Dave Gleeson Plays Up with Us in Paradise
Day one of our content creation odyssey had one essential task – get a clean promo shot of our freshly signed festival ambassador, The Screaming Jets frontman, Dave Gleeson. He’d flown in with his legendary wife, Katie and their kids, Bella and James for a week of sunshine and shenanigans. What followed was a series of adventures so gloriously chaotic, it felt more like a mockumentary than a media mission.
Treehouses, Toads and Troppo Vibes
First stop, Butto’s – the festival director with a home that oozes jungle themed art installation. Three dogs greeting us that don’t even belong to him. A rubbish bin doubling as a cane toad hotel, collected especially for Magnums’ infamous races – that is, until one over excited staffie staged a jailbreak.
Just another typical Thursday in the tropics.
Prawns, Pets and Peculiarities
You haven’t truly arrived in Bowen until you’ve stood beneath its oversized fruity icon with a brain freeze. The Big Mango crew rolled out the welcome mat with frozen mango treats and country charm, giving our crew the sugar hit needed to survive the day ahead. Naturally, a family photo was a must – because size matters, especially when your backdrop is 10 metres of tropical kitsch.
Nothing about our next stop at Bird’s Fish Bar screamed “standard order”. There was trawler fresh seafood slung from the dock by a rock legend, pet fish that greeted us like a maitre d’ and an owner, Chloe who’s ironically allergic to prawns. It was a seafood meets sitcom experience, with the water police casually loitering like we were part of a seafood sting.
Coal Capers and Gleeson Gold
“Why Collinsville?” was the question echoing, until right before Gleeson mounted a pony, donned a miner’s hat at the Coalface Experience and proved his ad-lib skills could rival a late night comedy panel. Town legend, Brett Murphy led us through a punchy walkthrough of the site, diving deep into the proud history of working coal miners.
Collinsville turned out to be a diamond in the rough – locals with hearts bigger than the Bowen Basin, food that felt like a mic drop and a pub experience that sent us all into a food coma. At the Pit Pony Tavern, new owners Amy and Alvin served up Chinese honey chicken like hors d’oeuvres, followed by risotto balls that deserved their own encore. And then came our lunch and Gleeso’s burger – a towering beast that could’ve fed his family, our crew and half of Collinsville. This wasn’t lunch. It was legend.
Fuel Frights and Power Naps
Butto forgot to mention we were running on fumes in the middle of nowhere. With no reception and the fuel gauge tapping out, it was nearly a very different headline. But after a roadside fuel top up, the team nodded off for the final hour road trip back to Airlie Beach.
Riffs, Rib-Eye and Racing Amphibians
Dinner was the last thing we needed after a day fuelled by pit stop surprises – but KC’s doesn’t ask if you’re hungry, it dares you not to be. It’s a restaurant where the meat platter is a rite of passage and live music is an entree seven nights a week. There we were entertained by Sam McCann, Butto’s answer to “Australia’s Ed Sheeran”, before heading to Magnums for a cane toad race that screamed “tropical backpacker mayhem” in the best way possible.
One Day Down, Two To Go
We came for the promo photo. We left with a cane toad uprising, seafood sorcery, a fuel gamble and a front row seat to Dave Gleeson’s off stage persona. It’s raw, rogue, relaxed and totally real. And through it all, what shone brightest was the unshakable bond – a tight knit family with a brother-sister love that needs no rehearsal, and a wife-turned-publicist-turned-mastermind, quietly steering the ship with a rock ‘n roll to do list!
Come join us all at Airlie Beach Festival of Music this November – tickets on sale now here! The Screaming Jets, Jessica Mauboy, The Black Sorrows, Diesel, Choir Girls, Bachelor Girl and loads more are on the stacked line-up. Dip in for a day, dive into five days of music fuelled madness, or stretch it out and soak up the Whitsundays.
