Soldiers marching at Tin Can Bay - 17th June

As usual we didn't take the direct route from Toowoomba to our new destination of Tin Can Bay. Avoid the major Highways and enjoy the ride and views is our motto when it comes to travel planning. The process usually starts with Trish scouring the travel brochures, pooring over the map book and caravan park details where she formulates a few possibilities for our next stop. We don't want rides that are too long, we prefer the back roads, we would rather small village type towns than big cities ( Capital Cities excepted ), we want Caravan Parks that are close to the shops and ones that have good to reasonable camp kitchens. Not that we are fussy :) The next stage is where I fire up all our technology to run a few different scenarios. The GPS is used to calculate distances. Our GPS program on the computer allows us to run all the different directions of how we could get to a destination. The internet allows us to look up the websites of the caravan parks then to use Google maps and street view to check out the caravan park and its surrounds. Then there is checking the weather via Bureau of Meteorology and Weather Channel.

Once we have done all this and a decision is made we ring the parks in the area using Skype Phone and interrogate them about their facilities and availability. Only making a booking if availability is scarce. Then the final decision and Trish as our social and travel coordinator feels like a weight is lifted off her shoulders and I just look flashy as I'm the one who can do all the technological stuff. By the time we actually arrive at a new destination we know what it looks like ( Google street view ) and it feels like we have already been there. Sounds like a long process but it has been working for us in dodging the worst of the weather and ending up in really great places.

And so we ended up in Tin Can Bay which is just off the southern tip of Fraser Island. Not busy and commercialized like Hervey Bay but quiet, serene and delightfully pleasant. Tin Can Bay is not facing directly onto the ocean but has tidal flats and is more estuarine. Hence the Soldiers marching at Tin Can Bay. I have been fascinated by the thousands upon thousands of tiny Soldier crabs that scatter ahead of you when you walk across the sand flats. As you gain on them they turn on their side and literally screw themselves into the sand and do a disappearing act. But when you look I another direction there are thousands more marching ahead of you.

A 6.5km round trip to the end of the peninsular along the eco trail and tidal flats keeps us entertained for the day. A quick stop at the fish market for prawns and fish for tea followed by a diversion for an excellent hamburger at a little café and another side trip to buy the essential alcohol.

All varieties of beautiful birds are happily chirping as they settle for the evening and their little choruses are entertaining me as I write this blog. All that research really does ay off!