Tuesday 20 August 2013 – Hervey Bay

That bloody bird!!  This morning it was squawking at 4.15am and obviously woke us and several other people in the park.  I asked Gary (the Manager) this afternoon what sort of bird it is and he told us it is a butcher bird.  In fact he showed it to us, perched on top of the tall pine tree at the front of the property with two mates.  We might have to resort to ear plugs.  The odd thing is that it stops after a while, so you can get back to sleep – and official wake up time this morning was 10 to 7 (way too early, but that’s what happens).

Today has been a beautiful day – 25 degrees, so after a slow start to the day we went for a drive mid-morning down to the Urangan pier which is about 3 km from where we are camped. Hervey Bay is really several suburbs which just continue on from one another.  I suppose someone knows where each one starts and stops, but the names of these towns are Scarness, Urangan, Hervey Bay, Torquay, Pialba, Eli Waters, Point Vernon, Urraween, Kawungan, Wondunna, Dundowran and Nikenbah.  We are actually in Scarness.

Anyway, we went for a walk first on the Torquay jetty, then moved on to the bigger one.  The Urangan Pier was built between 1913 and 1917 and was a very busy centre for the export of sugar, timber and coal.  At the time it was built it was over 1100 mtrs long, but the end 239 mtrs of it were demolished after it closed in 1985.  Due to a public outcry, the demolition was halted at this stage, and 868 mtrs still remain.  It is currently undergoing renovations, but is still a very popular fishing spot.  We walked out to the end of the pier, watched some dolphins playing a bit off the side of the pier, then walked back to the car.

After lunch we went for another walk along the beach.  We walked from the end of our street to the Scarness pier, and be the time we got back we had done our second 1 hour walk today.  Well that was enough for me, so it was back to the van, cuppa or two, Grant starting to get his fishing line set up ready for launch tomorrow, and me reading, then making another sock doll.

Had some good chats to some of our fellow caravanners as well as Gary during the afternoon.  He and Lyn (his wife) have been managing here for a bit over a year, coming from Wagga to take on the job.  They love it, and he was telling us about the changes they have made during that time.  We’re very happy with the park.

Well that’s it for today – obviously we’ve been flat out all day!!  With a bit of luck we’ll have freshly caught fish for tea tomorrow night.