Day 31 to 33. July 20 to 22 2022. Bowen. Small Van, Small world

This is a three night stay and on arrival we had the best surprise. Our site we had been allocated to actually has an ensuite, but they didn’t tell us as there were a few tiles missing off the shower. If we are happy to look past that, we could have the key to the ensuite for a few extra bucks. Not only is it important to know where your towel is, it is great to have a spot to hang it in your own bathroom.

Bowen is to Airlie Beach as is the Western Oval to the MCC members. Bowen isn’t too far down the road, but it is a decade or two behind Airlie Beach. This is a good thing. Some nice beaches, and a good trek around a great stone monolith means we get some exercise. The sun decides to come out and we are finally in shorts, sandals and T-Shirt and paddling in the ocean with an ice-cream in hand. There is not much to the town, and the locals like it like that.

We have landed in the old fashioned caravan park, where a lot of the people here have already served a month of their three month sentence. Again, they are lovely, and we have our next van neighbour stay for a late night drink one night, staying up til the devils hour of 10pm. The next night we went for fish and chips with a bigger group, which was really nice.

They are a tight bunch though, and everyone is wondering about the van.

“Cozy”. “Cute”. “Dinky”. “You don’t sleep in that do you?”. “Honey, the leprechauns have just arrived". Being around 6ft tall since I was about 14 means I haven’t had to cope with small jokes in the past, but we are getting the comments now. There is no end of fascination with the camper from these old hands at caravanning. I have on occasion been having a little lie in, when a passer-by has struck up a conversation with Linda on the van, and asked where do you sleep. I just wasn’t quick enough to open the door, pop my head out and say “where the hell do you think”? The variations on travel accommodations are endless – and some of the caravans are too, being up to four times longer than ours. The old campsites aren’t built for that size, and now at a lot of places the vans seemed more cramped than they were in the factory parking lot. The ways of transient living are always on the move.

For the “it’s a small world” file, I comment on a ladies backpack which is branded “Ego” and say that I like it and that I work there. Apparently she does too. Only 700 employees around the globe, and I bump into one at Horseshoe Bay, 2pm on a Thursday afternoon. Photo taken and sent back to the office to show that I haven’t completely forgotten about them and it would be nice if they remembered that I am coming back.