20120613 Qld Farleigh to Bowen

20120613 I'm sure this trip is all about Des reminiscing his past and catching up with old work colleagues as here we are driving around looking for the farm in Farleigh, he worked on in 1989.  Eventually we found it but unfortunately, he just missed his old work mates, but we had a good chat to his wife before leaving.  On the road again when Des pulled into yet another pub, he us to drink at the Leap Hotel with a very interesting history and many memorabilia.

We walked in and the barman was blowing up maroon balloons for the State of Origin on that night, I would have loved to stay but we drove off.  The wall in the Hotel is lined with many old memorabilia and this was just a few.

As legend has it, in 1867 settlers decided they’d had enough of the local Aborigines spearing their cattle for food.  One raid in particular caused so much consternation among the farmers that matters came to head and police got involved.  The troopers tracked the natives to the top of the mountain that looms where the Hotel stands today.  From high up near the clouds, a tribeswoman named Kowaha reportedly hurled herself from the sheer cliff face, rather than surrender to authorities.

With her baby in her embrace, she leapt from Mt Mandarana and fell to her death far, far below.  Incredible as it may seem, the baby girl survived her and was taken into care by the wife of a trooper.  The Leap Baby, as she came to be known, remained in the district until her death in 1928.

Since that fateful day of confrontation, the area has become known simply as “The Leap”, a place where visitors come to learn of and ponder about the mysteries surrounding events in Mackay’s heart-rending past.

Stopped a Proserpine for supplies then we thought instead of Airlie Beach we would check out Conway Beach and just our luck there was road works and dirt roads the whole way, so we turned around and headed for Bowen.  The rest stop was closed so we drove on to the beach front where we saw a van parked up so Des went to find out if they were staying and yep, they were so we settled in to watch the State of Origin.  At about 9.30pm a car stopped beside the van, at first, I thought it was a Taxi, but it turned out to be a security guard “Oo”.  He gave Des a card which contained camping conditions and told us we had to leave.  Des said he saw a sign for no camping but thought it was for in t the park.  As Des had a couple of beers, he couldn’t drive but the officer didn’t care that was when Des said we need to call the police and he wouldn’t have a bar of it, that’s when he said, I suggest you stop drinking and if you are still here after 5.00am in the morning I will book you.

20120614 Des woke about 4.00am and noticed a car parked beside us and it was the security guard putting a ticked on our windscreen and it was 4.07am.  Des said to him, you told me to be gone by 5.00am, he replied your illegally parked and drove off.  We have wrote a letter of complaint and am awaiting a reply.

Bowen has 25 murals, all which are proudly displayed throughout Bowen’s streets, depict the diverse history from the town’s early settlement to present day.

Tug Boats along the jetty awaiting their next assignment.

The Jetty on Santa Barbara Parade in Bowen.

There were many people Fishing off the jetty in Bowen and pulling in Travelly one after the other, this Travelly was the lagrest one we saw, not bad from a jetty.