6th to end of month Hervey Bay + Point Vernon

          Friday 6th

feeding time at Biggenden
van park

    
     Making our way to Hervey Bay by Monday to have another solar panel put on the bus. In the mean time we will take our time going via Degilbo and Maryborough. The van park in Biggenden has heaps of bird life, with the manager feeding them each day. The parrots and galah come to enjoy the free meals, along with a pair of King Parrots which are quiet and come up reasonably close.

     Did a small larder restock then to Degilbo to overnight at a friends.

Saturday 7th
     Arriving in Maryborough mid morning we drove around the streets for a while admiring the residences, There are many very old and beautiful Queenslander style houses, never got any pictures  unfortunately(not to photograph private places) but it was a sight to see. We ended up overnight at the Maryborough showgrounds at$17.00 per night.
             
                              Sunday 8th


Dot + Yip on Hervey bay beach

                    Hervey bay. Beautiful.
      We got here early and spent the day enjoying the beach. First stop the esplanade and a walk along Hervey bay beach, white fine sand and sparkling clear water, had a paddle, swim later maybe. A bit further along and we found parking and a place to buy some breakfast where we had a view of the bay back to Point Vernon which is where we are eventually heading.

Parked up in Hervey Bay on arrival

Hervey bay boat club + marina

    
     Driving along the esplanade we stopped where we could park the rig beside a pretty beach next to the boating marina, ambled out with the dogs and splashed around in the sea for a while, lovely swim, I had almost forgotten how salty the sea is!! (ha ha). We spent the large part of the day here but had to move on.
     We found the workshop who is doing the solar panels for us tomorrow and discovered a place to park over night at Koala Markets ground.

                               Monday 9th

Dot and Yip at Point Vernon

     Had the work on the solar panels finished by 930am and made our way to Point Vernon to spend some time with our good friend, may be here for a week or two catching up on some good times and helping out where we can.
                               Tuesday 10th
     Having fun on the beach, went for swim today, absolutely wonderful and Dot and Yip reckon it's great too. Yip has decided that the salt water isn't scary at all and is splashing around in it as much as she can, Dot has always loved the water so no problem for her, just Lot's of fun for all.
     


Gatakers bay rock formations on the beach

                                  Friday 13th
    Black Friday!! not likely!!  just another great day in Hervey bay.
     We have spent time walking the beach and streets at Point Vernon along with helping out our mate and have found the place to be a delight to discover.  Around the point we found Gatakers Bay, there is a restaurant and bar there which I felt inclined to visit but undoubtedly the pup's wouldn't be allowed in so I gave it a miss. This picture of the bay shows the rock formations on the beach which I haven't experienced any where else and are quite something. The foreshore around Point Vernon is all much the same as this, lines and curves and tile like platforms.

                              13th to end of month
         We're having fun here and mostly lazing about in between sight seeing and doing the odd job around our mates place and on the bus. Have the bus booked in for machinery inspection on Thursday 27th and will decide after that when we will head off for our next destination. (where ever that may be)

1st to 5th Texas to Biggenden

          Sunday 1st


Yip has a look at the town

    

     Left Texas with mixed feelings this morning, a very enjoyable few days spent there. Heading north again through Inglewood and Millmerran to Cecil plains by late morning, pulling in to the caravan park at $22.00 per night.






The hotel in Cecil Plains

 Walking the dogs this evening to the Condamine river on the edge of town, they enjoyed a quick swim then the day was almost done. Not a lot in Cecil Plains, a Pub, grocer and Van park and private residences, neat tidy little town. The restored rail station is well done with a mural on the inside of an AC17 class steam Locomotive, no rail service any more though.


Restored rail station in
Cecil Plains

     We had takeaway dinner from the hotel which was quite tasty and more over it saved me from having to do anything.





          Monday 2nd
     Early take-off today, passing straight through Dalby, heavens!! they have traffic lights there and we just sped right passed that sort of thing and stopped for a spell further up the track at a small place called Jimbour which has a school but no sign of anything else much, the butcher shop was still well signed but had been closed for some time.


Don't think this fence will stop
this little dingo

Dingo Barrier fence south of Jandowae

    

    







Turning off the main road, we went to look at the famous Dingo Barrier Fence, 110km of tourist drive which we didn't partake in , only far enough to get to the northern end of the fence.
     The plaque tells the story and I took a photo of it to remind us about it later. Yip was keen to check it out but reckoned there was no reason to fuss about it.


The plaque at the northern end of the Dingo Barrier Fence

      We admired the work for  few minutes and turned back the way we had come and travelled on to Jandowae. We spent the night at the showground camping area at $15.00 a night.

          Tuesday 3rd

Steel sculpture dingo in Jandowae

     Not sure where to today except that we are going to check out a Dingo Sanctuary in a place called Durong. Leaving fairly early we stopped in the main road at Jandowae to photograph the steel sculpture of a dingo. Cruising along we eventually came across the Durong general store, the only other thing here is a community hall.

Information! obtained at
Durong General store

     We asked for directions to the dingo sanctuary, they were very helpful and phoned the owner and Jim got directions from him over the phone.



two pups at Durong dingo sanctuary
(That's my feet at bottom)

A bit of confusion to start but we got there in the end. It is a privately owned sanctuary which has 18 dingo and 4 other dogs. The dingo are kept fenced in (all kinds of rules to obey apparently) with high mesh fencing and electric wire to stop them getting out and causing mischief.
     We spent 5 hours here, Jim had a lot of time interacting with some of them with the owner, I went into the enclosure with a couple of pups, a white one and a honey coloured one. I felt special to be able to give them some affection. These two were pretty human friendly and came to me quite willingly.



Yip very watchful at Durong
dingo sanctuary

     Yip and Dot were not allowed to get out of the bus as the whole area is a quarantine site to keep the dingo's safe from any illness or such from outside dogs.
     We enjoyed our stay having a great  time with the dingo. We continued and found a rest area next to the Stuart river, a few km short of Wondai to spend the night.





                                                               Wednesday 3rd


Ban Ban Springs rest area

Clear cool pool Ban Ban spring

     Moving along this morning we stopped in Murgon for breakfast then on to Ban Ban Springs for the day. The rest area here has a neat little pool with one of the springs coming up in to it, the water is very cool and clear but not deep enough for swimming, I had to have a paddle in it though.

     After a rest we decided to go on to Biggenden for the night at the van park @$26.00 per night. The van park has a lovely view of the mountain to the south which I had to photograph.

Mount Walsh - Biggenden

          Thursday 5th


Steel man in park at Biggenden

     Walked the dogs to have a look in Biggenden this morning, there seems to be all that is needed in a small town including a hospital. The main street has shops of all kinds and a food works super market. A lovely park on one side where I found this metal sculpture of man and tools made out of old bits and pieces of steel.
    A relaxing day spent catching on washing etc.