous town in Queensland, in 2007 Baz Luhrmann brought the entire set and cast of the film ‘Australia’ here to shoot the epic movie and it’s become a huge part of Bowen’s history. So much so that there’s even a water reservoir in town which has ‘Bowenwood’ emblazoned on the side of it in the style of the famous Hollywood sign…superb.

I pulled into the Tourism Bowen office (which is easy enough to find once you get the right road out of town) and there’s a gigantic mango replica in the gardens, which stands 10 metres high, making it very hard to miss.

Jane and Kelly were to be my guides for the day and had a whistle-stop tour of the town planned for me, so off we went as full speed. No time to waste here you know…

The town is spread out over quite a large area, extending to the ocean in the east, with a number of beautiful little bays to break up the coastline, the best way to get a better view is to get up high and half an hour later we’d made it to the top of Murray Hill giving gorgeous views of the surrounding coastline.

Bowen in the only place along the Queensland coastline where the Great Barrier Reef extends all the way to the shore offering a very unique experience for snorkelers and divers alike. This part of the mainland coast is also very different from where I’ve visited so far, the large granite formations reminiscent of Magnetic Island, coming alive with colour as the sun sets at the end of the day.

Next stop Walter’s Hibiscus Farm…now before I came here I honestly thought there was only one variety of hibiscus flower but how wrong I could be…there’s over 15,000! The garden around Walter’s house in simply breathtaking, a labour of love and something to be very proud of with colour bursting from every corner – and behind every corner there’s a story too about the name, location or size of his little friends. It’s probably one of the most photographic places I’ve been so far. If only my Mum was still in the country to see it!

Time for a couple of holes at the local Bowen Golf Course…literally three of them, and flukey me went and birdied on of the hardest holes on the course. Must have been all that practice I picked up on Dent Island…or maybe it was just a fluke.

The frenetic energy of the day means one thing…hunger pangs, so we make a bee-line for the top of another hill, this time Flagstaff, and the 360 restaurant offering awesome views of the surrounding town and countryside. I give in once more and tempt myself with yet another portion of succulent prawns – well they’re supposed to be good for you.

We make our way back to Rose Bay and to the Rose Bay resort where I’ll be staying for the night, Paul the owner is there to greet me and together with my ridiculous amount of kit, I make my way upstairs to one of the penthouse suites overlooking the bay. What a cracking setup…huge rooms with sea views, luxurious furniture and most importantly for me, a big comfy bed. After the last few days activity I’ll be needing that for sure.

But the day’s not finished yet, as the evening draws in we make our way to the Summer garden Theatre where Ben de Luca, the owner of this classic cinema is there to greet us on arrival in exactly the same way that he does to every customer who walks through the doors.

This little gem is very special, coming from the UK where all of the classic little cinemas have closed down and been replaced by huge multi-screen complexes, Bowen has this very original location, which prides itself on the personal touch. There’s only two screens, one seating 300, the other 86 and Ben the owner has been here for 46 years making it a shrine to all things ‘movie’.

When the big guns came into town for the filming of ‘Australia’ all of the film’s rushes were played here along with special screenings for none less than Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

Ben kindly played the opening trailer and first 15 minutes of the film for me before we headed up to the projection room to see the operations centre and the equipment needed to do it. Being a engineer by trade I spent ages fussing over the machines and mechanisms that are needed to project a film out onto the screen. I sincerely hope that digital never replaces film in places like this…there’s a certain art to it all!

Early the next morning my alarm clock rang out again, I was off diving again! A little different from my last one on the Yongala as I’d be entering the water by walking down the beach. The last time I’d done that was in May back in the UK in freezing cold water.

I met Brian and Ann from Aussie Reef Dive at the beach, checked the equipment over and kitted up. What a way to start the day! Brian then pulled out of the truck something I’ve always wanted to use…a Seadoo propulsion unit to pull me through the water rather than the usual kicking method.

As we left the shore it took a little getting used to but within minutes I felt very confident following Brian exactly where he went, the only thing you have to watch with these is your depth as it’d be very easy to come up far too quickly, but as we’re only diving in five metres of water here it’s not so much of an issue.

The coral here is fantastic, there’s a huge variety literally metres from the shore and the perfect place for families and those on a budget to come out and explore the Great Barrier Reef up close and personal. Our visibility was slightly reduced as the previous evening’s wind had whipped up the waves and in shallower water this stirs up the bottom but this couldn’t detract from the fun I was having playing around with my my means of transport.

My final Bowen experience was one I’d waited a while for – the chance to go fishing! As we made our way down to the marina I spotted out boat for the day, the awesome 58ft ‘Providence’. Andy the skipper and owner welcomed me onboard and as we made our way out into open water explained we had three hours to catch dinner. Another Andrew, Andy’s mate, showed me how to tie on the huge lures we’d be using…hopefully to catch some King Mackerel – monsters of the ocean which put up much more of a fight than the one’s I’m used to coming from the UK.

With four lines out, each with a slightly different rig on to get to all depths of the ocean, we trawled around one reef, then another, then Middle Island, then back around Middle Island for three whole hours….and not even a bite! It must be something to do with me you know – I have to be one of the most unsuccesful fisherman there is and for some reason I still love it. It must be something very male and deeply rooted in me, the expectation of one day catching ‘The Big One’ keeps dragging me back for more.

Defeated we arrived back at the marina with one more ‘new’ appointment to make – a visit to Arabon Seafoods to see what we should have caught. The very kind owner, whose name escapes me, donated two Coral Trout fillets to my evening barbeque. I would not be going hungry tonight thanks to him!

A quick visit on the way out of town to the famous Jochheim’s Pie Shop which during the filming of the movie introduced a new product – the Hunkie Aussie Meat Pie after Hugh Jackman made it his favourite snack whilst working!

Bowen pleasantly surprised me, when you initially drive into the town centre it’s much the same as many other coastal towns but once you start to explore it further and get under the skin of it, there’s loads to do, plenty of little bays you can have almost to yourself and a very friendly population who stop and chat as you walk down the street.

My girlfriend Bre adores mangoes and we’ll be back up this was for sure during the season which happens around November and December, mark my words.

End of day location: Bowen, Queensland
Distance covered: 100kms