All gone…

The international exercise that used Bowen as one of its bases (the one I wrote about last month ) has finally come to an end
And if you’re a little bit strange like me some of you might be interested in this detailed ‘wrap up’ article released by the Defence dept.
It includes many Facts, Figures, Places Where, Reasons Why …plus mention of the four servicemen who lost their lives down the coast near Lindeman Island.

The exclusion zone ‘warning’ notice boards found near various beaches and other spots in town have now been removed – see how the little arrow I added shows how close that area was to Rose Bay and why we saw all the ships moored there, prepared and ready…we weren’t quite sure what for though
(It turned out that US military and the ADF built a 540m floating pier at Bowen, Queensland.) source

At the end of the allocated time they moved off slowly, one by one, over several days – turning east and sailing away. Past Gloucester Island and off into the Coral Sea.

So by August 19th they had all gone and the seas were ‘empty’ again.

And it was almost like magic (or perhaps coincidence) lots of families began to arrive for an early Saturday morning dip. There were balls to kick and buckets and spades for the littlies, as well as sea kayaks and boards (of all shapes and sizes) – children here are so confident around water.

Now our mornings are back to watching gentle peaceful views like this – a single yacht sailing by in a northerly direction.

Winter is coming to an end and I’m going to miss this when we leave for home in a couple of weeks time 🙁

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