The landscape is flat like a table top, but with odd excrescences ( think of salt and pepper shakers, sugar bowl etc)- some of the mountains are quite large, but they pop out of the flat landscape, often kilometres from the next bump, and rising so steeply. The Great Divide here is not a range of mountains, merely a series of sometimes very big hills, usually quite rocky. One of these had a lookout at the top- we drove up an incredibly steep incline to reach it, luckily not passing another vehicle until we reached a wider spot near the top. From the top, the view is breathtaking, something like being in a plane, as the flat land spreads for miles around. We could see far distant mountains and also the sea.
We'd been told about a really good free camp at Home Hill so we stopped to check it out. This is superb. The town council's erected modern buildings which include toilets and showers as well as a camp kitchen, with a limit of 48 hours stay. You simply park at the side of the road, next to pleasant lawns- people today had their chairs out on the lawn soaking up the sun. What a great way to attract people to the town- there are directions to the various businesses, the information centre's in the old railway station across the road, and everything's so well done that we were overwhelmed.
After crossing the wide Burdekin River, we carried on to nearby Ayr. where we were surprised to find quite a large town with a big shopping centre. We headed for Alva Beach where we came across our first crocodile warning sign, and long sandy beaches with no surf whatsoever.
Back in Bowen, we headed up Flagstaff Hill again to enjoy the view in good conditions- what a contrast to the rainy view we had a few days ago!
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