Day Seven - Sarina to Bowen

It was lovely starting the day with a cup of tea, looking out to the ocean with the plover chicks running around on the lawn in front of us. They are cute! And it was wonderful to see how the Plover parent supervised the chicks without being intrusive. The chicks have obviously been taught well because at one point when birds flew overhead, the little ones froze in place until the danger was past.

Car packed, we checked out and drove the 30 km or so into Mackay for breakfast. The main reason we had called in to Mackay was to see the statutes - including Fred Flinstone - in one of the parks. Hmmm ... we found the park okay (thanks Waze) but the road down to the Fred and the others was closed. I thought about walking in but had no clear indication of where they were in the park - or if they were still there. I made a pouty face and we drove on towards the Big Mango at Bowen.

I had booked us into what was billed as a 'themed motel with an exceptional restaurant' - the Castle Motor Inn. I will try to get a photograph of the exterior tomorrow - complete with moat - but in the meantime, I've included a pic from their website. The restaurant was themed as well, with suits of armour, medieval weaponry around the walls - and Halloween decorations including full-sized skeletons with red glowing eyes. The roast lamb dinner was brought to us by the colours brown and white - and we had to spare a thought for how faithful to medieval times they were being because there wasn't a green vegetable in sight. Thank goodness we had a salad with our lunch at The Sisters Coffee House. Waze did well with that - I had asked us to find a Coffee Club - and it came up with the Coffee House instead - and it was a good find!

Sooz had a rest this afternoon while I went out and about in Bowen. There was much to see - including the lookout over Gloucester Island, Horseshoe Bay, and the Water Tower. The Water Tower is visible from the Castle Motor Inn - and much of Bowen it seems. What I liked about this afternoon was that I saw wedgies in several places but every time I pulled up to take a photograph - they were off.