Caravanning Camping Touring
Let me share some of our stories with you. I'll try to keep it fun and interesting, with heaps of photos, hints, tips and reviews all relating to life on the road.
We made it to Hervey Bay without major incident, or any other minor incidents for that matter. We stayed at the Big4 Caravan Park at Point Vernon for seven nights, and simply chilled.
Because this was just a shakedown trip we took the time to test all of the appliances in the van. The gas oven seemed a bit reluctant to cook anything, but other than that, all was good. However, we do have a good number of issues with the van, so for a full review of the Goodlife Tourer, click here. (TBA)
Of course, we also had plenty of time to explore Hervey Bay. It is a lot bigger than I thought, the locals all seemed friendly, there is everything here you could possibly need and the coastline is beautiful.
So what did we do? We walked along the beaches, scrambled over the rocks around Point Vernon and basically soaked up the relaxed atmosphere that seems to envelope Hervey Bay.
On a side note, while we were there we checked out Latitude25, an RV based gated community. Like any lifestyle village it has great facilities, community hall, pool, tennis courts an impressive health hub, but more importantly each house comes with a huge, and I mean huge garage. The largest of these will fit any size caravan plus two large cars, I kid you not. A nice place to live? Maybe in a year or ten, we have a lot of travelling to do before then.
| Location | Goomeri, QLD |
| Month visited | August |
| Length of stay allowed | 48 Hours |
Large grassy area with views towards the wetlands. Close to a quiet main road, and very little traffic at night.
| AMENITIES | COMMENTS | |
| Ease of Access | Very easy, even for a novice | |
| Yes | Showers | Clean and functional |
| Yes | Toilets | Clean and functional |
| Yes | Rubbish Bins | Council bins on main road |
| No | Shade | There are no shade trees in this area |
| Ground Covering | Mostly level grass, a few patches of dirt. | |
| Yes | Shops Near by | Small Cafe, butcher & post office |
| Yes | Pub Near by | An easy stagger away |
| Yes | Pet Friendly | With plenty of space to run around. |
Summary
This site is close to the highway, but it is not overly busy and carries little to no traffic through the night. The Kilkivan to Kingaroy Rail Trail runs through here offering ample cycling/walking tracks. There is also a Bird Hide about 500 meters from the CWA hall which overlooks the wetlands but depending on the time of year, there may be little or no water. Even so it is a very pleasant walk.
This is a great little spot for a break in your travels but could be extremely hot in the summer months.
We give Wooroolin Rest Area a 2 van rating, and will be back
| Location | South of the junction of the Burnett and Isis Highways |
| Month visited | August |
| Length of stay allowed | 24 Hours |
Just off the Burnett highway, there was a bit of road noise but that eased off at night
| | AMENITIES | COMMENTS |
| Ease of Access | Very easy | |
| No | Showers | |
| Yes | Toilets | Depending or where you park they are close or far. |
| No | Dump Point | |
| No | Water | |
| Yes | Rubbish Bins | There are a few |
| Yes | Shade | There is some good shade but you need to pick your spot |
| Ground Covering | Bitchumen and gravel | |
| Yes | Shops Near by | Burnett Roadhouse on the other side of the highway |
| No | Pub Near by | |
| Yes | Pet Friendly | On lead |
Summary
This is a good overnight spot. Not a lot to do, but far enough off the road to give privacy from passing vehicles. When you turn into the area you can choose to go left, this is all bitumen and close to the toilets, or right to a smaller area with more privacy and, in my opinion, a much more pleasant spot.
We give Ban Ban Springs a 3 van rating, and will be back
| Location | D’Aguilar Hwy, Yarraman, QLD |
| Month visited | August |
| Length of stay allowed | 24 Hours |
| AMENITIES | COMMENTS | |
| Ease of Access | Very easy, even for a novice | |
| No | Showers | |
| No | Toilets | |
| No | Rubbish Bins | |
| Yes | Shade | Enough large trees to give good shade |
| Ground Covering | Good grass, you have to look for flat areas | |
| No | Shops Near by | |
| No | Pub Near by | |
| Yes | Pet Friendly | With plenty of space to run around. |
Summary
This is a lovely spot with plenty of large trees dotted around to give good shade. It sits on the bank of Cooyar Creek, which, when we were there, was mostly covered in weed. Even though there are no facilities here, we enjoyed our stay.
We give Harland Park a 3 van rating, and will be back
As we caravan, camp and tour around Australia, I want to share some of our stories with you.I’ll try to keep it fun and interesting, with images of stunning landscapes, flora and fauna, and of course, my travel buddy, Hugo.
Hugo’s where we go.
After years of planning, debating, and dreaming, we are finally ready to hitch up the van and hit the road.
But where or where shall we go?
We didn’t get too far in those first two weeks, it was just a bit of a shake-down trip. We split our time between caravan parks and free parks, and although I’ll be the first to admit having power and ample water is great, I still prefer the free camps. I mean, you can’t experience sights like these in a caravan park.
So, where did we go? Well, we left Brisbane at nine in the morning and headed towards Kingaroy. We made it as far as the Harland Park Rest area. This means that on our first day of travel we were on the road for three and a half hours, minus an hour for a lunch break, and covered a massive one hundred and fifty kilometers. What can I say? We’re not in a hurry to go anywhere.
Our first night in the van could have been our last. It freezing cold. I swear we could have died of hyperthermia. Ok, perhaps it wasn’t quite that cold, but even with a heavy quilt and two blankets, we shivered through the night. We had very little sleep but woke up to a beautiful foggy morning: It was hard to wipe the smiles off our faces. The Helium filled balloons with “Happy Retirement” emblazoned all over them may have had something to do with that.
At Harland Park we were greeted by a very friendly Rooster, named Rodney. He and Hugo hit it off right from the start, an ample supply of rice bubbles and oats might have somting to do with that.
From there we hot-tailed it to Kingaroy to have morning tea with our family. After that, on to another free-camp spot at Wooroolin, (link to review) a mere twenty-minute drive from Kingaroy (probably only ten minutes for non-retirees). We figured we had done enough driving for the day and decided to stay there for two nights … it’s a tough life.
This brings us to day four and our first official caravan park stay at Maryborough where we are enjoying power, long hot showers, and grown-up sized toilets.
So, after the first four days, what went wrong?
- Peter almost wiped out a tree and gave us our first Tiger Stripes as we left home.
- We nearly froze to death on the first night and drove off next the day with a cupboard open. Had a big mess to clean up when we stopped.
- Drove a short distance with the step down, no damage.
- Forgot to switch a few things off before driving, but nothing blew up.
- Nearly broke the awning by having one leg down to the ground the other still attached to the van, and we used one end as a clothesline anchor.
- Peter cracked his head on the awning arm.
- I fell out of the Ranger, (don’t ask).
- And we learnt that country roads cause things to bounce off the benches and spread all over the caravan floor.
All in all, not too bad for a couple of newbies.
Heading nowhere real slow.
