Bowen - That where we have travelled to today. Nearly 200 kilometres south of Townsville. We had been told it was a nice little spot on the coast, so check it out we will.  Bowen is on the Northern end of the 'Whitsundays'. "Where the bush and beach meet the reef". Well that is what the brochure says. And Bowen is the home of the 'BIG Mango'. The 'Kensington Pride Mango' is commonly known as the 'Bowen Special'. Not sure that we get any 'Bowen Specials' in WA, but I thought we may be able to try one while we are here, but there won't be any until November.  Damn!  The 'BIG Mango' gets 9/10 on the Iconmetre and it actually went missing this year.  How can something that is 12 metres high just go missing?  Apparently it made global headlines within hours and mentioned in 3149 media reports, reaching 25 million people. Can't say that we were in those 25 million! It was later revealed that a popular restaurant chain was responsible for the stunt, in light of promoting their new mango and lime flavour.   It is said that the stunt put Bowen back on the tourist map.  Fancy that!  But why the title? My giggling just has to be included in a blog!  After booking into the Big4 caravan park right on the ocean, Deb said "She would get Phil to help us get onto the site". I said "We would be okay, my husband doesn't normally have any trouble"!  But Phil was there to guide us around the first corner. I won't record what Peter's comment was in the car, and I was told to get the remote two way out of the glovebox!  We don't have any problems when we use the two way.Anyway there was no way I was getting out of the car to compete with Phil!  He was beckoning Pete to come forward, turn a little wider this way, then turn the other way. When it came to backing back against the concrete slab, Phil was right outside my car window.  If only I could have got out of the car and gone to the beach! Phil was there telling Pete to "Turn a little to the right Pete. Little left Pete. Bit more Pete. Another two inches Pete".   Well I lost it!  I just couldn't stifle the giggles. I looked across to Peter and he had a smile on his face and that only made me worse!  All the time Phil was so serious telling Pete how to get the van back onto the site! I am still having a giggle whilst typing. Every time I think about it I giggle! Over lunch when we were talking about it, my dear husband told me "I was an embarrassment"!   Well I probably was but it is also healthy to laugh!Lots to take a snap of on the road this morning. We hadn't gone far on Bruce Highway before we saw smoke and the police had shut half the highway and were re-directing traffic.  The trailer of a truck had caught on fire, and the fire brigade nearly had it out.  Nothing left of the trailer, but we think the truck must have been okay.  The 'Burdekin Shire' starts about 40 kms south of Townsville and is said to be one of the strongest agricultural regions in Australia.  It has abundant water supplies and very fertile soils.  Built on a coastal aquifer, just 10 metres below the land's surface, the region is often referred to as being 'Built on Liquid Gold'. The mighty 710 kilometre long Burdekin River reaches the Pacific Ocean at 'Upstart Bay' east of Ayr.  The Burdekin River drains 130,500 square kilometres and it has the largest flow of any river in Australia.  It is said "It's force is impressive during periods of heavy rainfall".  Not much water in it this morning though! The bridge over the Burdekin was built in 1957 and since then the frequency and severity of flooding has lessoned.  The bridge connects the towns of 'Ayr and Home Hill' and is known as the 'Silver Link'.  It's length is 1103 metres, making it longer than the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  It is the only bridge in Australia built without a firm foothold.  The absence of rock in the river bed meant engineers had to sink the huge concrete caissons into more than 30 metres of sand.  It took 10 years to build, construction being hampered by steel shortages, the annual wet seasons and underground obstacles.  Before the bridge was built, the Burdekin River was impassable for much of the annual wet season.   About 80,000 hectares of the Shire's agricultural land is dedicated to sugar cane and between 8 and 9 million tonnes of sugar cane is grown annually.  There are 4 mills in the area and the area has become a tourist attraction because the cane is burnt to remove the leaves.  Mostly it is burnt the night before it is to be harvested, but we did see fires burning today.  We also saw a paddock that looked like there was very little left after the fire.  So not sure why the region is still burning!  Especially as there is a lot of black ash that falls across the region.  The locals call it 'Burdekin Snow' but we didn't think it was anything like snow this morning!  Peter had it all over his shorts when we had morning tea in the park in Ayr.  And it was 'Black'!The 'Sugar Stories' still continue to be recorded in the blogs and we have discussed "Just where would Queensland be without the industry"?  There is so much 'drought' being experieinced in the inland areas and this huge coastal area of sugar cane production.   Re the 'Sugar Industry' - there is something new and healthy to report from the Burdekin region.  Ayr is home to a factory that is turning sugar cane into one of the world's only allergen-free dietary fibres with chemical free processing.  The fibre is called 'Kfibre' and is made by removing the sugar from the cane before milling. The fibrous remains are produced into a fine gluten-free powder.  The factory plans to increase capacity from 185,000kg in 2013 to 1,320,000kg in 2014.  It is exported to Japan and sold locally in Chemists.  'Kfibre' is being trialled for treatment of diabetes, acid reflux, bowel health and auto-immune diseases.  Previously most of the world's dietary fibre was derived from wheat and corn with subsequent allergy problems.Burdekin is also home to the only rice processing plant in Queensland.  Rice was a popular crop in the region in the 1960's, but these days the grain isn't as commonly grown.  The industry was given a boost in 2012 after the tsunami and a nuclear disaster devastated large stretches of Japan's prime agricultural land.   Burdekin lent its clay soils, abundant water and mild winters to the Asian country.  In 2012 the region became the first in Australia to harvest a special type of Japanese rice.  A number of other rice trials have followed, paving the way for expansion.  We saw what we believe was rice in an early stage of growth.  Our reason for having morning tea in the park in Ayr, was because we wanted to take a look at the 60 metre giant carpet snake constructed of concrete.  It was constructed by an Aboriginal Reference Group in 2004, to celebrate and promote indigenous culture.  The sculpture also marks the significance of the park as a traditional burial site.  My goodness!  I decided on this blog because I saw our caravan parking experience with Phil, as a way of putting together a blog with a few photos of our travels this morning through the Burdekin region.  Once again I have furthered my education by putting to type what we want to remember about the 'Burdekin Region'.  Everywhere there is a story!

The fella cycling in the little red beetle on the Bruce Highway, also created discussion between the truckies on Channel 40, for a bit as well!   No doubt the fella was cycling to raise money for a good cause.  16 photos