Bush camp

We have spent a couple of days at a little place called Gum Tree Lodge, a delightful bush camp set among shady gums, well off the beaten track. It is starkly different to the Maroochy River camp with its ordered rows and fake grass, and where caravans are neatly lined up like soldier-vans by the park owners using a smart little tractor: mere tourists are not allowed to park their own vans.After John and Anne were towed out, we hitched up our car and released ourselves from Maroochydore and found our way back to the highway for the 3-hour drive to our bush camp. As usual, we stopped along the way to refresh our caffeine levels which seem to need regular monitoring and topping up. The highway north of the “Sunshine” Coast is an excellent four-lane motorway, though it eventually peters out to the two-lane road beyond Gympie, but clearly it is a work-in-progress. I expect that eventually it will be upgraded, maybe all the way to Cairns. It is such a long way, with still 1500 kilometers to Cairns and a further 1,000 to get to Cape York.

After Zooming in to church this morning we hopped into John’s and Anne’s Jeep for the short drive to Harvey Bay. There was a small interlude when Jenny and Anne insisted on stopping at a local market to check it out. It had all the usual farm produce from local farms, crafts, woodwork, clothing, jams and condiments as well as the mysterious products of folk of “alternative lifestyles!” We topped up our stocks of tomato sauce, jam and chutney.

Hervey Bay is much as it was when we were last here about 30 years ago – except that there is more if it. And it is a very busy place with a constant stream of vehicles cruising along the esplanade in search of a park. We had a fond hope that our favorite food-haunt of our holidays of yore would still be there: O’Riley’s Pizza and Pancakes. It seems to have had a name change, but still there and though not open for lunch, had the same menu. Our mouths would water at the prospect of prawn and scallop pizzas and amazing pancakes laden with fresh-caught strawberries, lashings of cream and ice cream. So we had to forgo our pizza-dream and settle for a still scrumptious lunch at a nearby cafe.

Hervey Bay was a holiday destination for about four families from our Tuggeranong church and we could rent a house overlooking the beach for a very modest sum. We would fish for whiting on the beach, or mackerel when we hired a boat and barbecue our catch on the beach-side barbecues; we picked strawberries on a local farm – free labor but you could eat the fruit. We very fondly remember those holidays and the times we spent with our very good friends, laughing, reading, fishing, swimming and of course, regularly occupying O’Riley’s!

This evening we sat around a campfire with some fellow campers, enjoying a beer and wine and nibbles, and swapping yarns. It was most pleasant in this early evening as the sun dipped low, and the trees were silhouetted starkly against the fading light, the fire warmed our knees and we reflected on the memories of our travels and the pleasure of sharing fellowship with new friends. ‘Friends” we are unlikely to see again of course!

On Monday we have a very short trip to Woodgate as we press in northward. Thanks so much for travelling with us, even in a virtual way.

A couple of pics below are from the last day at Sunny Coast. We had a lovely drive to the hinterland to explore Montville and along the ridge back to Nambour – and some games with the Priests and Menn.