Pialba 08 - Beachfront Sites (No Roads to Cross)

Pialba Beach front Tourist Park would have to be the place to be if you truly want “Beachfront”; this is a council park (one of 3 in Hervey Bay) and is quite large, good amenities and in the main is very quiet. One word of warning is to lock up your gear as it does attract some undesirable’s that come in off the beach. Our site is as below and shows the great location.

During our stay we remained unaffected but on 2 Saturday nights some lost fishing rods and the like that were left outside vans so lock up and it will save you some dollars and stress.

Also be aware that at times the winds can be quite annoying and can last for a period of weeks if the easterly or westerly winds blow in.

We met up with some happy travelers; Malcolm & Nyrell (right) were on holidays with Malcolms sister Lynn and hubby Peter who are permanently on the road. We were offered a few games of “Bochie”, not sure if the spelling is correct but it is tossing big balls at a little ball (seems familiar as I remember something about tossing and balls as a kid). We did win one game but Linda & I seem to have forgot how many we lost.

With Dad’s health not being good we are now down at Tweed Heads which is quite along way from how far north we intended to be; stops on the way down were Maroochydore and Miami.

Look forward to posting again soon

Regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

  

Standown Park - Hospitality at it's Best

Standown Park lies between Gympie and Tin Can Bay on the Tin Can Bay Road approximately 28km north east of Gympie. The park is well maintained and pretty much is for the senior travelers and does not cater for children. Standown Park is an original farm in the are which now has 28 sites all equipped with power and beautiful pressurised spring water. The sites are large and the grounds are kept in first class condition; the amenities are very good but could struggle at peak times, there is handicapped facilities and a laundry, apart from the magazines some DVD’s are available for loan on a please return when finished basis. Price for the stay was a very acceptable $15 per couple per night and the park would suit from one night to many weeks as it is a place you could certainly call home.

Apart from the peaceful surroundings what makes the park a place to come back to is the genuine hospitality and community atmosphere. Just about everyone meets in the camp kitchen / BBQ area at around 10.00 (or thereabouts) for a chat and morning tea; around 4.30 (or thereabouts) for happy hour at a large open fireplace which goes on for as long as you want to stay, you will note there are a lot of "therabouts" as it can start whenever and finish whenever (relax & enjoy). Everyone gets together on Sunday morning (BYO bacon etc) for a BBQ breaky; our hosts were Rex & Liz who did a fantastic job of making everyone feel like part of the family. Our stay coincided with Anzac day and it was good to see a small service taking place and the Anzac’s remembered; all that were in the park attended the service.

As we all know the Hobbit population is dwindling so Linda ventured into the long grass (where they are known to hide) and low and behold she found another Hobbit friend (Neil). Linda continued to search but without any further success; seems like there was only one to be found.

Both Linda & I would recommend Standown Park for a visit based on the great time we had; surrounding Gympie, Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Beach can all be reached within 30 minutes.

Look forward to posting again soon.

David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

Woodgate Beach - Shhhhhhhhh; Quiet Please

The township of Woodgate is approximately 40km due east of Childers and is untouched by the likes of Woolies, McDonalds, Bunnings and the likes. The town has a general store, mini market, bakery (of sorts), post office, bowling club and a pub; if you are here for over a week put your lotto on before coming or you will need to drive to Childers to do so. The caravan park is called Barkala and is quite large and very pleasant. Most sites have slabs and in the main quite level; the van sites are boxed in with blue metal to ensure the van is automatically level on parking, some of the sites are quite big so letting them know van size ensures you get something that suits. The amenities are very clean and well maintained and they are all in the center of the park. The park has a small store and cafe dishing out breakfasts and light meals throughout the day. Below shows the front of the park and the site we were on.

 

The local wildlife consists of kookaburra's, kangaroos and flies, flies and more f*%!ing flies especially around meal times, the flies are that used to humans they even bring their own knife and fork.

 

The stretch of beach which is directly across from the park runs for 16km and is most spectacular; this along with the fishing makes the trip and stay worth while. it is very peaceful and if you are looking for nothing to do you have come to the right place. Below shows half the beach looking south to Burrum Heads; the other gives you an idea of the town showing the main street looking south also, as said earlier the park is just across this road.

 

Fish for breakfast; not likely as we arrived just after the school holidays so my excuse is that the little buggers had fished it out. Never caught a thing but did suffer with a little sunburn and chapped lips; not to worry nivea cream, lip balm, coffee and toast will fix most of the problems.

Heading from here to Standown Park soon to meet up with Neil & June and Greg & Wendy (other caravaning mates).

Will post again soon; until then hope you all keep well

Warm regards

David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

 

 

Magnificent Maryborough - April 08

Pulled into the Wallace Caravan Park which is just located on the Hervey Bay side of the Mary River. The park has very large drive through sites and once set up there is plenty of room. The amenities were very clean and the park is fairly quiet. We were paying $138 per week and given the facilities it was a fair price to pay (pool, BBQ's & Lge Camp Kitchen)

There is a fully preserved general store (Brennan & Geraghty’s) which is the largest of only 3 left in the world today; the store began trading in 1871 to 1972 and after closing down was purchased by the National Trust with all of the stock. This is as the store stands today with all the original items in place.

The old Banyan Fig in Queens Park is said to have been first recorded in 1889; the tree now requires special attention and is propped at several of the larger limbs.

Maryborough is also home to Pamela Lyndon Travers who was the author of the fictional Nanny, Mary Poppins; apparently Mary Poppins was a little taller than Nanny Stevens.

As you can see I had no trouble finding some mates to chat to; several schooners and we were getting on like a house on fire.

Will post again soon

Regards – David & Linda

The Davlin Rig

Bribie Island - Hard to Take.

Almost away from the hustle and bustle of Brisbane only approximately 1 hour north; cross the bridge and you are in a great close to Brisbane holiday place.

Bribie has a choice of calm and surf as the bridge crossing gives you the inlet side and the far point gives you the surf side.

Three caravan parks are on show and our experience at the Bongaree Caravan Park (Welsby Pde) was most enjoyable; overlooking the calm side waters with good security and lighting and well maintained amenities. The park has no pool or other over the top not required items for regular travelers. The park is located next to the bowls club (50m) which offers great bistro and coffee shop meals.

The price for us staying for 6 weeks including Easter was $132 per week and in our opinion was without doubt the best value for the location and park facilities (Les will help out with van parking if required).

Great place, great park, and without doubt great value and location.

David & Linda

The DavLin Rig

 

Van Repaired And Ready To Go

No pictures as nothing really to show; from hail damage we got at Bribie APIA cleared the claim for the van to be repaired. APIA could not been better in their assessment and approval of the claim; we held back on the repairs owing to our Christmas holiday, with the damage being only superficial it could wait.

The repairs were done at Sunland Caravans which is where we purchased the van and all went well and to a set time line which was vitally important given our future plans.

We did require a few modifications undertaken while the van was with them which were all completed to our satisfaction.

We did have some issues with the DVD/Radio/CD player and our Dometic fridge (the fridge only turned out to be a fuse problem). As with all builds some minor problems may evaluate over time; with Sunland offering a 3 year warranty it adds to peace of mind in being able to get these things rectified.

Sunland could not be more helpful in getting the CD unit replaced and Dometic involved to track the fault with the fridge.

I would like to thank Richard and Roy at Sunland for the modifications, repairs and getting the radio and fridge problems sorted. Thanks also to all the crew working with Richard and to the guys in sales (John especially)

David & Linda Stevens

The DavLin Rig

Hope to be posting again soon.

Christmas 2007 (Wet, Wet, Wet)

Not the best of holidays thus far; we spent the first week at Maroochy Palms Caravan Park at Maroochydore (22nd to 29th Dec) and had at least 3 days of rain. At least we were able to do a few walks and scenic bike rides; once the rain set in with scuds off and on it was pretty hard to do much in the great outdoors.

The worst was yet to come when we moved to Tewantin; the weather turned quite bad with 2 lows and expected cyclones. The cyclones never eventuated but the lows gave us some very high winds (90km/hr) and bucket loads of rain.

This being the 4th Jan we still have a week to go; the lows have passed and the prediction for clearer skies is encouraging so we are hopeful of a better week ahead.

The photos are of Alex beach which as you can see is empty of the usual influx of holiday makers; over past years it is hard to find some spare beach space. The other photos are of Lin and I at Mt Tinbeerwah with brollies in hand; normaly you would have fantastic views over Noosa and surounds but all we had was mist and rain.

Post again soon

David & Linda
The DavLin Rig