Epic day of driving today! Drove over 730km from Mackay to Hervey Bay! We left at 8am this morning and reached caravan site in Hervey at 6pm!
We drove through or near Sarina, Marlborough, Rockhampton (also had Souvlaki lunch and fuel stop!), Gladstone, Miriam Vale, Bundaberg, Gin Gin and Childers (fuel stop again!) before arriving in the bay! Busy enough with traffic especially near towns and there seemed to be roadworks all over the place!
We done 2 hour shifts driving, which was enough to get rest but also just enough to be at wheel without getting bored.
We pre-booked site, the had one unpowered site left (buy ended ip having powered site (:-), town was quite busy (he said) but caravan parks over here are places where people migrate to from down south during winter and take up semi-permanent residency. They have gardens, pets, they build extensions etc. After a lot of confusion, we managed to book into whale watching tour tomorrow ad Fraser Island tour on the Wednesday. The guy who runs the park, Ron, was so nice and accommodating and because he took so long with booking and booked it the opposite way around, he let us stay an extra night in powered site for free! One thing I have noticed about Oz is that every single customer facing person (outside that b**** in Mackay caravan park) is really happy re tourists and will do anything to accommodate them - the 'extra mile' is an understatement. They all realise how important tourism is to Oz and understand how word of mouth re travel experiences goes a long way. I can't recall how many things we did this trip because of word of mouth from people we've met. Whether it be to go somewhere because of a recommendation or not go somewhere because of a bad experience, word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising over here, and unlike many other countries, Oz gets that. Big time.
Currently we are thinking of bypassing Brisbane due to time constraints (plus how different is it going to be from Perth, Caaaaaairnsss, Darwin, Melbourne and Sydney anyway?!) and going to Noosa, Steve Irwin's (the crazy mother f**ker killed by a stingray) Australian zoo and then straight to Byron bay.
It's coming up to last week in van, am going to miss it but can't wait to sleep in an actual bed I don't have to make every night or open a fridge like a normal person!
Another early start tomorrow, pick up for whale tour is 7.50am and we need to move van to different site in park.
I don't think I've seen a person under 70 since we reached this park.