HEADED BACK TO BUNDABERG

Our filthy car and caravan after road works to Gin Gin Rest Area

Wish this was your dentist???

Woodgte Beach looking back from the beach to the caravan park

Some of the kangaroos that visit us at night (not the BIG fella) 

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Part of the 16km pathway following the ocean

Looking at the caravn park from across the road

//Tropical Paradise!!!

A sign that tickled us - what more do you need to know about a place?

Saturday 29^th October    Sadly we have to leave Bowen.  We really wish we could have stayed here longer.  I wasn’t  sure about the place at first, but it definitely grows on you and the people we met made it very enjoyable.  Everyone here has been so friendly and within a short time you feel like you’ve been lifelong friends.  We will definitely come back here again.

We left Bowen at 8am and intended to drive for 4-5 hours and find a free camp spot overnight.  We always have a few comfort/cuppa stops along the way.  I spotted what looked to be a beautiful beach for our lunch stop. We’d missed it on the way up as it’s on the other side of a railway line that you can’t see going up the coast.  It’s called Clairview Beach.  A magnificent spot that we discovered you can free camp at overnight.  There is a caravan park towards the end of the beach.  There are no shops or facilities there, so the residents must have a fair hike for their groceries and supplies.  It was an absolute gem with the beach stretching for miles.  Lots of campervans had pulled  up under the shady trees for the day.  All along the railway fencing the residents had laid down old tyres and painted them white and filled them with brightly coloured plants and flowers.  It was very effective and certainly brightened the place up.  I really wanted to stay there overnight but we weren’t far enough down the coast and it would have meant a long and hard drive the following day.  The tables and toilet blocks had been painted with a sea theme by the local artists and it was another wonderful feature of the area.  Our table was painted with huge shells in browns and creams.

We decided to keep driving further along as far as we could and ended up at Calliope River where we’d free camped 3 weeks previously.  We decided to camp on the upper level this time.  It was about 5.30 when we got there and the place was packed.  All the prime spots overlooking the river had already been taken up.  It didn’t matter as we were heading off early the next morning.  There were lots of camping groups with children canoeing on the river and some water skiing or fishing off the bridge.  Everyone was having a great time.  There was singing around the camp fires that night and everyone was relaxed and having a good time.

Sunday 30^th October   We left at 9am and decided to have a look/see at a few areas we wanted to check out along the way.  We drove up to Tannum Sands about 45 minutes from where we were. It was difficult to find a spot to park the car and caravan. Also the beaches aren’t dog friendly.  The place looked very nice and quite developed with all the necessary tourist requirements, cafes, shops etc..  We drove around a few times and decided to press on to Agnes Waters that had been recommended to us.  We had been told the caravan park was right on the beach front and took dogs, so we were anxious to see what it was like and were very hopeful we’d go there after Bundaberg.  It was a long 2 hour drive from Tannum to Agnes Waters on rough isolated roads and we thought we’d never get there.  It was an absolutely beautiful spot.  The caravan park was indeed right on the beach front with a stunning outdoor Bali style café with cane seats under shady trees.  We couldn’t wait to come back for a longer stay.  There are lots of little cafes and shops around the area.  Alas when we reached the actual beach it was closed due to the blue algae that I’ve mentioned before. It absolutely stank too.   Apparently it’s very toxic and is actually spawning coming off the Reef.  It was obvious that it wasn’t going to clear any time soon.  I felt sorry for the families staying there as all the kids coming up to the beach approach were very disappointed to learn the beach was shut indefinitely.  So it was with reluctance we scratched it off our list of places to stay this time at least until the blue/green algae have disappeared.  We had lunch at the park and continued on our journey down south.

We drove along the worst stretch of road we’ve yet encountered in Queensland – very bumpy with no side edging and very narrow.  Queensland roads are pretty rough and we’ve found most of them consist of more filled in potholes than smooth surfaces.  Richard was fast losing his patience (he’s not blessed with much to start off with).  Our backs ached from the constant bumping backwards and forwards and Sally was having a hard time sleeping as she was constantly jerked to and fro. There was worse to come with road works in progress on two long stretches of dirt road leading to our next overnight stop.   We got stuck behind the water spraying truck both times and the car and caravan were caked with thick sepia coloured mud.  Absolutely wonderful!!  Thankfully we reached Gin Gin Rest Area at 4pm and relaxed with a well deserved cold beer for Richard and a glass of sauvignon blanc for me.   We’d covered around 6oo km over the past 2 days.  We don’t normally like driving that amount of distance, but it was necessary to get us back to Bundaberg by Monday morning.

Monday 31^st October   Halloween   We left Gin Gin at 8am to bring us into the Jayco dealer at Bundaberg by 9am.  We were hopeful we wouldn’t be delayed too long getting our kitchen tap repaired (the lever on the swivel part keeps falling out and is very, very annoying).  The people there were really efficient and helpful and replaced the top part of the kitchen tap very quickly.  One task ticked off the “to do list” with a minimum of fuss and inconvenience.  Our next destination was East Bundaberg Caravan Park, part of the Family Parks group that we belong to.   They’re only 10 minutes up the road from Jayco, which is why we booked to stay there.   Each site has its own en-suite at no extra charge which is unusual (normally it’s at least $10 more expensive per night for this luxury).   We’ve got our own en-suite in the caravan so it really didn’t matter.  It’s a very hot day with no air conditioning.  It takes us a while to catch up with the washing and recharge the batteries as they were almost flat after the two nights free camping.  We now know we can only free camp for a maximum of two nights without a generator.  We hadn’t even finished setting up when our new neighbours Colin and Margaret came over for a cuppa with us.  They’re lovely people and have been travelling and working all over Australia for the past 12 years. They reckon another 2 years and they’re coming off the road.  They have an American 5^th wheeler and a very old schnauzer dog called Toby.  We had a long chat to them and discovered another place we hadn’t thought about called Tin Can Bay just past Hervey Bay.  They tell us you can hand feed the dolphins from the jetty.  After doing some research about the area, we’re heading there next week.  Colin and Margaret are also staying there, so we will definitely catch up with them both again.  We finished setting up and went for a lovely walk along the Burnett River that flows through Bundaberg.  It’s a lovely big, old town and we both really like it.  Our caravan park is just up the road from the Bundaberg Distillery where you can do tours and sampling.

Tuesday 1st November   Melbourne Cup Day  We’re stuck at the caravan park waiting for the air conditioning mechanic to arrive to look at our air conditioning unit.  Our neighbours are off to the local club for a Melbourne Cup Lunch (as are most other people).  Thankfully it’s not quite as hot as yesterday where a fully working air conditioner would be most welcome.  We can’t even get good reception on the tv to watch what’s happening in Melbourne.  The mechanic finally appears at 2pm (which is 3pm elsewhere as Queensland haven’t gone on to daylight saving).  He fiddles about on top of the roof for a while and makes a few phone calls to his company and finally tells us what we already know – it’s not working properly and more than likely was a faulty unit when it was first installed. Ok we know all of this – so what’s next????  Wait on ……… we have to wait until the following day to hear back from his company whether or not they agree to replace the whole unit.  Margaret and Colin are back from a lovely lunch and we arrange to have happy hour with them at 5pm.  Margaret has made a big pasta bake and invited us to join them for dinner.  It was delicious.  At the end of the night we swap phone/email details and promise to keep in touch.

Wednesday 2^nd November   We leave East Bundaberg at 9am.  It takes us 50 minutes to arrive at our next destination Woodgate Beach Tourist Park. I mentioned in a previous blog that we’d checked this place out a few weeks ago on our way up the coast.  We couldn’t wait to get back here to stay.  It’s a tropical paradise with a 16km stretch of pristine beach lined with trees and a pathway all along. There are no high rises or resorts here.  There is only the one caravan park, 2 coffee shops a pub at one end and a bowling club at the other.   It’s totally unspoilt and the most beautifully quiet sanctuary to recharge your batteries.  The caravan park is very big set on 8 acres of land.  We’re at the front section.  It’s reasonably quiet as a lot of the Victorians are heading home by this time of year.  There is no algae/stench here thank goodness and we’re very relieved.  As soon as we’re set up we go for a long walk along the beach.  At the front of the park there’s a café/restaurant that’s open until 7pm each evening.  There are fairy lights around the café area which is just so pretty to see lit up at night.  They have homemade pies and burgers and seafood baskets and it’s BYO.  We wish we could stay here longer than one week.

Ah yes, we get a phone call from Air Command to confirm that they will replace the air conditioning unit.  We arrange to be back in Bundaberg next Wednesday where they expect it to take 3-4 hours to be replaced.  Will let you know the outcome next week.

Later that evening whilst we’re sitting outside the caravan with our beer and wine we spot a group of kangaroos hopping up and down the fence line across from us.  Two of them are massive and one in particular is very well endowed.  Richard commented on how painful it must be for him jumping around so loaded up.  We have a lovely t-bone steak/veggie bbq and it’s delicious.

Friday 4^th November   We went for a drive to Theodolyte Creek a popular boating/fishing bay at the end of the road at Woodgate.  The water was so warm and the sand too hot to walk on.  We’ve since learnt there are quite a few small bottle nosed sharks there and a few have also been caught off the beach recently – yikes.

We also took a 40 minute drive to the nearest town of Childers.  It’s a popular backpacking area.  It’s a small town featuring at least 4 big old pubs and 2 clubs – can’t have the residents not being able to get a cold beer.  It’s a real over-kill for such a small place.  We had lunch at the café next to the post office, offering old-fashioned grandmas cooking.  It was like an old Raffles style hotel, with lots of big ceiling fans and cane chairs under the open verandah.  It was a very pleasant place.   Childers featured on the news in 2000 because of a tragic fire at the backpacker’s hostel where many backpackers were killed.  It was sad remembering that whilst walking through the town.

We went to the bowling club for dinner.  It took us less than 10 minutes to walk there from the caravan park.  We were looking forward to a stroll along the beach on the way back.  Unfortunately that wasn’t to be as the heavens opened up to torrential rain for the rest of the night. We had to get the courtesy bus home and the poor girl driving the bus could hardly see where she was going.  It was quite funny as we got door to caravan door service and still ended up completely soaked.  We found out this morning that over 40mm of rain fell down last night and I can believe it.  Fortunately it’s sandy soil here so we’re not wading through a swamp.

Next week:  We’ll be staying at Woodgate Beach until Wednesday and heading back to Bundaberg.  We intend to do The Distillery Tour and also The Bundy Belle lunchtime river cruise.  Hopefully on Friday we’ll take off for Tin Can Bay where I’m very much looking forward to hand feeding the dolphins. 

That’s all our news for this week. Take care and “log on the blog” again soon.  Love Marian, Richard and Sally