Hervey Bay, Queensland
This was our first visit to Hervey Bay. We knew it as the gateway to K’gari, a beautiful place that we had visited some years ago. We did not aim to go there again on this short trip. We had plans for a few day’s escape – 4 nights at Hervey Bay and then 2 in a farmstay near Childers, which boasted some of the best heritage buildings in Queensland. While at Hervey Bay we planned to go to Maryborough on the Thursday for the market.
But our plans fell apart as the weather was terrible, many intense showers – we postponed the farm stay. We also had an unfortunate incident at Maryborough. But on the more positive side we enjoyed Hervey Bay and Kerry met up with three women she had been great friends with at primary and high school some 53 years ago. What a reunion!
To read our post for Maryborough click here
Getting There
We left Kingscliff on 19 March 2024 and returned on 23rd March – not the 25th as originally planned.
The drive from Kingscliff to Hervey Bay is 403km. It’s the M1 past the Gold Coast and through Brisbane to Noosa, and also a motorway to Gympie. The four lane motorway finishes there, after which the road is one lane each way but with many overtaking lanes. But it’s a bumpy old road to Maryborough and Harvey Bay.
A Gympie by-pass is well under construction. After Gympie the road converts to a single lane road in very ordinary condition. Very rough in places.
We passed the quirky Banana Bender Pub – previously the Ettamogah Pub – on the way.
The van park
We stayed at the BiG 4 van park at Hervey Bay which is in a pretty good location – not far from the beach but protected from the wind, and an easy walk to the shops and pub. It cost $167.09, with the BiG4 discount, for 4 nights.
It is a very good park with everything clean and comfortable. Many sites have an ensuite if that’s what you want – we didn’t.
Most sites also have a slab for under the awning, many also with pads for the wheels of the van. It has good facilities for families – pools and play areas – our grandchildren would love this place. The main pool is about 18m, which is just OK to swim laps. I actually got a long swim in early one afternoon after it had been pouring rain, which keeps the pool clear. Families don’t go to the pool when it is raining.
The only issue with the park was that we could not get the park wifi up and running. And the pool table is a bit of a disappointment – 2 balls missing and only one cue with a tip. No rests.
Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia
History
First Nations
Butchulla (also known as Batjala, Badtjala, Badjela, and Badjala) is the language of the Fraser Coast region, including K’gari. Butchulla language region includes the landscape within the current local government boundaries of the Fraser Coast Regional Council, particularly the towns of Maryborough and Hervey Bay extending south towards Double Island Point and north to Burrum Heads.
The indigenous Batjala people, including the Kabi Kabi, are the traditional residents of the Hervey Bay area. For more than 60,000 years, First Nations people lived in harmony with the seasons, the land and the sea, maintaining a balance between spiritual, social and family connections.
British settlement in the early 1800s had a devastating impact on the First Nations people. Much of their way of life was quickly destroyed and diseases were introduced. Their numbers were reduced from the thousands to around 300.
To read more about the stories and beliefs of the Butchulla people of this area click here.
The way of life of these First People can be read here.
Colonial History
From 1850, settlers from England acquired vast tracts of country for cattle farming. Timber cutting started in 1863 and by the mid 1860s the first five white settlers took possession of seaside leases stretching from Point Vernon to Urangan. The history of colonial development from the earliest times can be read here.
Today Hervey Bay is a large modern city on the Fraser Coast. The 2022 census stated that the resident population was 62,071. The local economy relies on tourism which is based primarily around whale watching in Platypus Bay to the north, the ferry access to K’gari, accessible recreational fishing and boating, and the natural north facing, calm beaches with wide undeveloped foreshore zones. In October 2019, Hervey Bay was named the First Whale Heritage Site in the world by the World Cetacean Alliance, for its commitment to and practices of sustainable whale and dolphin watching.
Day 1 – Tuesday 19 March 2024
We had been dreading the drive north as the works on the M1 has been causing massive delays for what seems an eternity. But we were shocked to find we had almost a clear run. Dare we hope that this nightmare of roadworks is coming to an end?
At around Brisbane the showers, some incredibly intense, started and accompanied us all the way to Hervey Bay.
We got the van set up very quickly. We didn’t get a site with a slab but one in a tucked away area we shared with another RV. Unfortunately we are a long way from either of the two ablution blocks. The one near the front gate is just one womens’ and one mens’ facility.
Access to the park is via a fob – we were given one but we could have used a second. If one of us was away, the other could not get out or back in. We did not check if we could have got two.
During setup Kerry found water spreading from the water pump in the cupboard under the fridge. We turned the water off and saw that the filter on the top of the pump had broken away. After mopping up we disconnected the water and set up our jerry can. Not a good start to the trip.
Day 2 – Wednesday 20 March 2024 – Look around town
The day started with my morning walk – a walk to the beach and then east towards the Urangan Pier. I walked along the very narrow beach, looking across to K’gari. There are many access points to get onto the beach, a good walkway and many toilets.
Back at the park Kerry was not feeling so good so I went to explore the town. I started at the Botanical Gardens which were pretty good. The highlight is the orchid house – a beautiful collection. Examples follow.
The Chinese Garden is pretty good – very different. More about the structures than the plants I felt. Many gardens we have been to include a Japanese section. This is the first time I have seen a Chinese section.
The rest of the gardens are OK – but most gardens don’t look so good at autumn . I am sure it would be a lot more colourful in spring/summer.
After that I drove to the Urangan Pier – one of the longest in Australia. I parked next the start of the pier where a small market had set up. There is a pretty good shopping area there as well.
The Pier is a former deep-water facility built to export sugar, timber and coal. The pier was used to transfer cargo between the railway and the ships. It was built between 1913 and 1917 to a length of 1,124m. It’s a long way out to get deep water. It was closed in 1985, and 239m of it was demolished. However, due to the public outcry, 868m of the pier was retained, and the land was given to the local Council.
I walked out to the end, enjoying the views of K’gari. On the way back I saw that the tide had gone out leaving behind lovely patterns in the sand.
Later Kerry came to look at the pier.
I then drove around to the port area which was pretty busy.
From there, it’s about a 12km drive to River Heads – where the ferry to K’gari operates. The town area really benefits from a hilly landscape – most homes would have a view. But all the action is at the ferry ramp.
We spent most of the afternoon fixing the water pump. We found a really good RV parts and repairs facility. We went back and forth a few times but got the part and fitted it without too much trouble.
We were amazed at the number of shops and stores in town. Almost every major shop found in very large towns has a presence. The Bunnings is the biggest I have seen. These shops all concentrate in a vast area making shopping easier.
That evening we had dinner with a woman (and her husband) who had been best friends at St Johns Primary School in Harbord, then Stella Maris High at Queenscliff some 53 years ago. I hadn’t seen Linda since half way through high-school when she changed schools (thanks largely to being bullied by the nuns). We quickly found that we still thought pretty much the same as each other. Who’d have thought that after 50 something years, we still thought alike. We had a lovely dinner at the pub.
Day 3 – Thursday 21 March 2024 – Maryborough
We drove the 30km to Maryborough to get to the market and to admire the magnificent heritage buildings around the city. To read our post on this, click here.
Day 4 – Friday 22 March 2024 – Drive around town, Reunion
I took my morning walk towards the suburb of Pialba. I saw a couple of nice houses on the way. Disappointingly, the Tourist Information Office did not tell us about the Hervey Bay Historical Village and Museum. This contains 21 buildings from the early days as well as a vast number of historical items. We missed all of that.
The foreshore is quite wide in parts and there are good tracks and pathways for walkers.
We drove out to look at Point Vernon and surrounding areas. It’s a wider and rockier beach than that on the eastern side.
Gables Point is a very spacious picnic area.
After that we went down to River Heads, where we had a continuation of the reunion. But this time there were 4 women from St John the Baptist primary school in Harbord. I was expecting to see Julie Spencer, but an extra surprise was Debi Miles – who I didn’t know that well, but her face was kind of familiar.
Julie, Linda and I used to hang out together throughout primary school, but were sorted into different grades when we went to high school. We spent a lot of time catching up and reminiscing about the massive Mulberry tree in Julie’s backyard and us climbing the branches and getting covered in Mulberry juice when it was fruiting.
Day 5 – Saturday 23 March 2024 – Drive home
It did not take us long to pack up and we were soon heading south. There were the usual showers as we went. From Brisbane to home, the M1 was appalling. It was stop start all the way – we could not see any roadworks being undertaken to explain the terrible driving conditions.
To see photos for this post click here