Bowen

We called into Bowen during our travels along the Queensland coast and had a good look around. This is a lovely coastal town with a some amazing caravan parks located right next to the water. Plenty of beaches to choose from and beautiful bays to go exploring - makes you want to bring the boat.

We discovered that several scenes from the film "Australia" were shot in Bowen and there are a number of photographs around town showing how they transformed the foreshore for scenes in the movie. The local cinema was decorated to look like the Darwin picture theatre - very exciting for the people of the area.

The main Visitor Information Centre is located at the Big Mango which is four kilometres south of town on the Bruce Highway. Bowen is most famous for the Kensington Pride mango or commonly known as the ‘Bowen Special’. Bowen’s BIG MANGO was erected on the 2002 to promote tourism and in 2014 was involved in a heist where it mysteriously disappeared overnight. The disappearance made global news creating worldwide headlines - later revealed the popular restaurant chain Nandos was responsible for the stunt. The stunt put Bowen back on the map for local and overseas tourists - how interesting.

Bowen also have a Visitor Information Booth which is located at the Bowen Foreshore on Santa Barbara Parade - close to the centre of town. This is a small outlet staffed by locals who are happy to provide information on things to see and do in the area - they have a selection of maps and brochures. There is a public toilet located beside the Information Booth and plenty of room to park when towing a caravan. There are covered picnic tables in the parks along the foreshore and this is a lovely place to stop for morning tea.