Kilcoy to Home

 Sun 9 July – Left the showgrounds at Kingaroy and bought a few things for before driving 111km off the plateau down a steep decent to Kilcoy where we found Judy and Frank, and Annette and Alan set up on a sports field in a beaut spot. We have camped with these guys before and it was good to catch up again. Later in the day it clouded over and Frank had an old gas cylinder converted into a fire pit which we lit. What a great fire which we cooked dinner on. Toasty warm until 8:00pm when we retired to our motorhomes.

Mon 10 July – A cool morning but outside in the sun and soon back in shorts. We were entertained by tree felling at the other side of the camping area where they were pushing huge gums over exposing the roots. Val and I walked up to the town, then spending the rest of the day chatting in the warm sun. Another camp fire in the evening.

Tues 11 July – Another stunning day so we sat around eating lunch, before farewelling our fellow campers and driving a short distance to the Sunshine Coast Hinterlands and Maleny. We have camped in these showgrounds before, very full this time. We walked up into the cute touristy town and had an ice-cream. Back on power as we are much higher than Kilcoy.

Wed 12 July – We continued along the Sunshine Coast Hinterland roads with the great views down to the coast, before descending to Cooroy, another inland tourist town. We stopped at an RV park with about 30 others. We walked up into the town with great antique and junk shops. Heavy rain in the evening.

Thurs 13 July – Rain as we left Cooroy and back on the dual laned Pacific Hwy north to Gympie where it turned into a single lane road. They are planning to have the whole of the M1 dual laned for its entire length. We continued on to Maryborough and stopped at a free camp in the centre of the town. P L Travis, the author of Mary Poppins, was born here and the town celebrates this everywhere. There are also some great old buildings. We walked the main street returning via the river and gardens. Nice to revisit Maryborough.

Fri 14 July – 60kms north on the Pacific Hwy before turning down to the coast at Woodgate. This is a great beach which we have stayed in before. We are booked into a camp for two nights before heading back down the coast to Hervey Bay, our last destination for this trip. A nice sunny day and now very warm as we walked along the beach, first time on the coast since leaving Yuraygir National Park over two weeks ago.

Sat 15 July – A nice sunny day with temps now around 23C. We took our chairs down to the beach for a read and a sit in the sun. In the afternoon we biked the cycle path along the beach for about 10kms. We sat in the shade back at our camp before a walk around this large camp.

Sun 16 July – Very hot in the night. We left Woodgate and drove south to Hervey Bay (pronounce Harvey Bay??) stopping at our storage place (very satisfactory) and did our last shop. Rain set in as we arrived at our camp. Soon cleared, so we walked down to the beach. The camps are all full now with grey nomads from down south. We have booked into here for 4 nights.

Mon 17 July – A sunny day so we biked the coastal path along Hervey Bay for about 11kms passing restaurants, bars, and apartments. We have a nice site with a palm tree shading us. Later in the day we took our chairs down to the beach and had to find some shade.

Tues 18 July – Another sunny day around 23C. A nice ride along the coastal path in the other direction to the Urangan Pier which stretches out into the bay for 1km. It was important in the past for commerce but is now only used by fishermen and tourists. We walked its length watching a few fish being caught. In the afternoon we walked down to the shops for an ice-cream.

Wed 19 July – Pack up day! Val did a huge laundry and I cleaned. Another walk to the shops for a couple of things. After lunch we took our chairs down to the beach and sat in the shade under some trees. This is a nice small camp, we have enquired about their weekly rate and may well end up here again. A bonus is that it has a very nice pool, too cold to try now but could be good, a bit earlier in the year.

Thurs 20 July – An early start (for us) as we have a complicated trip today. We left the camp at 8:10am and drove to the Hervey Bay Caravan Storage 20kms up the road towards Maryborough. The owners were very helpful and “Andy” was soon parked between a couple of containers. Very secure hopefully. We had tried to order an Uber to the Maryborough train station but could not pre-book one so ended up booking a taxi, a much dearer option. We arrived at the station with plenty of time to spare. There is a bus from Hervey Bay but the website was hopeless. Val spoke to the bus driver when it arrived and now knows exactly what we can do next time. A very pleasant 4 hour train ride thru the countryside with different views from the road. Lunch on the train and then an easy transfer to the airport train. We are now thru customs etc and will publish this last blog.