June 6, 2024 to June 8, 2024
Bowen
Thursday the 6th of June 2024
Sixty odd kilometers on the Bruce today. Unexciting but not stressful despite the heavy traffic thanks to a good shoulder for most of the way.
We stopped for lunch at the Big Mango just before the town. More, or rather less, about mangoes later.
Bowen is quite different to Airlee Beach. As touristy is Airlee Beach, Bowen is almost purposefully unfashionable. Lots of caravan parks, most quite expensive and all quite full. We ended up at the large Queens Beach Tourist Park, the cheapest of the lot and seemingly the best in terms of facilities and sites. It's full of Grey Nomads which is unsurprising given its value for money. Tonight was Sausage Sizzle Thursday that had all the old folks in a state of excited anticipation. Many getting smartly dressed for the occasion. We skipped the party and barbecued some lamb steaks in one of the smaller BBQ areas.
Friday the 7th of June 2024
We spent the morning cycling around to Bowen's beaches and its one other attraction, the original pier that was built in eighteen sixty seven. Amazingly we ended up covering twenty odd kilometers doing this. With some walking thrown in as well, Leigh was wondering what had happened to her rest day.
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Tomorrow we head for Gumlu, a small dot on the Bruce on the way to Ayr.
Saturday the 8th of June 2024
One of the reasons we have learned to build in some buffer time in our tours is that sometimes shit happens. We haven't been under any time pressure since reaching the coast, in fact we have been trying to find ways to eat up time. However today that extra time came in handy.
The road northwards is pretty flat and we only had sixty five kilometers to do for the day. So we only got away at nine o'clock. We took our time, stopping to look for birds as the occasions arose. At the twelve kilometer mark we stopped to look at a small raptor hawking above some newly plowed fields when Leigh realized she had left her mobile phone behind at the campground in Bowen.
To cut a long story short, I grumped quietly to myself while we made our way back to Bowen, having already decided I wasn't going to put in a long shift because of Leigh's phone. So when we got back to the campground we took a cabin instead of pitching the tent again and we have had a comfortable and relaxing day.
We'll try for Gumlu again tomorrow.
Today's ride: 115 km (71 miles)
Total: 3,893 km (2,418 miles)
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