Bowen 7th July

Bowen was the screen set for Darwin for the movie Australia starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman and it was interesting to read how the place was transformed as a set for the harbour and the bombing scenes.
Other than that not much happens here, however Bowen was in the news again as a herbicide had been poured into the irrigation system causing some 23 million dollars worth of damage to two of the main tomato growing properties in the region. Industrial sabotage has been suggested and it seems as though it has happened before.

It was a beautiful day so we drove out to Horseshoe Bay to have a swim and catch some sun. We remember this beach as being a great place to swim and snorkel and catch some sun. After finding somewhere to park we dropped off our towels by the rocks and went for a swim. The bay being quite protected the waves were very gentle and with the tide out it was a great conditions for me to join the other swimmers doing laps across the bay. It wasn't too long before we had a group of Korean tourists join us by the rocks dropping their towels down and unpacking their new snorkeling gear and trying the masks and flippers on before going out in the water. We watched quite fascinated as to how excited they all were as they made their way down to the water. I remarked to Beatrice that I hoped they would be alright  as we often hear about tourists getting into trouble swimming off the beaches. After a few swims and a spot of sunbathing we packed up our gear at about 1.30pm to drive back for some lunch. It was at this time that Beatrice remarked to me that the some of the Koreans guys had been in the water for a long time, however it all looked very calm and I could see some of them standing on the rocks near the coral where they had been snorkeling.
Later that afternoon we saw and heard some helicopters fly over us towards the beach and then on the news that a snorkeler had been reported missing at 2pm off Horseshoe Bay. We had this feeling that it could have been the Koreans we had been watching on the beach.
Regrettably the search was called off at dusk and it wasn't until the next morning that we heard on the news that at 8 am a 27 year old Korean tourists body had been found drowned in the bay.