Bowen

I arrived into Porsipine at 6pm to one of the most rink-dinky airports that I have ever seen. Basically it was a shed placed by a long paved rode that people just happen to be waiting for plans in. The waiting area to board your plane was a small patch of land no bigger then an average size kitchen surrounded by a 12 foot high chain link fence. It was like going to the zoo and looking at all the depressed animals in a cages, except these were humans and not animals.
From the airport I had to take a car ride to get to the town of Bowen. I got into a car along with an Irish couple; the guy was one a man of very few words and the women was a little how to put this... A little slow. So it was a long ride, about an hour in total. When I got the Bowen the driver then informed us that it would be $40 each! Can you say RIP OFF. We then had to meet up with a man named Alan to take us to our house. This is where the first unnerving things started to happen.

Alan had been at the bar that night, but I knew I had no choice but to get into a car with someone who had been drinking a very questionable amount of beer. Glancing around at each other with worried looks we all pilled into the van.

When we were pulling into the driveway of our houses Alan told us that there where plans to “tear down these houses this year and build a 200 bed hostel”. That was the first clue to the current state of these houses. I wanted to get a twin room while the other couple wanted a double bed, which meant we were going to be put in two different houses. The houses were both over 100 years old, some of the “oldest in Bowen” and let me tell you there was no way these houses should have still been used after 50 years let alone 100!

The house had 5 beds but I was the only person in it. I was scared shitless, left alone in a house that by any standard would have been condemned many years ago.

The floor boards where about to give way any day because the floor was bumpy and sunken. The water in was undrinkable, so I had to boil the water then put it in the fridge and the bathroom was outside the house with a door the would not even close all the way. When I trying to lift the toilet seat to make sure that there were no spiders hiding underneath the lid fell clean off. The sink was yellow due to the iron rich water, and to add to the ambiance, there were cockroaches and lizards crawling over the walls. The TV looked so old I was not sure that it was going to be in color. I was so terrified that someone was going to break into my house at night, my fear was only amplified by the fact that I knew if someone really wanted to break in there was nothing I could do to stop them. The front and back door had only a pad lock on them to separate me from any potential loons. But this meant basically nothing because the floor and wall did not even meet all the way and the wood was so rotten it would not hold up to a good shove. I tried to barricade myself in the house by moving the furniture in front of the door. The next problem was the windows; most of them would not close all the way or were broken because at some point a rock was hurled through them.

I slept with by bedroom door open with the living room light on and the TV on. I was not brave enough to sleep underneath my blanket, so I just laid on the top sheet. Another little treat was that there was swastika craved into the wood above my bed. To add on to all this when I was trying to go to sleep I could hear drunk people walking around out side my house as well as cars screeching away into the night. Little to say I did not get much sleep and woke up about every hour of the night.

Bowen, What a Strange Little Town
It is said that the people from Queensland are backwards people. I would have to totally back this statement because they all seem to be just little bit off.

The town of Bowen is very small, quite dull and extremely hot. Sounds awesome right?

I went on a walk yesterday in search of a grocery store and found one that was about a 15 minute walk away. When I was approaching the store I noticed a very familiar logo on the building beside it. It was a TARGET! I was jumping for glee and surprised by the fact that in such a small town there could be a Target, but I had no real reason to be idea exited because upon further inspection I noticed a sign that read “Target Country”. Slightly confused between a “Target” and a “Target Country” I entered the store. The difference is Target Country” sucks! It about the size of two convenience stores. So I know I don’t need to elaborate at the amount of selection there was. Needless to say I wont be going back anytime soon.

More to come about bowen in next post...

Cheers
Fredrick