Airlie Beach to Townsville

The newspaper article on cine-tourism (how people were flocking to Iceland, Ireland and Croatia to see where The Game of Thrones was filmed) hit home since that was the reason we visited the small town of Bowen. Some of the 2008 movie Australia, with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, was filmed in Bowen - it stood in for Darwin.  Bowen still has its old wooden buildings and a long wharf going out into the bay, whereas Darwin lost its old buildings in a cyclone.

Photos of the making of the movie

They brought in red dirt so that it would look like Darwin, brought in 700 head of cattle for the cattle drive through town and down the wharf to the ship, brought in horses, and contructed the buildings that would be bombed and burn when enemy aircraft flew over. Over 80 Bowen volunteers helped out and hundreds of extras were in the film.

Townsville was our destination for the day, an easy drive, and we had time to visit the Museum of Tropical Queensland in the late afternoon. We were most interested in an exhibit called Colour the Secret Language of the Reef and it didn't disappoint.