Thursday 25th August Hervey Bay

After a lazy start to the morning, we ventured out to the nearby Marina area to explore and walk. We finished our walk with a stop at a café which overlooked the marina. We spent time enjoying our coffee and people watching. Groups of people were boarding boats, heading out to do some whale watching or snorkelling or trips to Fraser Island. We were looking out directly onto a large catamaran and watched a crewman climbing up the mast and working on the ropes. In the afternoon, Rob was going to play golf. He had to wait until then due to a morning competition. I decide that I would go walking along the very extensive esplanade while Rob was on the golf course. I returned late in the afternoon and Rob didn’t finish until it was almost dark. He had met a lovely couple from Victoria and had played his round with them. They then invited us to go into the clubrooms and have a drink. This may have turned into a few and soon we had decided to stay and have dinner with them. We thoroughly enjoyed their company and had so much in common with them. We are heading directly back to Adelaide and it should take about four days. I probably will finish the blog here and will only add to it if something exciting happens!

Wednesday 24th August Hervey Bay

  The wind did come up a little in the night just enough to wake us. We both got up and Rob took the annex down and I closed the hutches. It wasn’t too bad in the morning so we headed down to the nearby esplanade to go for a walk along the Urangan Pier which is nearly 1km long and is over 100 years old. The pier was originally built to help export coal, sugar and timber. It was a windy walk but well worth it for the views. A bonus was that the markets were on and we went for a look and of course there were some purchases of artwork made. We found a lovely café on the esplanade and stopped for coffee before returning to the vehicle and going for a lovely scenic drive along the esplanade and some more walks. After lunch we visited River Heads, the spot where the Fraser Island barge and ferries leave from, to go over the short strait, to Fraser Island. Rob returned to the caravan park and dropped me off at the Hervey Bay, Botanic Gardens which are about 500mts from the caravan park. The gardens were just beautiful. Very lush and green. Certainly not formal but with lawns, great BBQ facilities, decks, fountains etc., it was very impressive. The formal Chinese Garden was just stunning and certainly a credit to the council.

Tuesday 23rd August Hervey Bay

  We had an easy drive today from Lake Awoonga to Hervey Bay, despite numerous road-works along the way. We called in for coffee at a lovely little café in Gin Gin and decided we would love to visit this area and stay longer next time. After setting up in the caravan park at Hervey Bay, we visited the tourist information centre. We were just amazed at how expansive this town is. It has grown so much since the last time we visited. The helpful woman at the Information centre told us that it was going to be very windy tomorrow so Rob decided that he wouldn’t be playing golf. Hopefully it will be better by Thursday.

SORRY, NO PHOTOS TODAY!!

Monday 22nd August Lake Awoonga

 On this trip we have deliberately avoided staying in large cities or towns we have visited in the past and as a result we have discovered some wonderful new places. We have now discovered a new spot by accident. We had hoped to travel to Hervey Bay but when looking for accommodation were unable to find any available for tonight, hence we looked elsewhere. We found a caravan park on the edge of Lake Awoonga that was only a two hour drive from Yeppoon. It is also inland from Gladstone. This lake has been formed by a dam wall, again built in the 1980’s like the Burdekin Falls Dam. The manager of the caravan park said that the lake is only at 60% capacity as unlike further north, this area is in drought. We arrived well before lunch and soon settled in. We went for a walk down to the lake followed by a drive, to discover the magnificent facilities provide by Queensland Water. Dotted all around the lake close to the caravan park are lovely parks with playgrounds, BBQs, toilets and magnificent gazebos with tables and seats in them and fantastic views across the lake. Lovely grassed areas are nearby.  There is hardly anybody here at the moment but as the temperature increases and during holidays this area becomes busy with families enjoying the facilities. Fishing (apparently there are big barramundi and sooty grunters in the lake), water-sports, swimming etc. are all popular. After lunch I went for another long kayak, enjoying the bird-life and the wild-life on the shore. We thought next time we come this way we would stay for a few days and Rob could play golf as there are at least 2 golf-courses nearby.

Sunday 21st August Yeppoon

  We had decided to visit Byfield State Forest today as this spot had been recommended to us by a volunteer in the tourist information centre. She was able to tell us about a beautiful place to kayak and also recommended a special place to eat.  As we were heading out of town, the roads of Yeppoon were quite busy due to a triathlon which was being held along the foreshore and surrounding areas. It took about 30 minutes to arrive at our first stop, Upper Stoney Crek. A gravel road took us to a beautiful, camping and picnic area set up on the banks of Stony Creek. There were families arriving and kids putting in SUP’s and also swimming but this wasn’t a suitable kayaking area due to the rocky nature of the creek. People had started barbequing and it was obvious a popular weekend spot. We went for a walk along the creek valley, through pockets of “Byfield” grevillea, many of which had just started to flower. From here we drove to the small town of Byfield and stopped at the general store/tavern/café/service station. This place had a reputation for fantastic food and we were not disappointed at all. Following lunch we drove to Water Park Creek. Here, Rob helped me put the kayak into the creek and I was able to kayak upstream in the creek. It would have to have been the most tranquil, picturesque spot I have kayaked in during this trip. With beautiful, tall rainforest forest complete with palms, ferns and tall trees, either side of the creek and no sounds of powerboats or anything else really, except the sounds of nature, this was pretty special. I fell into my normal trance and kept kayaking upstream until I noticed I’d been kayaking for an hour so I thought I’d better turn around and head back. As it was, when I was nearly back I had a call from Rob checking on me. After this wonderful experience we headed back to Yeppoon to explore the main part of town and the foreshore. We could not believe some of the free facilities that have been built recently for the community to enjoy. There was a magnificent children’s water park, complete with the Keppel Kraken, the Yeppoon Lagoon complete with an infinity pool that overlooks the sea, a skate park and an amazing playground. Being a lovely sunny Sunday, the area was full of families enjoying the fabulous facilities. Along the foreshore there was an array of different eating places as well as some new impressive accommodation.