Dickabram Bridge

After a pleasant two day stop over at Lake Monduran unfortunately the time has come for us to start heading south. We travelled back down the Bruce Hwy with numerous stops for roadworks, only avoided having to stop once. It must be costing a fortune for all these roadworks let alone paying for all the lollipop people at all the different sections.

We stopped at Childers to pick up some supplies and of course checked out their Bakery, buying a couple of Savory Rolls and a French Vanilla Slice for our morning tea (delicious). It was then off to our next destination a free campsite near Dickabram Bridge that crosses over the Mary River. The bridge was built in 1886 and stands 23 metres above the Mary River, and is 200 metres long. The unique design of this dual purpose bridge with its road and rail crossing, the road deck is constructed of timber. The river piers are concrete filled cast iron cylinders the remaining piers are timber. Rumor has it that three men died during the construction of the bridge, one of which supposedly fell down one of the cast iron cylinders while barrowing cement to fill it. It was sometime later that they realised that he may have been buried in the cylinder.

It is a good thing that there is very little traffic on tfddehis road as when the vehicles cross the bridge it is very noisy with the ratter-ling of the timber planks. We don't think our sleep will be disturbed as we have not heard anything crossing the bridge for the last couple of hours.

We finished off the day sitting around the campfire with a fellow camper looking at the star laiden sky on a crystal clear evening. 

Dickabram Bridge

Mary River

Enjoying the vista Mary River

Dickabram Bridge

Our Campsite Dickabram Bridge

Lake Monduran

Once again we are on the road after spending the last four weeks at Bargara Beach Caravan Park, we headed back out to the Bruce Hwy and headed north towards Gin Gin then onto Lake Monduran which is around 40klms north of Gin Gin.

There had been rainfall of around 30ml two days earlier, so the park manager was taking the opportunity to burn off the surrounding grass lands, we were a bit concerned with the close proximity to our caravan site, luckily it had burnt out by nightfall so we were able to sleep peacefully.

The caravan park is relatively small catering for about 30 powered sites, but has a massive grassed area for camping and unpowered. There are lovely clean amenities and the management are very friendly, a very pleasant stop over. There was a group of members from the ACC Caravan Club in the park as there is an up coming Muster for Wide Bay Branch of the ACC this weekend, some members have arrived early to settle in prior to the muster. When they found out that we were also members of the ACC we were invited to join in their Happy Hour.

The water from the Fred Haig Dam is used for irrigation in the Bundaberg, Gin Gin and Childers area. 

Burning off near our van

Dam wall Lake Moduran

Lake Moduran

Camp ground Lake Moduran Dam

Bargara cont:

Wow! Three weeks have gone since we first pulled into Bargara Beach Caravan Park, we have less than a week left as we leave next Monday. Unfortunately we have been unwell with this QLD virus, we have been coughing and spluttering for two weeks now! So over it!!! At least we have been having nice mild winter days usually around the 23 degrees every day, but we have been experiencing some wind or stiff breeze here on the coast.
We have not got a lot to report other than our daily walks and rides, relaxing on the beach enjoying the vitamin D,  otherwise just the everyday chores that you still have to do only on a smaller scale than at home.  The Cane to Coral Fun Run was held a couple of weeks ago with the finish line just opposite the caravan park, it did make things pretty busy on the waterfront for a few hours. Every Sunday we head into Bundaberg to the Shalom College market where we are able to buy our weeks supply of very fresh fruit and veggies. Managed a couple of games of bowls when we first arrived then the virus hit so have not been back.
Our friends Sue and Tony from Brisbane arrived on Monday and are here for the week, they recently took delivery of their lovely new Lotus Freelander Caravan and have been looking forward to spending some quality time in it. It has been great catching up but the time is going much too fast. Sue and Tony have their six year old granddaughter Yasmine from China with them, she is staying with them for a few months and attending school in Brisbane to improve her English. Tony's friends from Deloraine John and Marg arrived yesterday so at Happy Hour  there is much reminiscing of the old Apex days.
It was lovely to see Dennis and Lyn arrive today and to see that they have been travelling safely and that their Motor Home has been chugging along nicely since leaving Ulverstone. It is a pity that they brought the rain with them. I can't believe that when sitting outside earlier that I was wearing my thermal top, vest and a scarf wrapped around my neck, I have never been this cold in QLD before! Checking Weatherzone it said that the temperature was 16.9 but I am sure that it felt more like 8 degrees!  We are now nice and cosy in the van listening to a steady down pour, the forecast is for somewhere between 25 - 70 ml great for the area as Southern Qld has been declared officially in drought, everywhere is so very dry and dusty.

Cane to Coral 

Moore Park Beach

Yummy Bundaberg Strawberries

Burning the Cane at Sunset

Campsite at Bargara

Sue and Tony's Rig

Bargara

Great start to our time here at Bargara with a dentist appointment for both Baz and myself first thing Monday morning! We both had broken teeth, must be something to do with our age!  Baz got off quiet lightly only having a filling, I was told that mine was not worth saving, so after a some what difficult extraction and booking for return visits we headed off to the Bargara Beach Caravan Park that was to be our home for the next month.

Upon arrival at the caravan park we were informed that the area that we had requested was not available and we had been allotted another site. Imediatley we realised that it was not in a very good area of the park, being the nice people that we are we agreed to have a look, as things may have improved since we were last here two years ago. No such luck, it was a dirty sandy site, undercover of trees which bats roost in! It was in total shade and I did not want to spend the next month feeling grotty and cold! I am sure the Manager must have been laughing up her sleeve as Baz had said he hoped they had given us a nice sunny spot, I am sure she was not surprised to see us return to the office. We were told that there were no other powered sited available, so said we were quiet happy to go to the unpowered area until a better site came available, we only had to wait a few nights to get a nice grassy spot with plenty of sun! Baz said, "Happy Wife Happy Life" !!!!!!!

We have now been at Bargara for nearly a week, cannot believe how fast time is going. This time in nine weeks we will be back in Melbourne waiting to sail home to Tassie, out time away is certainly going much too fast!

As I am still having problems from the tooth extraction, we have taken things a bit slower this week. After setting up on Monday we went into the Sugarlands Shopping Centre in Bundaberg to get a few essentials, did not get time to stop at Bundy Rum to get our supply of their chocolate Royal Liqueur, will have to make sure we stock up soon. Tuesday night we went out with Leonie and Richard fellow Jurgens owners that we met here in the park along with Joan and Eddie who also own a Jurgens who we had met previously in Moree, and have crossed paths once again. Wednesday we went out to Elliott Heads for a game of bowls, took us a while to adjust to the fast green, but we had given our opponents too many shots to catch up. Yesterday we rode our bikes to the supermarket 2klms alway stopping at the waterfront shops for a homemade Jaffa Icecream. It was very pleasant sitting on the foreshore eating our Icecream and watching a pod a dolphins and we were also lucky enough to see a couple of whales passing along the coastline on their journey north. Making it back to the van after a 5.3 klm ride, I am sure that would have counteracted the Icecream. Today we woke to a very overcast day and much cooler than we have been experiencing, it only managed to get to 20 degrees. It was good weather for a walk to the main st 3.2klms return, just loving my new app that keeps a record of distance walked or rode. Hoping it helps me loose these extra kilos!

Happy Hour at Bargara

Baby Plovers newly hatched

Only 1 surviving baby!

Woodgate Beach

Friday we literally rolled out of Burrum Heads after a fortnight of cream cakes and coffee's, and carrying and extra couple of kilos! We had a very social time in the very friendly park, we certainly were not in a hurry to leave on our last morning, even when there was another caravan waiting to get onto our site and had been there since 8am! We had not planned for an early exit so we did not pull out until 9.30am, they just had to wait we had until 10am to vacate the site. Then we only went a couple of hundred metres to the bakery for our farewell morning tea, finally getting away about 11.15 am to travel the 98klm to Woodgate Beach.

Today is our third day here at Woodgate Beach Caravan Park, we have a very sandy site, the only saving grace is that we have a concrete slab. I think we must be in the most shady part of the park as well as we do not get the sun until around 2pm, so even though we are in QLD it can be quiet cool in the shade. Keeping our fingers crossed for a nice sunny site when we get to Bargara on Monday, as we will be there for a month.

Since being here we have been for a drive to check out the area at the far end of the beach that overlooks the Burrum River and Burrum Heads, we were waving but we were too far away for Maree to see us. Here at Woodgate it is great for cycling with an excellent bike/walking track the length of the beach. Yesterday we rode to the south, stopping in at the local bowls club. The greens looked very fast and we were told they run 17 - 18 there were 90 players registered for Friday afternoon bowls, the start of a full week of a bowls competition. We also saw some of the local wildlife occupying the front lawns helping out with the grass cutting. Later we stopped in at the Serenity Cafe at the park for a bacon and egg burger which we took over to the beach and sat in the sun to enjoy. Today we were once again on our bikes this time heading north along the beach to the boat ramp and the local pub that looked deserted and closed but on closer inspection found that is was open for business. On return to the park we once again visited the Serenity Cafe for our lunch, this time armed with our towels so we could lounge on the sand and soak up some of this gorgeous weather. I did hear a few z's coming from Baz!

Tomorrow we leave for Bargara which is only 67klms away, we need to have an early start as I have a dentist appointment at 9.40am managed to get a cancellation otherwise have to wait until 11th August.

Sunset Burrum Heads

Looking towards Burrum Heads from Woodgate

Enjoying the sun and sand at Woodgate

Preparing for the return to the park

Local lawn mowers

Broken down lawn mower

Burrum Heads

What a busy time we have had since arriving here at Burrum Heads. We have been here a week tomorrow and the time has just flown. Burrum Heads is 32 klms north of Hervey Bay and is a quiet little seaside town unlike Hervey Bay that is developing along the lines of the Gold Coast all hustle and bustle! Since being here in the Beachfront Tourist Park we have had Christmas in July a very enjoyable night that regular park patrons organised each year, they bring in caters even Father Christmas and his Elf. I have even attended an exercise morning, thinking I was meeting up with the ladies to go walking only to find myself in an hour class which was a walking  work out over four miles! We have also been up to the local bowls club for a couple of games of bowls, just checking to see if those new bowls that I had to buy still perform. Last Saturday we went to a market at Howard 23 klms away near the Bruce Hwy, it was a very large market with lovely fresh fruit and vegetables also plenty of craft. Monday we had a trip into Hervey Bay which required a stop at Dan Murphy's as we needed to stock up on our liquid refreshments. The esplanade is very busy with all it's accommodation, eateries and tourist shops, all that much worse due to the school holidays. Today we headed south to Maryborough to check out the street market where once again there was plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables to be had.

On arrival here we thought the caravan park to be small and pokey and it was very tight to get into our site, but it has grown on us as we are only three caravans back from the waterfront where many hopefuls spend time trying to catch that elusive fish.  It is quiet relaxing to take your chair down to the waterfront and just sit and watch the Pelicans and fisherman doing their thing. Our friends Maree and Brian are also here along with their friends Christina and Eddie which means we have been enjoying a good fun Happy Hour with plenty of laughs. We are also regular customers at the Bakery that is only two minutes along from the park, morning coffee and cakes. We are also spoilt with a butcher and Foodworks right on our door.

Yesterday we had a visit from Barb and Stan our neighbours from back home, they are currently staying ar Hervey Bay and had spent time here eleven years ago and were surprised at the changes.

Christmas in July

Christmas in July

Hervey Bay

Burrum Heads

Burrum Heads

Wuruma Dam

Wednesday found us at Wuruma Dam after leaving the bumpy gut shaking Burnett Hwy, to travel along a developmental road which was a more even surface.The road would change from double lane to single lane and occasionally we would need to pull over to let an oncoming vehicle pass us, hoping they would stay on the sealed surface but no they all had to go flat chat with one wheel in the gravel even though we had pulled right off. The last kilometer was a good gravel road leading into the campsites that were right down beside the dam. We were lucky that a motor home had left that morning and we were able to get a good foreshore site, with great views of the dam and the entertaining wildlife.

We had a great two days there enjoying the beautiful weather and the appreciating the serenity of the area. It was lovely to lay in bed looking out onto the dam watching the ducks ducking and diving, the pelicans gliding on the water, such majestic birds. Cattle were grazing around the foreshore of the lake and would sometime wonder amoungst the vans.  We were able to put our new fire pot to good use as there was plenty of fire wood to be gathered close by. We learned that our next door neighbours had come in for two nights and were still there a fortnight later. Wuruma Dam is one of those places that once you get there you do not want to leave. We would have loved to stayed longer but had a booking at Burrum Heads so needed to head off this morning. Before we left we gave the neighbours 30litres of water and our remaining bread so they are able to stay on for a few more days.

View looking to the right from the caravan

View looking to the left from the caravan

Our Campsite at Wuruma Dam

Visiting Kookaburra's

Baz enjoying the vista from our campsite