The Perfect Pier That Went On And On


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Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Hervey Bay
July 15th 2014
Published: July 28th 2014
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Plonked PelicanPlonked PelicanPlonked Pelican

This lovely bird was sitting on the pointy topped rail, gripping with his big, flexible (who knew!) feet and allowed me to get really close to him.
I was up early today and made porridge for breakfast and some sandwiches for lunch. We then drove to Hervey Bay and went into the Information Centre, where we were shown some scenic drives to take and told about a long pier that was interesting.

While we were looking around, I heard someone booking a whale watching cruise with “Whalesong Cruises”. The clerk said that the cruises were on (despite what we’d been told at Noosa) and there were 10 pods in the bay so operators were giving guarantees of sightings, or you get another free trip. The cruise was for 5 ½ hours and included morning tea and a lunch buffet and cost $95 for Seniors. Although we’d seen two whales on the last cruise at Noosa, I still didn’t feel that I’d been up close to whales as most of the time they’d been under the surface. I decided to do another and hoped that we’d see more and closer with so many whales around the bay. Barry wasn’t too pleased but I booked us in for tomorrow, anyway.

We then set off along the scenic drive that took us around to Point Vernon, where there were
Urangan Pier, Hervey BayUrangan Pier, Hervey BayUrangan Pier, Hervey Bay

Our funny Pelican sitting atop a lamp post, with bird repelling wires on that didn't faze him a bit, on the VERY long pier. It used to be 1124 m but is now only 880m long.
some mangroves, and then back long the Esplanade, a pleasant trip that followed the beach to Urangan Pier. We parked the car and got out to see this well known pier. It was VERY long.

It was built in 1917 to allow for the export of sugar, coal and timber from the area and originally stretched 1124 metres. It was linked to a rail line that brought the goods to the port. All exports stopped in 1985, when bigger ports and newer methods of transport were available and it was de-commissioned. The State Government ordered it to be demolished. They began the removal and dismantled the head of the pier but a public outcry and “Save the Pier” campaign saved the last 880 metres. Since then it’s been refurbished a couple of times at more than $2 million a time and is currently having the timber pylons, that have been weakened by marine borers, replaced with plastic encased steel ones for $5 Million. They really love their pier!

I must say, so did we, despite a very brisk wind. We spent ages walking along and enjoying the activity and views down its whole length. There were lots of people of all ages fishing, mostly catching small herrings. One man had a bucket so full that one had jumped out onto the pier. Their scales shone rainbow colours in the morning sunlight. We were told some bigger fish had been caught earlier in the morning, small tuna and others, and we could see some of the large scales still on the cleaning station.

We watched a large pelican land delicately on top of a lamppost, despite the wires there that are supposed to discourage birds. His big feet wrapped around the top of the pole easily.

Nearby, some fisherman had left a small pile of bait fish against the edge of the pier and a group of seagulls were sitting on the rail above and kept leaping up and swooping towards it to grab one. They usually missed as the fish were right up close to the wood and a bit too big for them. One brave bird jumped onto the ground and grabbed a fish but it was a real traffic area with lots of people moving up and down the pier so he didn’t hang about.

Not far away, a teenage fisherboy had made himself a little tent with a tarpaulin to try and keep out of the wind but a big gust flicked it open and somehow took his wallet with it. It went flying into the sea. He tried to cast a line to catch it but missed and it drifted away quite quickly to where he couldn’t reach it.

We had a good view of the beach and bay from the end of the pier and you could also clearly see a long sandbar about 2/3rd of the way along its length, which explained why it had to be so big - to get past it into deeper water. Just beyond the bar we saw an Inshore Bottle-nosed Dolphin lift its tail to dive below the surface. It stayed down for about 5 minutes and then popped up for a quick look then disappeared.

We also saw lots of birds, like Cormorants, Crested Terns, and a dark brown bird that I think was a Common or Brown Noddy. It dived into the sea from a height and caught a fish, then skimmed a wide area really fast just above the surface of the water looking for more.

As we walked back towards the beach again we noticed that one group of fishermen were using partially blown up balloons on their lines. Barry said it was to keep the bait near the surface to attract fish that feed just below the surface. Unfortunately for them the tide carried the bait along a bit and kept it trailing right at the surface where the seagulls could see it. They were having a great time trying to take the bait off the line and even lifted up the lines, with the balloons attached, a few times while grabbing the fish. The fishermen were not happy!

About halfway back we came across the Pelican again, now sitting on the top rail of the pier. It’s amazing how flexible those big feet are – and the rail was diamond shaped with the point at the top- so you’d think it would be uncomfortable, too, but he didn’t seem to care. He’d plonked his body down, too, and looked quite precarious. He allowed us to get quite close to take a photo and then we moved away a bit to watch something else. A couple came past us and noticed him sitting there.
A Blue Tiger ButterflyA Blue Tiger ButterflyA Blue Tiger Butterfly

This lovely butterfly landed on the ground near us as we were walking towards Urangan Pier.
She walked very close up to him and he snapped his bill and honked at her. She quickly moved back. Not long after another woman did the same and got the same response. He didn’t move - just let them know they were too close. We thought we’d try and film his reaction, which we’d never seen before in a Pelican, so I slowly approached him. He did nothing but look at me. I took a really close up photo of him which showed every wisp of his feathers. Still no reaction. I could easily have touched him from where I was. I slowly took one step closer so my arm was almost brushing his wing and he stood up and very carefully sidestepped along the rail a few steps, looking very wobbly as he went. He could see Barry standing back on his other side, filming what was happening on his phone. He judged where Barry was and stopped moving exactly between the two of us and just looked at me. At no time did he use the threatening behaviour he had displayed to the other women. We decided to leave him in peace and as soon as we moved a few feet away he settled back down onto the rail. You’d think he’d be happier resting on top of the pole rather than down so low on such a busy pier. He looked as if he owned that spot and maybe was enjoying all the activity around him.

By the time we got back to the start of the pier, the sandbar was fully exposed and a group of seagulls were having a wash and brush up in the sand of the shallows. We’d spent about an hour and a half on the pier, we were surprised to discover. It was now well past lunch time so we jumped in the ute and headed for the picnic area the Information centre had told us about – Dayman Point Park.

We found a picnic table under a tree on a grassy area and I started putting together the sandwiches. Very shortly, a few Ibis turned up and looked at us hopefully, soon followed by some Noisy Miners. We tossed them some bits of the crust and the Ibis were always quicker than the Miners so we had to be tricky, sending some to the Ibis in front and then tossing some behind us, which the Miners quickly cottoned onto. They grabbed the food and immediately took it to a nearby tree, where Barry spotted them feeding young ones. After that we tried to make sure they got some of the food whenever they landed. It became quite a game trying to fool the Ibis, especially once one smarter one realised what we were doing!

We finished the meal, put the bag back into the ute and went up to the top of the Dayman Point. There was a Memorial to Returned Soldiers at the top, and some seats with a dolphin and a whale made of steel as the backs. The view of Great Sandy Strait, looking towards Big and Little Woody Islands and Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island, was very nice.

Before we left Hervey Bay, we checked out where we needed to go for the boat trip tomorrow and where the parking was, maybe even for the van. We rang Maryborough Council and tried to get an extra night at the Showgrounds but were given an emphatic “No”. I explained about our Whale Watching Cruise and asked if we could leave the van, all ready to hitch up, and pick it up after the cruise, about 3pm. They agreed to that so at least we won’t need to tow it into Hervey Bay and leave it in the car park all day! Now we just need to find somewhere close we can stop for the night.

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