Bowen

Bowen was hit badly by cyclone Debbie just a few months ago, but it has recovered well and we spent a couple of peaceful days here. The park we stayed in at Queens beach was lovely, with hedges between sites and still quite a lot of trees.

We had been told that there was great snorkeling at Horseshoe Bay, and we spent a lovely few hours here, clambering on the rocks and swimming, but the tide was too high to really get to the good snorkeling sites. But such a glorious bay and perfect day.  Foolishly, I left my trusty phone camera in the car, so I had to go back on a less perfect day for photos.

While we were there, we heard people talking about the North Head Island lighthouse walk, only possible on the very lowest low tides of the year, and by chance, that was the day we were there.  Naturally it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. While we waited for the tide to get low enough we had a look from the Flagstaff Hill lookout. The info centre and cafe were still closed after Debbie, but the view was still there :-)

Our goal!

The walk over was a leisurely stroll through ankle deep water, pausing to admire the huge starfish and slugs. Poor Ben was almost apoplectic when he saw people picking up the sea creatures, and wanted big signs on the beach to tell them to leave sea creatures where they were.

We then climbed up to the lighthouse, which had just had a new coast of paint, before wandering back across the island and along the sandbar back to the main land.

Back at Horseshoe Bay on a different day, we climbed the hill to a lookout over the bay.  We could see the contentious port at Abbot point from the hill, in the perfectly blue water.

We also did a day trip to Dingo Beach and Hydeaway bay, but I have so many photos that deserves a post of its own.