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Published: November 10th 2013
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Sunday 3rd
A drive this morning of about 70 miles and our first stop is at Agnes Water to stock up for the next few days. This small fridge means shopping every two or 3 days. The supermarket's really small like a Spa and there's not much choice. Another BBQ coming up.
We drive just a few more miles up the coast to the imaginatively named Town of 1770 ! It's where Captain Cook first landed in Queensland in you guest it ----- 1770 ! There's nothing in the "Town" just a couple of caravan sites and a marina. Apparently there's a monument somewhere but we'll leave that for another day.
We book into a nice wooded site with a great pool. Time to rest up after the last few days of driving and we spend most of the afternoon sunbathing, swimming and sleeping !
Late afternoon we walk out the back of the site onto the beach. It's the start of the surfing beaches and the waves are quite strong but small today.
Monday 4th
Unbelievably it's the start of our 12th week away and the time has flashed past. Today we get up
early and drive a few minutes along the road to the marina for our boat out to Lady Musgrove Island. A coral cay at the very southern end of the Barrier Reef. The island is made out of coral and has a lagoon protected by a coral reef around it.
It takes an hour and a hour to reach and I spend the time sleeping to avoid sea sickness.
First we are taken ashore and a given a guided walk over the island to explain its origins and the bird life. We then have a glass bottom boat ride out over the coral and the colours are amazing in places.
After lunch we spend the time snorkeling. I'm actually getting the hang of it now, whilst Christine floats around naturally for ages looking at the fish and coral. There's lots to look at and the colours of fish and coral are really good. Much better than we saw at The Whitesundays.
Finally the boat takes us back and it's been a really good trip. The best we've had ----- so far !
Tuesday 5th
We wake at about 6.45, numb from the bed. We're
getting used to waking early and the bed !
First we take a short drive up to the Captain Cook memorial but it's just a stone cairn with a plaque on it that marks the spot where he landed.
We then drive 130 miles to Hervey Bay opposite Fraser Island. The drive isn't particularly interesting and the wind plays havock with the camper. It's the first day since we left home that the sun hasn't shone ! A good day for driving as there's not much else that could be done.
We check into another nice site opposite the beach and then take a walk along the sand. The tides out a long way and has left a huge jelly fish stranded.
We return to our site and find most people huddled in their vans. The site offers free videos to watch in their recreation room but it's lights out at 9.30. Don't think we'll be catching the late movie !
Wednesday 6th
A lazy day today after yesterday's driving. First we drive out to the marina and have a look around and then a walk along the waterfront. We then take a short
drive to the Botanic Gardens. We're getting expert at all these gardens !
The gardens aren't that large and we walk around them in about an half an hour. We then take a drive out to River Heads where the sea meets the river. The scenery is very attractive and many of the house have great views.
Lunch is a picnic and then we head back to our site to spend the afternoon in the site's jaccuzzi !
We go for a late evening walk and buy ice creams. Disaster ! I bite into the frozen chocolate and break off my front crown ! I ring a dentist and can only leave a message. Go to bed toothless.
Thursday 7th
I get a call early and see the dentist at 10.30 and by 12 he's fixed the problem. We drive about 25 miles to Maryborough, the home of , who wrote Mary Poppins. We have a look around the town and see lots of pioneer buildings, a nice park and a statute of Mary Poppins. It's a nice place unlike many of the other towns we've been to.
We then drive on for about
40 miles to Tin Can Bay. It's a very small place at the end of a peninsular. We're only here because we have heard that it's possible to feed dolphins from the boat ramp. We shall see first thing tomorrow morning.
We're booked onto a fairly scruffy site, possibly the worst one we've been on so far.
Friday 8th
Up at 6.30 and off to the jetty to see the Indo Pacific dolphins but they've beaten us to it ! Two of them have swam in from the river and start playing around at our feet. At 8 there is a Park Ranger organised feed and Christine gets to feed fish to one of them. It's quite thrilling seeing the dolphins so close. They have tremendous strength when swimming.
At 9.30 is we leave for the short drive of about 70 miles to Noosa. We park in the nearby town and have a walk along the water front to the marina. In the small town we call into the RSL Club, we don't know what it stands for, and they offer us 30 day visitor membership which we take. This gives us a discount on their
restaurant food and drink. They have a live act on tonight and we decide to go for a night out!
We get collected by a courtesy bus and have a night out. The foods good and the band are ok but not great. We also get dropped back so it's a good night and our first out for 2 months !
Saturday 9th
This morning we drive into town and get a hop on hop off ferry to Noosa Heads. We hop off on the way and have a short walk so that I can book an offshore game fishing trip for tomorrow before getting the ferry to Noosa Heads. Unfortunately the trip's for 7 hours and I'm not too sure I'll survive the ride !
At NH we walk through the shopping parades and onto the beach where people are kite surfing. The wind's very strong and I'm getting fearful of my boat ride tomorrow.
The ferry ride back takes us past some nice looking beach front properties. We call in at the RSL Club and book dinner for tonight as there's another group on. Two nights out in a row !
We
have dinner and see the Country Chicks, Australia's answer the the Dixie Chicks. They're actually pretty good and we have a really nice evening but like everything in Australia it ends at 10.30 !
Sunday 10th
I'm up at 4.15 am and picked up at 5 for my fishing trip. I join 9 others and we head out to sea. It's pretty choppy and I'm glad I've taken my sea sickness pills. One chap starts feeling unwell straight away and curls up on the couch in the wheel house where he spends the next 7 hours !
After about 45 mins we anchor over one of the fishing grounds and one of the crew shows us how to cast and set the line. Straight away he pulls in a fish, this is going to be easy !
We spend the next 7 hours visiting various fishing spots and only two people catch anything, if you don't count the sea bird I snagged diving after my bait. It's not so easy !
At mid day we head home and all feel a little dispirited. I'm given a lift back to the caravan site by one of
the crew and he tells me this time of year is known as No Fish November ! Now they tell me.
I meet Christine at the swimming pool looking expectant but I have to tell her "it's chicken tonight" She's had a lazy day looking at the street markets and around the pool. I'm exhausted !
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Carol and David
non-member comment
Swap for sunny Scarborough?
Dear Lord and Lady Musgrove, Our first frost of the winter today so we decided to go to Scarborough and enjoy the beautiful blue skies. Not quite in your league admittedly but the toasted teacakes on the promenade were scrummy. Of course it's Remembrance Sunday and we were standing on the quayside, not realizing that very loud banger fireworks would be set off at 11:00. Seb was not at all impressed! Quite envious of the dolphin stroking, more our scene than when you were playing Indiana Jones of the Jungle. Carol's bought a knitted koala hat which is apparently compulsory for New Year, and a panda hat for me, as we're going away. Suggest you keep away from frozen chocolate and fishing. Carol and David X