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We chose Maryborough because of it's proximity to Hervey Bay and the availability at a farm stay property. We were interested in Hervey Bay because we are able to access Fraser Island from here and thought it might be interesting to do a return visit to Fraser Island, it must be 20 years since we last visited. Maryborough was only 21/2 hours from Landsborough and we arrived just after lunch, I had called here a couple of days ago to make sure we could get a site and left our name. When we arrived we were greeted by the caretaker and directed to a site that was just beside his, it is a good site with plenty of room and we were able to drive right into it. We set up which only takes us 20 minutes to do, I had lunch prepared so we sat outside to eat and after lunch we drove into the Information Centre in Maryborough. We picked up heaps of brochures which I will study later but the priorities at the moment is to find a fishing charter for Robb and to book the Fraser Island tour. There is a bar at this campsite that opens at 5.00pm so we thought we would go over and meet the other people staying here. Robb ordered drinks and then we went over and asked if we could join in with one of the tables. We asked them for their opinions on visiting Fraser Island in our 4WD but we felt from the discussion we were better off booking a tour. A discussion on fishing in the area ensured from here so Robb was in his element. We stayed for two drinks and then walked back to the van. We are having ravioli for dinner, I have prepared the sauce so I just need to heat everything up. There is a market in Maryborough tomorrow so we will visit here and then book our Fraser Island tour.
What a fantastic morning we have had today in Maryborough. We started with a rough plan to visit the market in town which we thought was on the port but as it happened it was just behind the Town Hall. We found a very good parking spot and walked over to the market and we were both pleasantly surprised at the size and number of stalls and after a couple of minutes we were appreciating the variety of the stalls. There were lots of plant stalls which I would have loved to grab some pots from but of course not much use to us while on the move, we had a look through most of the different offerings but we were particularly interested in the fresh produce which was moving very quickly, the stall owners were on the last of their goods and were bagging them up to sell so they could finish up. We picked up a pineapple, which we ate this afternoon and are now kicking ourselves that we didn't get a few it was so good, and a bag of about 10 tomatoes for $2. We were looking for a large bowl to replace the one we broke last night but didn't find anything. We followed the market right around and ended up at the information centre so we went in and booked our trip to Fraser Island for tomorrow. This is something I really wanted to do, we have visited here previously 20+ years ago but I would like to go back and have another look around.
We left the Information Centre and drove around town and down to the marina, we parked and had a bit of a look around here before driving back to the Story Bank where I wanted to visit. We parked out car down at Portside and noticed the Mary Ann an old steam train go past and I had wanted to take a ride on the train but hadn't been sure where to access it so we followed the train line and came to the ticket area where we purchased our tickets. We waited for the train to return and we were lucky enough to get on the next ride as there was a group of school children and lots of other people also waiting to get on, it was a longer ride than expected and took us around the marina and the nearby park, it was a lot of fun and I took lots of photos for Daniel as he loves a good steam train. From here we walked up to the street and then onto the next block where the Story Bank was.
The Story Bank is the old bank building where P. L. Travers the author of Mary Poppins was born so of course this was too good an attraction to miss. When we arrived there was a group of school children visiting and we had to wait for them to leave to fulfill Covid restrictions. That was ok and as soon as they left the lady on duty came out and told us we could go through. I am not sure how to describe this attraction except maybe as a fairy tale. Children entering were given a task of finding all the mice hidden around the building, I suppose adults could have taken part too but we just wanted a look around. There were lots of interactive displays, we were in one room and the phone rang so I picked it up and it was a banking conversation going on. There was a colouring wall for children where they could spend time colouring in the blank spaces, there was a desk where you could write a letter and our favourite was the shadow room where we had a bit of fun. It was all very well done and we enjoyed reading the information on P.L. Travers and the writing of Mary Poppins and then before leaving we watched a video of a reenactment of Travers discussing how disappointed she was with the Walt Disney Movie. We left here and drove around a bit more of the town before returning to our van.
After visiting the market we walked to the Information Centre and booked a trip to Fraser Island for tomorrow. We booked the day trip so we had to meet up with the bus at 8.00am in River Heads where we were driven down to the Ferry to cross to the island. From here we were picked up by a 4WD bus to take us on our tour. We had a lovely driver Dave who made every effort to look after us. Dave filled us in on the story of Fraser Island and shared lots of information on the island a we travelled around. We were lucky enough to see a wild dingo just as we left the ferry, apparently this was the first Dave had spotted for awhile. We drove onto McKenzie Lake for a swim. The is the most picturesque lake on the island and it certainly is beautiful. We had a quick swim and then we were back on the bus to move onto our next destination Central Station where we did a 900m rainforest walk. It was an interesting walk and Dave had a lot information about the environmental needs of this area. Back on the bus and then we were driven to Eurong Beach Resort for lunch. We had ordered ahead so we sat with another couple and waited for the food to come out. Robb and I had ordered a steak sandwich each and the steak was quite nice, we had a beer each with lunch. From Eurong we drove onto 75 mile beach, so named because from the southern to the northern end of the beach it is 75 miles and our first stop was to be the Maheno shipwreck, unfortunately when we arrived at Eli creek we were asked to stop because a plane was landing and this caused us to get bogged. We had a very officious ranger berate Dave in front of us, he should have been more professional. We found the whole experience of watching them get the bus out of the bog very interesting, it didn't take long at all and we were back on the bus.
From here we drove to the coloured sands which is a collection of rock formations that have taken on different colours which are determined by the mineral content of the sand. Originally we were to return to Eli Creek from here but because we had spent a bit of time here and it was getting late we drove right through and only just manager to catch the ferry back home. By this time it was getting quite late and I still needed to prepare dinner which luckily enough didn't take too long. We were both exhausted so it was quite an early night for the two of us.
The next day was a rest day so we didn't plan too much, Robb needed to go to a caravan shop to get a part for our tap that had been playing up, we found one part of what we needed but still need to find another connection, we will try Bunnings on Monday. The remainder of the day was spent back at camp, Robb fixed the tap as best he could before lunch. At 5.00pm we walked over to the bar to have a drink with the other guests and workers at the park and we had one game of pool that Robb won only by one ball. Back to the van for dinner and then a very early night for me. We were both exhausted but neither of us had a good nights sleep because of the sand fly bites we had come home from Fraser Island with. I had Phenergen in the van we were taking and we had picked up some cream at the chemist through the day for the itch and it was helping a little bit but we still both woke through the night to scratch. Apparently the itch can last for three days so we are not expecting to get much sleep in that time.
Sunday we drove to Bundaberg, it was a longer drive than we normally do but we didn't want to worry about going through there when we moved on and I was interested in going to the distillery. We had a good drive on the highway and we were there in good time. We firstly drove to the Barrell which produces Bundaberg ginger beer, we had a look around and purchased a mixed 12 pack on the way out. The ginger beer is mixed with various fruits and it looks quite interesting, if nothing else it will be refreshing. We then drove down the street to the Bundaberg Rum distillery where we walked into the souvenir shop and had a look around. Neither of us like rum but we couldn't come to Bundaberg and not visit here. Our last stop was Ohana Cidery and Winery where we purchased a tasting paddle of six ciders. Robb liked two of the ciders and I liked four of them so we bought a mixed pack of four ciders made up of two each of our favourites. We arrived back home early afternoon and had lunch, we won't go over for drinks tonight because we both have things we want to do.
The start of the working week meant we had a few stores to visit for repairs we needed to take care of. Our first stop was Bunnings in search of a part to repair our tap on the van, we found a piece that we thought we could adapt to the fitting and then headed over to Aldi for a bit of grocery shopping. When we drove into the carpark at Aldi we noticed a plumbing repairs shop next door so we went in there and managed to find the exact piece we needed for the tap, we will return the Bunnings fitting when we get a chance. Shopping completed and then we went in search of a camera repair shop, the only one in town seemed to be Harvey Norman. They couldn't help me with my problem but I did walk out of there with a new camera that I have wanted for a while now. It was still quite early so we thought we would drive to Hervey Bay and have a bit of a look around. We found our way to the foreshore and drove along here from one end to the other, it reminded me a lot of the esplanade in Cairns. I took a few photos and then we parked at the Beach House Hotel where we thought we might stop for lunch. We asked for an outside table which gave us views over to the water, there was a gentle breeze blowing through and it was quite pleasant sitting there. Robb organised our drinks and then we perused the menu, we decided on a seafood platter for two. The platter was bigger than we expected and there was more battered fish than we thought reading the menu but we did enjoy it but could not finish it all. We drove home from here so that Robb could do the tap repairs and I had some chores to do.
Today we visited the Gallipoli to Armistice Memorial in Queens Park. This memorial has been an ongoing work for the past two years and there are still plans for further work. The memorial in on the perimeter of Queens Park which has to be one of the prettiest parks we have come across so far, to have this attraction as part of the park will make this a popular tourist destination for years to come. There are story boards to read and interactive speakers along the walk telling tales of different events. A local lad Duncan Chapman was the first man to land at Gallipoli and there is a statue of him at the start of the display and a memorial plaque in his memory. It is a very easy pleasant walk that only takes up to one hour depending on how often you stop and read and listen to the stories, a walk through the park is also recommended.
We drove from here to pick up a couple of items we needed and then we stopped at Point Lookout where pioneers kept watch for supply ships calling into Maryborough, another stop with great views along the river. This is our last day in this most beautiful town and tomorrow we will be moving on to our next stop. I always feel a bit sad at moving on but on the other hand I look forward to seeing what our next adventure will be. The tree at the bottom of these photos is a sausage tree as we found out talking to the park worker at Queens Park, they are from Africa and the larger animals, elephants, hippopotamus and rhinos eat the seed pots and of course spread the seeds around the area. It is a magnificent tree that only flowers at night but apparently it drops everything, leaves, seed pods and flowers and makes one heck of a mess. Maybe not the perfect tree for a well maintained park but you can't help but admire it.
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