Bowen August 2013, week 2

August 7^th, Now the pressure is off, as far as helping Val to make her jams and pickles, I found time to visit the local Museum. I did look through this one last time we stayed in Bowen but that was a few years ago. It’s always interesting to me to find out what started a Towns existence and in this case it was a financial reward for whoever could discover a suitable Harbour north of Rockhampton. Originally the Town was called Port Denison but was later renamed, Bowen, after Queensland’s first Governor. One of the biggest events, of recent times, was the making of the film “Australia”, which completely took over the Town. When I looked through the albums of photos, compiled progressively through the making of the film, I realized the enormity and effort that went into the making of that film. My favourite display was the slab Cottage, originally built in the district in 1872 and bought into Town, slab by slab and re-erected and restored at the Museum. What a hard life they must have led at that time! One bedroom, Kitchen with an open stone fireplace, a back verandah served as wash up, boot scraping and laundry and front verandah was were the kids slept. The slab walls were simply butted together and I was told that when it was cold they covered the walls with newspaper to keep out the wind. Incredible, no way would we live that way now.

August 8^th, After chatting with a few of our Caravanning neighbours, I decided that I should try to catch some fresh fish for Val. I was told that the Whiting were being caught at Horseshoe Bay, on high tide. Val has now eaten all the flathead fillets that we had in the freezer and was hankering for more. I headed down to Horseshoe Bay, and discovered that we had stayed in the Horseshoe Bay Caravan Park, on a previous visit, and the Bay was small and full of swimmers and snorkelers, not a fishing spot. So, I went back to that end of Queens Bay, where I spotted other fishermen and ladies along the Beach. I got set up, chair in the shade one rod in a rod holder and after baiting and casting my 2^nd rod I would retreat back to my chair. The weather was perfect, the water was clear, with only little ripples at the edge, the beach sand was coarse but what a perfect , relaxing way to spend a couple of hours. Of course, I was using my traditional cooked prawns as bait and peeling them as instructed. I wasn’t getting any bites and next thing I know all my nearest Fishermen packed up and went home. It was ½ hour after high tide and out of the 4 of us, fishing at this end of the Beach, only one had caught any keepable fish and they were there the earliest. Regardless, I decided to keep trying a bit longer and I was happy to feel a few bites, which lifted my spirits. A little while later, I was relaxing on my chair in the shade when my fixed rod was bending violently and would you believe it, a Seagull had flew into my fishing line and got tangled. He was flapping madly and screeching, not a “Happy Camper”. I took the rod out of the rod holder and wound in the line until the seagull was at my feet in the shallows. I used the line to pull him off the sand until I could reach down and get hold of the tip of the caught up wing. I was able to loosen the line allowing it unwind itself and with the wing free I released the bird and it very happily flew off. While all this was going on, all the seagulls’ mates were flying around in circles overhead, screeching their heads off. Wow!  Why do these things happen to me? I packed up soon after all that excitement and went home without catching anything else. After lunch, I was relaxing at the back of the Van and reading a western when a neighbour came over and introduced himself (Neville). They come up here for a couple of months every year and he does a lot of fishing, so we got talking and he gave me a few pointers about catching whiting. So I have to use a smaller sinker, #2 Whiting hook and pump nippers for bait and he guaranties I’ll catch whiting. Looks like I should buy a yabby pump, which I had been talking about for a while now but not doing anything. The main reason Neville came over to see me was to let us know that he was going to be playing some music from 4pm onwards and to bring our chairs over, if we wanted to join in. So, over we went armed with chairs, table and wine ready to be entertained. The Musical Group was Neville on accordion, his wife Beth on the spoons and Lindsey on guitar and Val and Lois (Lindsey’s wife) as “back up Girls”. It was all old time, sing along music that we all enjoyed for 1 ½ hours.

August 10^th, Val felt like going to the beach, to paddle her feet in the water, so off we went to Horseshoe Bay. I had been down there last Thursday and the water was flat, clear and lots of people in swimming or sunbaking on the sand. Today however, was the opposite, as it was very windy, the water was choppy with little waves and very uninviting. We walked through the Horseshoe Bay Caravan Resort and reminisced about the time we had stayed in this park before. We then drove around to Rose Bay for a look and found another Caravan Park right on the beachfront and couldn’t help commenting on how they would cop the bad weather, when it came. This was a pretty suburb with huge houses and nice lawns and garden, definitely the elite area to live in. We drove back along the length of Queens Beach, great water views, on our way to Mullers Lagoon. Mullers Lagoon is surrounded by Parkland and is a great family picnic spot, in the middle of Town, and a sanctuary for a large variety of birdlife. We went up to Bowen Hill where the water tank was, as I wanted to get a photo of the tank which had been painted with the word “BOWENWOOD” at the time of making the film “Australia”. I

took my photo and we enjoyed the great views of the surrounding area. We were amazed to also see that this hill had a house under construction, at the top of a huge drop and a plan to develop the other hilltop land surrounding the tank. I may be wrong but I’m thinking all this development could reduce the view of the tank with it’s historic sign!

August 11^th, This was a quiet relaxing Sunday for me but Val got stuck into making Apple Jelly, so I had to devise a rig, using an upside down chair,  to suspend the netting lines with a new chux cloth (as we didn’t have any muslin), her cooked green apples to allow the juice to drip into a bowl for 3 hours or more. The result was 2 jars of 375 ml Apple Jelly and a bit left over for tasting. It was good!

August 13^th, We did a little food shopping at Woolworths and Val had a haircut. Each time she gets a haircut she is showing more grey/white hair, which she is totally exicited about and looks good, to me as well. I started packing up this afternoon, as we leave here for Townsville tomorrow morning.

Bowen August 2013 week 1

July 31^st, We finished packing up and headed for Bowen. This wasn’t a long trip but we made a roadside stop, for a coffee break, after travelling around 1 ½ hours. We hadn’t made a forward booking, so we pulled into the Bowen Information Centre, at the Big Mango, to get their list of Caravan Parks. The Big Mango was huge, 10 metres tall.We were told that the Parks in Town were mostly booked out and out best bet was the next Park up the Highway, on the left, called Bowen Palms.  We called into the Bowen Palms Caravan Park and after checking their prices and looking around decided to stay for 2 weeks. The weekly rate was discounted by one free night and we were able to pick our own site. After setting up we walked across the Highway to The Homestead Store, to see what was on offer and Val bought a huge bag of red Tomatoes and planned to make some Tomato Chutney, for her Market Stall, of course. They also had “home made” Jams, Pickles, Relishes and Sauces for sale, made by a local woman. We couldn’t believe that they were all in grotty used jars of all sizes, dusty and so watery that they didn’t look edible.

August 1^st, We drove into Bowen, about a 5 minute drive, to have a look around. We noticed on the way in that the Salt Works was closed down, as we were told at the Info. Centre, as it is up for sale. We are now north of the sugar cane area and this is a farming area, famous for its Mangoes but also grows other Fruit and Vegetables. The main streets of Town look just like most other small Country Towns, Shops on both sides of the road and wide streets. We drove around the waterfront of Port Denison to the Marina, where Val bought some seafood for her dinner tonight. A bit further on we arrived at the Flagstaff Hill Interpretive Centre and Lookout. The view was amazing and the Centre had a Café where you could get a meal or just coffee and look at the view. The water was so “blue” and a couple of yachts were drifting around in the breeze, you could sit and watch it all day. Going back through Town we stopped off at the Supa IGA Store, for Val to check out their fruits (for jam making), as she is keen to make some Strawberry jam. We called in to the “BIG RED” Grocer Shop on the way home, to see if he had green tomatoes and he said he would get some for Val when he goes to the Farm, in the morning.

August 2^nd, We drove into Town to do some shopping and called into “Big Red” on the way home and he gave Val a huge bag of green tomatoes (3.7Kg.) at no charge. How generous is that! As soon as we got home, Val started on making up 2 batches of “Green Tomato Pickles”, to add to her Market Stall stock.

August 4^th, Today was Market Day in Bowen, so we went to both to check out the competition and see if they had cheap fruit for Val’s jams. The first Market was at Queens Beach, very small and plenty of “home made” condiments on sale. Very unattractive and of doubtful quality. They were all put up in 2^nd hand jars, of all varying sizes, and some sauces were in soft plastic drink bottles! We couldn’t believe that they would be allowed to sell their products in that condition. The other Markets were at Horseshoe Bay, much larger, well laid out, lots of clothing and jewellery but no jams and pickles. This was promising, for us, as long as we could get a spot under a tree, as we don’t have any shelter and the weather is very hot.

August 5^th, Val decided to put some signs up around the Park, to sell her Jams and Pickles out of the Van. When she went to the Office to ask permission, she took some jars to show the Manager, Jill,  what she was selling and got her first sale for a jar of Green tomato Pickles. As you can guess, Val was “over the moon” with excitement and soon found a box, to keep her sales money separate. We went into Town to the Woolworths Shopping Centre and picked up some nice strawberries that were on special. While in Town we called around to the Information Centre, to get a contact number for the person who organizes the Horseshoe Bay Markets and I was reminded that the Town of Bowen was the Town where the movie “Australia” was made. They transformed a huge block of land and built a Movie Set depicting Darwin, back in that era, as well as dressing up some of the buildings in Town. A local farmer, who was a machinery collector of pre 1940’s era, supplied a lot of the props required for the film. Back home, Val cooked up her Strawberry Jam and packed into jars. Val decided to book a stall at the Horseshoe Markets, so called her contact and was asked what she was selling and when told, was asked if she had her Kitchen Licenced. The Council, for a cost of $245, conduct an inspection and issue licences. So, that’s the end of our selling at any Market that requires a licence. Interestingly, the Council has no control over how the cooked product looks at point of sale! So, it’s been a day of ups and downs. We will now concentrate on selling out of the Van in Caravan Parks.

August 6^th, Val made another batch of Apricot Jam, as she had the fruit soaking overnight. It’s HOT again today, but thankfully we had a nice afternoon breeze to make it a bit more bearable. Val’s adverts around the Park bought in another customer this afternoon, who bought Green Tomato Pickles, Watermelon Rind Pickle, Ploughman’s Pickle and Tomato Chutney. Business is picking up!

Mackay July 2013, week 2

July 24^th, We have now been here a week, and finally, the lids for the jars that Val has been waiting for are in, so off we went down to Payne’s Packaging, at the bottom of Victoria Street, to pick up a carton of 375ml jars and lids. We rushed home so Val could slice up the oranges, for a batch of Orange Marmalade and get them soaking overnight. I had to design a label for Val’s produce, on the laptop, and have it approved by “The Boss” of Val’s Travelling Kitchen.

July 25^th, I went to the Mackay Museum this morning. It’s only open on a Thursday from 10am till 2pm and on the first Sunday in the month. It is a small Museum, but it had the usual collection of historical data that outlined the History of the largest sugar cane growing area in Australia, from its original inhabitants to the provincial City, that it is now. I found it very interesting to find out that, when the men went off to War, the woman took over the role of “Cane Cutters” and that was incredibly hard work then, as it was all cut by hand. We have seen the modern Cane Harvesting Machines working, as we have travelled up through the cane growing region of North Queensland, so now the burning off and manual labour, is no more. The Museum had photos of the early attempts at making a machine to do the job and Mackay was used as a testing area for these early attempts. Val boiled up the first batch of Orange Marmalade and had 5 X 375g jars for her efforts. A check on the consistency in the morning and my taste test, will tell if it meets Val’s strict quality standards.

July 26^th, This afternoon I fronted up to the Slade Point Surgery, for the removal of a returned cancer, on the back of my left knee. My only concern was “did I have enough spare skin at the back of my knee to get it cut out the 2^nd time? Val had assured me that I had excessive skin around the knee area, so would be no problem. I was called into Dr. Murshed Khan’s room (no relation to the Aga) and he said “what can I do for you today?” I thought, this a casual approach is to put me at ease, Eh! I said “you’re going to cut out this cancer from the back of my knee. “Oh, yes” he said. So now he typed up a form for me to sign, giving him permission to operate on me. Next we move into the Treatment / Operating Room and the attending Nurse greets me and as well as doing the hand me this, hand me that job for the Doctor was happily chatting to me throughout the entire operation. I was expecting a jab of anesthetic then the doctor going away for 15 minutes to let the anaesthetic take effect (like Dr. Jim did) but No! Next he says to me “I’m about to cut now” and I feel the drag of the knife on my skin. No real pain but I could feel the dabbing of the pad (no doubt soaking up the blood). I’m still calm as he next says; “stitching up now” and I feel the pulling of my skin (still painless but a strange feeling). All done and I’m told he used a stronger thread, because of the possibility of a thread pulling out in an area where there is a lot of movement, obviously walking. He said goodbye, enjoy your travelling and shook my hand. The Nurse finished off by putting on a waterproof plaster and giving me an instruction sheet on my ongoing treatment. I watched Friday night football, 2 games up here. In Queensland, you always get to see the Queensland team’s matches on Friday night and if they are not the normal Friday night match, we also get to see that one. Tonight was Broncos vs. Titans (Broncos won) followed by Bulldogs vs. Eels. As a Parramatta supporter, I have no comments on this game other than to say the Bulldogs won.

July 27^th, We had noticed that there was Saturday Markets on at the Mackay Showground. Val wanted to go just to buy some cheap fruit and veg. for making her jams and pickles. After breakfast we got ready to go, not particularly hurrying and left around 10.45am to do the 5 minute drive to the Showground. When we got there the place looked deserted and we thought that it wasn’t on this Saturday. We did find an open gate and drove in to discover that it led to a Toy Shop in one of the sheds. On asking, at the Toy Shop, we were told that the Markets were on every Saturday, but finished for today. They open at 6.30am and close when everything is sold, so obviously a very popular Market. After buying what Val needed from a cheap F and V Shop in South Mackay, we went home and Val got stuck into cutting, chopping and soaking ready for tomorrows cooking.

July 30^th, Pack up day, ready to leave in the morning, so it will be busy. We haven’t made a forward booking yet but plan to stay around the Bowen area next. We intend to get a list of Parks from the Information Centre and make a selection from that, unless we pass a suitable looking Park on the way.

Mackay July 2013, 1st week

July 16, We finished packing up and left Keppel Sands at 10am. Today’s trip was only a short drive, so we decided to go via. Emu Park and Yeppoon, to refresh our memories of these 2 Towns. We were surprised to find that Emu Park was a good sized Town, on the beachfront, that had a Super IGA and would have been a few Klms closer to Keppel Sands than Rockhampton, just for Supermarket Shopping. We drove around but didn’t recall ever being there before. We travelled 18klms on and arrived in Yappoon, which did bring back memories of our last visit. The Keppel Bay Plaza was new to us, so after filling up with petrol, I found a place to park the car and caravan in a back street, and we did our big food  We pulled into The Marlborough Motel and Van Park just before 4pm and booked in. This Park is right on the Bruce highway, so as you can imagine, we had the big trucks roaring past all night. There was nothing flash about this park, so it was pick your own site, stay hooked up if you want as long as you don’t block the roads. They were renovating the men’s amenities block, so the ladies had been re-signed to say “Uni Sex”. This was a first for us, all in together but there wasn’t any problems, I just don’t know who came in and used the toilet while I was having my shower. We were surprised how many Vans pulled in to stay over at this very “out of the way” Caravan Park. We went to the Restaurant at the Park for dinner and found it excellent. I had the “chicken
paragama” and it was delicious and so big that I couldn’t fit in dessert, while Val had “prawn cutlets” with salad. There was a flock of very tame guinea fowls running around the Park after everybody that they thought would feed them. It looked so funny to see them run like mad then follow people around, you would have to see them yourself to appreciate the humor.
shop, at Coles. We used our navigator (Doris) to get back to the Bruce Highway. We were a tad concerned when Doris had us do a right hand turn and go through a few little Villages, on a narrow but sealed road and were relieved to see the sign saying “Bruce Highway”. We pulled into a big roadside rest area (Joan Tierney Park) and made lunch in the Van, before carrying on to our Caravan Park at Marlborough.

July 17^th, After an early night and no packing up to do, we were able to get on our way at 9am, heading for Mackay. We have been having great weather, lately, so arrived at Mackay, after a pleasant drive. Unfortunately the street that our Caravan Park was in was blocked off, as they were doing roadworks. It was one way, opposite to the end we were at, but after a bit of driving around several blocks, we arrived at Central Tourist Park, and booked in. I realized that this was the same Park that we had stayed at the last time we stopped in Mackay. After lunch I carried on with setting up and we were all done before dark, ready to enjoy our 2 week stay here.

July 18^th, We just chilled out today, walked around the Park and wondered why they had such huge amenities. This Caravan Park has had the same owners for 46 years. The amenities block was built to withstand Cyclones and Tornados and are big enough to shelter all the guests in the Park, if need be. There are 18 showers and 21 toilets in both the men’s and woman’s blocks, plus 12 wash basins. The reason being, that, 46 years ago the rule was one shower/toilet for every four people. The Laundry has 11 washing machines and ten dryers. There are 38 big green “Otto” garbage bins, all in a row along the back of the Park. Looks very funny! I took a few photos. On the roof of the very long amenities block, at each end, there are 2 huge loud speakers. I guess we will hear the Cyclone warning and Val will be first in the Block, with a cask of wine and a chair.

July 19^th, We went to the Caneland Central Shopping Centre, in Town, which was a huge shopping complex, as you would find in any City. Val went to Specsavers and they virtually rebuilt her broken glasses, at no cost. We wandered around for hours, I found a lot of time to read my western, and after a coffee/tea and cinnamon toast break, we did some food shopping and went home.

July 20^th, We had a big day out today! We started of with a drive down to Mackay Harbour and Marina, the rock wall around the Marina is so wide it has a 2 lane road running out to its end. We timed it perfectly to see a tanker being pushed out by a Tug then heading out to sea. It reminded us of Newcastle, to see the line of waiting ships on the horizon. The Marina was huge with lots of boats at the berths and Resort Accommodation in the precinct. Next stop was the Food and Wine Festival at Queens Park, where parking was hard to find. I had to drive around the block twice before we struck someone just leaving and grabbed his spot. We were lucky, as we only had to cross the road to get to the Park. It was very busy, we think the whole of Mackay’s population had turned up. It was a big affair, market stalls, lots of food outlets, entertainment on centre stage, train rides for the kids and 2 large licenced areas for beer and wine. We were disappointed that there wasn’t any food or wine tastings, which we had expected. We still enjoyed our visit and had some lunch/coffee from the food trail and sat in the shade of one of their huge marquis to eat and listen to the music. Around the entertainment area we had a green crocodile talking to all the kids and 2 guys dressed up as girls on stilts, talking and waiving to everybody. The most amazing thing we saw was a woman being fully body paint decorated. We left the Festival and went to the Visitors Information Centre, on the southern side of the City and picked up some brochures and maps. On our way home we called in to the North Mackay Bowl Club, which was in the same street as our Caravan Park and had been recommended for it very good food. It was a nice looking Club, the menu looked good and we had a chardy and a flutter. The wine was good and we had a good run on the Pokies, although we didn’t win. We sat and watched some of the bowlers having a game on their indoor greens before heading home. It is an indoor bowling club and we had to laugh at ourselves, when driving in to Park we thought their indoor green rinks were a covered car park, Ha! Ha!

 July 22^nd, Val was fired up today, to get into making her “Home Made” Jams and Pickles for selling at the Markets, as we travel around. So, we drove into Town to find “Payne Packaging”, the only supplier of glass screw top jars listed in the Phone Book. Their address was “the bottom of Victoria Street”, so when we reached Victoria Street, we just turned left (not knowing which way was the bottom and having no number) and drove to the bottom of the street and found that we were at the low numbered end. No sign of Paynes! OK, let’s check out the other end of this street. When we got to the high numbered end of Victoria Street, we found a dead end, a vacant plot of ground at the back of Caneland Central Shopping Centre and definitely no Payne Packaging. I pulled over and Val ran into a Tyre Place and asked the dis-interested Salesman, who was talking with a friend, was this the top or bottom of this street? and did he know where Payne packaging was? He had no idea but this was the top end! Back we go (to what we now know is the bottom of Victoria Street) down past all the Shops that we are now getting to know well and still could not find the mysterious “Payne Packaging”. I parked the car and Val went into the nearest Business and asked the question and sure enough, across the street, up a short driveway is where the packaging place is located. No big sign out front, listing the businesses in this little complex, but jammed up in a corner, not visible from the street was Payne’s. We were shown into their (small) wharehouse and shown the 375ml. glass  jars that Val wanted but there was a problem!! They were completely out of the metal screw top lids! They are expected to come in next Wednesday, so that put an end to Val’s plans. Not to be too put off, Val said “let’s check out the Fruit and Vegie Shops that we listed from the phone book”. First on our list was “Mifsud’s Fruit Barn” at 34 Nelson Street, when we got there it was a building site, in progress! So we asked the Traffic Controller where Mifsud’s had moved to? He was clueless! So, on we went to “Vegies Unlimited” at 303 Nebo Road. To get to this shop we had to travel to the most southern side of this Town, anyway their bulk buy of 3 kg of oranges were cheap.  Now we went back to the City to find “Growers Own” in River Street. Doris (our navigator) was totally confused by the road changes, but eventually we found Growers Own, who are just getting organized to sell to the Public and were able just to give us their price list but it was a bulk supply outfit. In other words, they want to sell goods by the case, not what we were wanting. We did find out that Mifsud’s were in Albert Street, so went there to check it out and Val thought they were a bit high priced for what we want. We stopped off at the Sydney Street Markets to pick up a few items before heading home.

July 23^rd, I went to the Slade Point Medical Centre for a Skin Cancer Check, as the growth that Dr. Jim cut out in Feburary, of this year, was still a problem. Val was worried about it and wanted me to get it checked out. The back of the knee thing is definitely a cancer and has to be removed again.  He is going to cut it out on Friday afternoon. It is an area that won’t heal fast, as it’s always moving while walking. When I asked him to do an all over check, he found a few suspicious things around my ears and said that I should go to a Mole Scanning Clinic when we get to Townsville and have a full scan, then get those things treated. He said we were not staying long enough in Mackay for me to get the scan and then for him to do the treatment.

July 24^th, We have now been here a week, so I’ll post this today before you all get too bored to bother reading.