WEDNESDAY 29 APRIL   TEWANTIN TO TORQUAY   191kms

On the move again today. We were up at 7.15 and away at 9.30, which we were pleased with, since it was a full pack up.

John was able to find a place to park the rig in Cooroy, not too far from the chemist’s shop. The man is a naturopathic chemist, specializing in nutritional issues. He sold John glucosamine tablets, derived from shark cartilage, which, he believes, will help ease the hip and maybe delay the need for a replacement. We can but hope! Arranged for him to send us more to Airlie Beach, when he has more in. He also sold John a special coated aspirin, designed for long term users, that is better for the stomach. We may have been very fortunate to come across this chemist. But we spent $127 there!

Drove via Gympie and Maryborough, then on to Hervey Bay. The countryside was mostly green hills and farm country, quite lush in appearance. Saw sugar cane and pineapples growing, as well as cattle. We are starting to see some of the humpy backed Brahmin type cattle now – don’t get them down south.

Beyond Maryborough, the country became flatter and less interesting. Even though we only passed through the fringe of Maryborough, we saw some superb old Queenslander style houses. Since Maryborough as a port city dates from the 1840’s, that is not surprising.

Hervey Bay is really a cluster of “suburbs” strung mostly along the shoreline, and merging together. We found the caravan park I’d selected – Happy Wanderer at Torquay – easily. It looks great. The staff are friendly. The man insisted that HE direct John’s backing onto our site – a great idea as far as I was concerned! It went well, too. He suggested that we use a piece of his wood to raise one side of the van, too. We are on a pleasant site with some shade trees. Again, the grass is thick and lush. It is a Top Tourist Park and with discount is $15 a night, and as we booked in for a week, we get the seventh night free. Still under budget.

We set up, had lunch, during which we were joined by some wild ducks, hoping for a handout. They are nice to have around – although I am not impressed with duck poo on our cement slab! There are also ibis strutting around, mynahs, and lots of noisy rainbow lorikeets. They are so colourful and gorgeous that one can forgive the noise they make.

Drove to the main Hervey Bay PO, which helped get us oriented to the place. Collected our mail. I had a quick look through the contents of the bag and was disappointed that there were no personal letters, just bills and the like.

Went for a walk on the nearest beach, until dusk. The beach here stretches a long way, but is not as nice as the Noosa area ones. The sand is coarse and yellow – more like builders’ sand. There are lots of piles of black rocks at the back of the beach sand, to prevent erosion, so there are sets of steps down at regular intervals.

Tea was sausages and salads.