Day 21 – Bowen – a hidden gem!

We had a lazy start to the day, including a nice walk on the beach with Jazzy while the others enjoyed a sleep in.

After some breakfast on the beach – yes, I could do this every day! It was time to pack up yet again so that we could enjoy Bowen a little more before we had to make our way towards Townsville. The girls have been getting involved with various jobs such as winding up the stabiliser legs on the van for Jazzy, packing up the chairs for Scarly (with some help) and locking up the many drawers for Izzy. Not always, but every bit helps and if there is the incentive of extra time in the pool or the beach, it certainly helps to speed up the process! 😉

We checked out Grays Beach and a few others for our morning swim, but Horseshoe Bat was just too pretty to pass on. The water was just perfect for a dip and the backdrop was beautiful! Another pinch me moment for our trip, getting to enjoy this with the entire family…

Even Scarly braved the water to jump on my back and kick her legs. She is really getting so much more water confident, which is lovely to see!
We also built some sandcastles with her and decorated them with washed up coral we had found. A delicious coffee from the cafe across the road completed the perfect morning vibe!

Jazzy and I really wanted to check out another lookout but it turned out that it involved a grade 4 hike, not something we were dressed or prepared for this time round. I’ll definitely be back to explore though! We went back to grab the van and of course the girls managed to swindle one more swim in the pool before we set off.

We were headed to Billabong Sanctuary for a turtle feeding and a croc show, but it was going to be a tight squeeze to get there on time. After one of our roadside stops to admire the sugar cane (yes that is code for a kids pit stop) we drove off only for Chris to realise that he had dropped one of his AirPods in the hay as he jumped out of the car to help Jazzy. So back we went to look for an AirPod in a haystack… Jazzy was inconsolable thinking this meant she would miss the turtle feeding and I really didn’t have high hope for us, but as miracles go – this was one of them and Chris found it.

We made it to the turtle feeding with minutes to spare and all was well in the world. It was so bizarre seeing all these little turtles swim up to shore and march up like an army of hungry soldiers. They clearly know what is about to happen and would follow people as they were handed the pieces of fish to feed the turtles. The girls were fascinated!

It was so hot, wow you really feel the burn of the sun up here! The Billabong Sanctuary had so many cool animals, but I particularly enjoyed that many of the birds were left to roam freely knowing they would come back.

As we walked around we saw an absolute beast of a saltwater crocodile sunning himself just next to the enclosure. This guy was huge!!! Estimated to be around 5m long and wieighing around 1,000kgs. I have never seen a croc so close up and it was both fascinating and scary at the same time. You can see why they have been around for so many millions of years, they are just so well designed to be the most dominant in their food chain.

Then it was time for the croc show. The caretakers fed chickens on a stick to him whilst his jaw made high loud popping noises every time he bit down. Apparently they have the strongest bite in the entire animal kingdom – this is not a forte of mine, but something about 16,000N per square cm. Basically, if it bites you, you have no chance! That’s all I needed to know and the girls listened VERY carefully throughout the show and have confirmed that they will not be going near any waterways for the rest of the trip without permission and confirmation of croc safe places. Perfect!

After the sanctuary we quickly set up the van and had a few errands to run such as Bunnings and Dan Murphy’s (priorities!). You’ve really got to plan so much more when on the road to have all the food, drink and car/van supplies on hand, especially the more remote you go. On our way back we stopped at the caravan park bar and the lady kindly gave the girls some food for the turtles. These were the same cheeky ones as at the zoo and they came in swarms!