Kingaroy to coast

This is our third trip and this was only about our third day of rain; but only occasional and drizzle really. Compared to our time in Qld last year when it was 39Celsius in June, this cool was just what we wanted. Temperatures are rising of course, and in Kingaroy we enjoyed 24C. Now, just south of Townsville it is up to 29 by midday. Nights have remained cool and only now are we sleeping with the doona half thrown aside. Moving north makes the sun set later each day, which is a bonus when cooking outside in mozzie country. That night after Kingaroy we found a spot beside a once sacred pool at Ban Ban Springs and it was too wet to think of cooking. Serious rain this time, that spattered the van all night. At 5:30pm we opened a bottle of Spanish red (Helen is adventurous and does all the wine purchasing) cranked up the computer and hunkered down to watch a Ken Russell DVD while consuming crisps and chocolate for afters. We woke to a dense fog and everything so dripping I was taken back to an England of my youth.

I have to lob this in and tell you, we are in the hills west of Townsville and just north of Charters Towers,beside a creek flowing to the Burdekin, The sun has gone down, Italian Baroque is spooling through the air. We are warm, with the faintest of zephyrs playing around our necks. The shellite lamp is purring as it will, and we have just eaten a bowl each of Tiger prawns in a Moroccan sauce over spaghetti, with a good salad. We feel close. What more could you ask for? OK, the market’s gone to the dogs again – but we knew it would. Kick back everyone, away with anxiety and reach for the malt!

We decided we would aim for the coast and made Maryborough then Hervey Bay the goal for the night. Maryborough is one of those towns hanging on to important government engineering contracts whilst cranking up its tourism side. And of that it has a good hand. On the bend of its large river and some kilometres inland, it was the first town that free settlers came to in Queensland, and soon became a major port for outgoing wool, later beef. There are several fine buildings that have found tourist usage, including a bond store, customs house and of course a courthouse that is doing brisk trade still. Some of the best coffee we’ve had was there too. The woman who famously wrote Mary Poppins in 1936 (a Mrs Travers) was brought up there. Surprising what you find but these local town historical societies really do provide the ammunition for tourism. So many jobs now depend on it.

Twenty or so kilometres north Hervey Bay is retirement heaven, with every major retail outlet known to mankind. The spending power of thousands of well-heeled retirees must be strong. Best of all there is a choice of three council owned caravan parks each on the foreshore at the centre of the town. We had multi- million dollar location for $25. One or two folk have turned up their noses at the thought of these parks, but as experiences go we haven’t had a bad one yet. Hervey Bay is also known for being where Matthew Flinders espied Fraser Island in 1795. We were woken well before sunrise by the young and athletic launching their NZ style 8 person paddling outriggers. When I photographed them on their return they all turned out to have grey hair. Hervey Bay keeps you young! With the sunrise all the Lorikeets, roosting in the Callitris pines around us, came to life with a raucous din and set about their business. As did we, heading inland again now and on some dirt roads at last, aiming for Cania Gorge NP, with rock art and sandstone cliffs in mind.