Heading south, November 2021

We enjoyed our couple of nights in Rockhampton, seeing sights including the beautiful Botanic Gardens and the lovely historical streetscape of the city centre. But two days away from the coast was enough to remind us of the value of a sea breeze, so on Saturday morning we packed up again and continued south. We left the Bruce Highway at Mount Larcom after enjoying a locally made sausage roll, heading east towards Gladstone. This was a place we had visited a couple of times in Manookatoo, but seeing it from afar and realising the extent of industrialisation in this area was quite awesome! There are coal terminals, gas hubs, ore facilities and soon there will be a hydrogen plant as well - amazing. 

Continuing south we soon reached Tannum Sands, our destination for a couple of nights. The sea breeze was very welcome, as was the lovely cool pool once we had completed our set up! Later that afternoon we wandered along to the Surf Club for a drink overlooking the beach. The tide was in an the beach was almost non existent, so a swim in the caravan park pool was a much nicer option! That night, we enjoyed our ”usual” Saturday three course dinner - with the convection microwave no longer in action, Martin has perfected the art of oven cooking in the barbecue, so we enjoyed scallops, roast lamb and a sticky date pudding - delicious!

Sunday was a great day for a walk along the beachside path and back along the sand, and, as it was low tide, we enjoyed a swim in front of the surf club on our way home. Later, we walked back to the surf club for lunch on the deck. By then the breeze had increased and we admired the skills and daredevil of the kite surfers in the ocean in front of us. The breeze continued to increase so we put down the caravan awning before dinner and enjoyed our pizzas inside, the first time in many weeks we had not enjoyed our dinner out in the open.

Monday was pack up day again, with an early start for a longer drive. We followed the Bruce Highway for the shortest possible time, detouring at Miriamvale and dodging around Bundaberg, along country roads past farms growing everything from sugar cane to avocados. It was a lovely alternative to sitting on the Highway! We stopped at Rosedale for morning tea, arriving at Burrum Heads just after 11. The wind had really picked up by then and, even though we were on the coast, a swim was not appealing! We spent a lazy afternoon with a walk along the foreshore our only exercise and enjoyed dinner inside again - we are noticing a big drop in temperature as we move south!

With just a short “hop” on Tuesday morning we started the day with a 3km walk before breakfast then we packed up and headed off to Hervey Bay. We drove along the esplanade on our way to Torquay, arriving just after 10 and being set up and ready for action soon after! As it was Melbourne Cup Day we had lunch and watched the race in the local hotel, enjoying seafood platter and sparkling wine as we watched the horses run. We didn’t select any winners, though! We enjoyed three nights at Torquay, catching up with Lyn and Curt on their catamaran "Toucan 2", stocking up on grog and groceries, walking along the seashore or relaxing. We went to the visitor information centre to get some “local knowledge” about driving on Fraser Island too, in preparation for our forthcoming adventure!

On Friday morning we were on the move again, stopping at Maryborough so that the navigator could get the Mary Poppins “fix” she missed out on when we visited during Covid lockdown last year. A very pleasant hour was spent at the Story Bank Museum, housed in the building where P L Trwvers was born and dedicated to all things Mary Poppins. It was wonderful! Meanwhile the driver/captain enjoyed a walk around town :-) 

 

  

Continuing on we drove southeast, skirting around Tin Can Bay and arriving at Rainbow Beach just before lunchtime. The caravan park is very busy and very tight, many people opting for the “Marriage saver” tractor to get onto their site! We managed without it and were soon sitting back enjoying views out across the ocean, particularly admiring the view down to Double Island lagoon, where we had anchored just six months ago! That afternoon we enjoyed a drink at the Surf Lifesaving Club, looking out at the Wide Bay Bar to the north and Double Island Point to the south and reminiscing about previous cruising adventures.

We only had a one night stop in Rainbow Beach and packed up the van the next morning to put it into storage for three nights. We were off to Fraser Island / K’Gari for a three night adventure! As we wanted to time our trip to suit the tides, we didn’t hurry to catch the barge, taking our time to get the tyre pressure lowered correctly and ensure the car was in the right mode before boarding the Manta Ray at Inskip Point and making our way across to the island. Driving on sand was a new experience for both of us and it took a while to get used to driving beside the waves in the newly exposed sand! Many others were doing it too, dodging around Hook Point, Poyungan and Yidney rocks as we drove up to Happy Valley, our home away from home! 

    

We settled into our “rustic” cabin, enjoying lunch on the verandah before venturing out again, up the beach to Eli Creek and on to see the Maheno wreck, gradually rusting away after drifting there in a cyclone in 1935. We returned to Eli Creek for a freshwater swim before heading back to Happy Valley. On Sunday, with the tide not working in our favour, we avoided the beach for most of the day, opting for a tour along the Happy Valley road, visiting Lake Garawongera and driving through Happy Valley. The Sandy, bumpy track is quite different to the smooth beach, but the rainforest was beautiful; lush, green forest, huge trees, we drove up and down right over to the other side of the island. The high tide had flooded the Northern Track and, with a couple of dingoes wandering along we were reluctant to get out to test the water depth, opting instead to take a different track back through the forest, finishing up at Eurong, where we enjoyed a picnic lunch and watched a bogged car being rescued on the entry road. Snatch straps do an amazing job! As the tide was receding we could return to our cabin along the sand, enjoying a late afternoon drink in the resort bar before a quiet night in. 

On Monday we had a lazy morning and a sausage sizzle lunch before it was time for more adventure, this time we took the detours around the Yidney and Poyungan rocks, making our way down to Eurong and taking the bush track across to Lake Mackenzie. We arrived just as the rain did, so we opted for a paddle rather than a swim in the pristine waters, continuing along the track past Central Station and back to Eurong. We drove south to Dilli Village, discovering it was nothing but a campground and returning along the beach to our cabin. After freshening up we enjoyed dinner in the restaurant and a very early night. 

It was time for us to leave on Tuesday, so we got up just after 5am to ensure we had enough time to make it past all the beach obstacles before the tide came in! We just missed the first barge back, but enjoyed a cup of coffee as we watched several boats leaving to cross the Wide Bay Bar. We were back on the “mainland” soon after 7, making our way to Rainbow Beach where we re-inflated the tyres and enjoyed breakfast overlooking the ocean. We washed the car, including the underneath, to ensure there was no sand or salt left to corrode anything. As we were too early to check into the caravan park we took a walk through the Cooloola Forest and out to the Carlo sand blow, ambled around the shopping centre and enjoyed a cappuccino before we checked in, set up and relaxed. Not long after we arrived the rain bucketed down and we were very glad to be cosily relaxed inside!!

We had only booked one night at Rainbow Beach, but we could definitely visit again! We continued south on Wednesday morning, with a trip down the Bruce Highway the easiest option, even though the road was quite busy. We turned east at Eumundi and headed back to the coast, stopping for coffee at Marcoola and arriving at Mooloolaba just at 11am. The friendly staff checked us in and directed us to our site, backing onto the walkway and beach. Mooloolaba is one of our favourite stops in Manookatoo - we love the beach, the surf club and the seafood - so it was nice to explore it from a different direction! We walked up to the fishing co-op before lunch, purchasing prawns for our rolls and snapper for our dinner.  We also enjoyed a couple of swims at the beach, although it was quite wavy and there was a bit of an undertow! Later that afternoon we strolled up to the surf club for sundowners. On Thursday we enjoyed a quiet day, walking along the pathway to the river entrance, driving to the shopping centre and stocking up on a few groceries, swimming in the ocean and enjoying lunch at the surf club overlooking the water. 

On Friday morning we took our time packing up, as after today the caravan was going back into storage, so we wanted to make sure we took all we needed with us! We left the park just after 10am, taking our time travelling the short distance to Caloundra, for lunch with Ken and Pam, our neighbours from Wheelers Hill. We spent a pleasant couple of hours catching up before continuing south, via the Gateway Bridge and the M1, arriving back at Runaway Bay just after 4pm. We de-stocked the caravan and re-stocked the boat, before locking up for the night and enjoying a pleasant evening drink on the flybridge.

Our adventures have taken us far and wide across the outback and beyond. It has been a wonderful time and we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! For now, the caravan will be stored and, in a couple of weeks, we will return to Victoria, but we'll be back for more adventures - by land and by sea - in the new year.....