Highway on Hervey Bay! This is the main road along the island and is actually a registered road. The smoke is from the bushfire which had been burning on the island for about a week.
Fairly short drive distanc(e wise) from Cooroy to Hervey Bay, but nice trip. Drove through Gympie and around to Tin Can Bay, which is famous for the dolphins that come into the cove each morning. They come into the cafe and are very quiet. We were too late to see any, they come in quite early most mornings. Then drove on to Maryborough, which is a lovely old river town. The walk along the river is beautiful, all very cared for and well-presented, and the old buildings in the port area have been restored to their former glory. The scenery between Gympie, Tin Can Bay and Maryborough is basically the same - pine plantation as far as the eye can see! There must be thousands and thousands of acres of trees.
We arrived in Hervey Bay mid-afternoon and checked into the YHA - very nice indeed.
Melissa in Lake McKenzie. The water is so clear and the sand very white. The sand is very fine and if you rub it into your skin it acts as an exfoliant and you become very soft!! It also polishes up your jewellery nicely.
We had a self-contained cabin so Noel could watch the cricket and enjoy the nation of his newly-acquired citizenship completely trounce the nation he was born in! His Aussie accent seems to have become broader since Australia's been beating England so decisively! The YHA is about a 500m walk from the Urangan Pier where there's a great fish outlet. You then walk a short distance around the beach and you're at the Marina, which has beautiful apartments and a big restaurant and shopping complex, so a great location all-in-all.
The next day we did a tour of Fraser Island, which lies just off the coast of Hervey Bay. Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island and is listed as a world heritage site. The island was logged extensively early on but is now national park and absolutely stunning.
The wreck of the Maheno, a luxury liner which was washed ashore in 1935 after a cyclone struck it whilst being towed to Japan for scrap. It broke in two during WWII after the air force used it as target practice!
The roads and tracks across the island are all sand so it is strictly 4WD only. Our tour took us to quite a cross-section of the island, from eucalypt forest to rainforest to beautiful beaches and Lake McKenzie, which is a stunningly clear freshwater lake in the middle of a huge sand island! Had a fabulous swim here. Day tours are quite expensive ($135 pp, incl lunch) but well worth it if you just have a day, because they collect you, drop you off and look after you entirely in between! Highly recommended.
We liked Hervey Bay so much we almost bought a house here, but in the end did not go ahead. It's certainly high on our list when we're looking for a new place to live, though. It has all the modern conveniences you could want, along with a beautiful location and great weather all year round. We were not in time for whale-watching, but that also adds to the Bay's appeal. Can't wait to get back there.
