Hervey Bay to Cairns

July 15 to July 27, 2008

Bookings Essential ....

We arrived in Hervey Bay without having made a booking for accommodation and quickly found that it was very busy with grey nomads all set up for their northern sun holiday.  Fortunately, we were able to obtain a booking for two nights at the Beachcomber Torquay Holiday Park run by the council and right on the beach.  The site ended up being close to BBQ's and the steps down to the beach.   Parklands feature along the entire 15 kms of Hervey Bay's foreshore and the town planning have kept high rise apartments to a maximum of four storeys so it retains that seaside atmosphere. Our first night there, we saw the most brilliant sunset over Hervey Bay.  It is a definite stopover for caravaners from the north and south who love the sun, fishing and a visit to Fraser Island.

World Heritage ....

Our main purpose for going to Hervey Bay was to return to Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island and on the World Heritage List.  The boat to Fraser Island left from the Urangan Harbour.  This is where all the whale watch boats and the ferries depart.   Boardwalks line the shorefront with cafes and shops.  Quite different from 9 years ago, and now there are so many backpackers making the trip over to the island as well.  We re-visited the beautiful untouched freshwater lake of Lake McKenzie, where the sand is so white and smooth and the water is a crystal clear blue.  Central Station was another of our stops and was the home to more than 100 people in the 1920,s timber logging days and it's history is described along the Wanggoolba Creek where untouched ancient rain forest still remains.  This is where our son Andrew proposed to Carly. 

75 Mile Beach but only 60 Mile Long ?????

We drove along 75 mile Beach (which is 60 miles long) to the Maheno wreck which was a hospital ship during World War 1.  It was being towed to Japan for scrap metal but broke loose during a storm and is now a wreck on the beach.  Along the beach is Eli Creek which pumps four million litres of fresh water into the ocean every hour.  This is the largest freshwater creek along the east coast of the island.  There were a couple of sightings of whales but not enough to go out on a whale watching boat.  We were advised that on our return in August, the whales would be around with calves so that will be the time for whale watching.  Apart from some new development at Kingfisher Resort and Eurong Beach Resort, the island remains largely untouched from our last visit.  It is still a beautiful part of the world, but with maybe a few more people discovering it.  

Rum, Rum, Rum .....

We left Hervey Bay with the sun shining and made our way towards Childers and the Peanut Van. We had to try the peanuts here...so yummy, so fresh and so many varieties, then it was onto Bundaberg.  We found a coffee stop in the Bundaberg Gardens with only a couple of kookaburras around to eat our crumbs and entertain us then it was onto the Visitors Centre at the Bundaberg Distillery for an interactive tour of the factory.  It was a most informative tour and at the end of the tour we had a  tasting of the Bundaberg Rum products. What a nice interlude before lunch.

Lieutanant Cook, Not Captain Cook ....

Friends of ours had visited The Town of 1770 and Agnes Waters so we decided to take the 45 km detour and take a look at this area.  We are so glad we did.  The Town Of 1770 is a picturesque seaside village surrounded on three sides by the Coral Sea and Bustard Bay. Historic as the second landing site of Lieutenant James Cook and the crew of the Endeavour in May 1770, the area is rich in wildlife and natural beauty and offers scenic vistas in every direction. The Joseph Banks Environmental Park preserves much of the peninsula with fauna and flora indicative of the area. Rugged granite rocky outcrops, both an outer surf and inner still water beach.   We actually couldn't get a caravan site at the caravan park on Bustard Bay but ended up just down the road at Captain Cooks Resort, a rustic park with good toilet, showers and laundry facilities and only a short drive into Agnes Waters to the south and 1770 to the north.  The Deep Creek National Park had some good sandy tracks for Rob to do the "boys thing" and these tracks led us to three very secluded beaches.  Except for the odd surf fisherman, and scuba divers, we were the only people walking along the beaches.  We had seen the whales further south but they were not around.  They obviously were still on their way up the coast.

Rockhampton ....

After a couple of days here we headed towards Rockhampton.  Rockhampton is known for its historical buildings dating back to the early 1800's  and also their beef industry. We left the caravan in the Botanical Gardens carpark and drove back over the old Fitzroy bridge circa1881 and into the city to explore.  The information centre was situated in the old Customs House building and all along the Fitzroy River  were the most beautiful historical buildings including the Bush Inn in 1189...now renamed as the Criterion Hotel....there's one in every town.  It was a short stay here and rain had been forecasted for the afternoon so we had a quick lunch and moved on for an off road stop somewhere up the road. 

It's on the Queensland weather map ....

The rain continued to come down and we decided to stop off road at a place called St Lawrence, just 6 km off the Bruce Highway.    We arrived to be confronted with about 40 vans all set up at the cattle muster area in the pouring rain.  Some of these carvanners looked like they had been there for a few days with their awnings and matting all set up outside their caravans.  The community charges $1.00 for a 3 minute hot shower and there are toilets provided in a very clean amenities building.  The camping is free and every Sunday there is a sausage sizzle to raise funds.  We did find out that a number of caravaners travelling around Australia know all the free camping areas and use them regularly which compensates for the high cost of petrol.  

The rain continued to fall quite heavily all through the night and we awoke to mud and water puddles everywhere. Not an enjoyable place to be during a deludge.  It was a quick pack up and we headed onto Mackay to meet up with Bevan and Jill from Melbourne.  Bevan's mum and sister live in Mackay and they had flown up for a week's holiday.  It was good to see them and over coffee we heard all about their overseas trip.  They became our tour guides for Mackay, and took us all around showing us the tourist sites, including the school which Bevan attended and the house where he grew up.  It was still raining when we left them and we hitched up again and took off for a short drive into Cape Hillsborough National Park. 

In the middle of a rain forest and guess what ....

Cape Hillsborough Nature Resort where we were staying is within the National Park and in nice sunny weather would be even more beautiful than what we were experiencing.  The camping area is right on a beautiful bay and there are various walks available.  One walk is across to Wedge Island and can only be done on a low tide.  After setting up in the rain, we decided that we would not just sit in the van for the rest of the day but we would do a short 1 hr walk along the Mangrove Boardwalk.  So we took coats and an umbrella and set off for a breath of fresh air in the rain, then drove into Seaforth the closest town, about 15 kms down the road.  This is another fisherman's town...a caravan park right on the beach, a general store, Seaforth Bowls Club, a Pub some very nice housing blocks with views across the ocean, and a nicely manicured reserve right on the beachfront.  What else do you want??

Unfortunately, a huge low over most of Queensland was bringing this continual rain.  The weather map showed that it was moving southwards and thankfully would pass in the next  few days it and the sunshine which Queenslanders continually talk about, would return.  It is supposed to be unseasonal...but we are not convinced as yet.  It would have been great if it had moved so far south to Melbourne.

Sun, Sun, Sun....  We spent two nights at Cape Hillsborough Nature Reserve mainly sitting in the caravan relaxing which included watching DVD's,  reading, etc. Unfortunately we didn't get to see much of the beach but we will return.  We left with strong winds blowing but the rain had eased.  We made our way onto Airlie Beach 130 kms down the road.  When we arrived thankfully the sun was shining, the wind had dropped and we had a really nice dry site at Adventure Whitsunday Caravan Park with great clean amenities and a beautiful swimming pool.  We settled in nicely,  re grouped, washed and dried clothes, stocked up with food and enjoyed a few days.  We met our next door neighbours from Melbourne.  They are golfers at Sandhurst so we made arrangements to return here in a couple of weeks to play a round of golf and a dinner at the surf club.

Christmas in July ....

The caravan park had organized Xmas in July on our last night.  The owners set up decorated tables around the pool and everyone sang carols and tucked into a Christmas feast which included roast turkey, pork, and ham with roast vegetables and plum pudding and custard to follow.  It's so interesting to meet all the different people travelling.  One couple of our age had left Dunedin in New Zealand and were travelling for two years around Australia and picking up jobs along the way.  We also found out that our Danish family who we had met at Hastings Point were staying at the same park.  They were amazed that Australians celebrate Xmas in July. It was nice to see them again along with two other couples from Denmark that they had met along the way.

From Airlie Beach we made our way to Townsville and surprised Kerin and Kevin (originally from Melbourne) by calling in for coffee.  We had a couple of hours with them and plan to catch up with them at Mission Beach in one week's time.  We headed on towards  Cairns to catch up with Bob and Bev Miles from Ballarat and Liz's sister Jan and her husband Ian.  About 4.00pm we hit Cardwell and found the tourist park right on the beach.  We decided to spend a night here before hitting Cairns.

.     "Adventure Before Dementia"

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