Travels and Tours Australia – Day 12: Hervey Bay Queensland

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I wake up, jump in the driver’s seat and get underway without delay. I munch away on an excuse for breakfast before stopping for petrol at Gin Gin and rather disgustingly use my sore throat as justification for an ice cream breakfast. With Hervey Bay just a short diversion off the highway, I decide to head in its direction. The scenery perks up and my traveling speed slows down as I stop several times to take photographs. My personal favorite being the Big Watermelon, which equally provided a chance to rectify my unhealthy breakfast with some rather tasty fresh fruit. I follow the signs to Hervey Bay, without realizing that it is in many ways just another big city.

However, once I have overcome its sheer size, I try and follow the signs for the esplanade but end up getting distinctly lost. I decide at random to turn right and land up arriving at Shelley Beach. With a distinct lack of people around, Shelley Beach is unaffected beauty. Though Airlie Beach had been a sight to behold, its popularity diminished its appeal, whereas Shelley Beach, though close to a thoroughfare of people seemed strangely secluded.

With more than an hour spent wandering the beach and taking silly photos, I head back to the car and decide that Brisbane is not unachievable despite my leisurely pace. I return to the highway and head towards Noosa via Gympie. I don’t make extended stops in either place, simply tick them off the list. From Noosa, I aim for Nambour, home of Queensland’s most famous big fruit – the Big Pineapple. I pull up in the car park and examine the fruit, which is no longer fully accessible due to the closure of its associated business.

The stop is brief and allows me more than a little time to make it successfully to Brisbane. I continue along the highway, having to a degree bypassed the beaches of the Sunshine Coast (there were brief stops but barely worth mentioning other than saying I took photos), and make Brisbane when it is already dark. I attempt to find a hostel with no luck and stress about the lack of space to sleep.

I decide to not worry until I have to, and spend an hour or so just taking in Brisbane at night before returning the campervan and studying my map. It transpires that I will have to drive nearly an hour north to a camping site associated with a gas station. I am reluctant but see little alternative. I drive north, park up and sleep.

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