Fri, 17th Nov, 2023 48hr RV Park, Maryborough to Sports Ground RV Camp, Eumundi, Qld (exploring)

Another warm night, 24 degree minimum. All quiet here. A few drops of rain from a passing cloud but there is blue sky too.

Headed off via the back road to meet up with Dave & Wendy at Tin Can Bay. Across the Mary River - a new bridge for us to cross over.

Nice drive beside the State Forest Pine Plantations. Turned off to Maaroom and into the Poona National Park. Just like driving into Woodgate but shorter.

Nice beach shacks and homes. Some locals jumped down to check us out.

Checked out the inlet and Great Sandy Strait views - looking across to Fraser Island.

Steve got some exercise.

Walked around to the boat ramp. Great map.

Drove back out the main road then continued on. At night you have to watch out for brumbies as well as kangaroos were were told.

Continued on to a turn off onto a gravel road to Boonooroo. Another ‘beach’ area though the first homes along the track were in a new housing estate. Followed a windy road down to the boat ramp at the Point.

There is a Bowls Club and a van park. Another view to the south of FI then around the inlet where lots of boats are moored.

Continued southward along the road past more homes then a boat mooring area in the mangroves.

Left turn onto a road to Tuan via a bridge over the estuary.

Another small coastal community. Not the nicest day for photos.

According to our Hema, Big Tuan Creek comes out south of here but we didn’t bother following the gravel road down to the boat ramp.

There is an alternative road out but they were grading it so we headed back past the housing estate - there is a bitumen road they use. On to the turn off and continued southward on the Maryborough-Cooloo Road.

Passed a few cleared plantations - ready for replanting. Crossed Big Tuan Creek.

Left turn into Poona where I spotted a HP Plantations sign. Googled it up and took a screenshot of the info. Easy researching when you have phone service. Nice straight rows.

Longer drive to get to Poona. Nice homes and a van park but no Esplanade to drive along. Walkways between the houses to get to the water. We drove down to the end then turned down to a picnic area so we stopped for a cuppa. Very rocky ‘beach’.

Slowly getting closer to southern end of Fraser Island.

Back out to the main road again. Along to the next turn off - 15km to Tinnanbar (spotted an old State Forestry sign saying Tuan State Forest). Along a gravel road for a bit then bitumen, then gravel again - all lined with pine plantations. Passed two turn offs to camping areas now under National Park booking. Piles of brumby droppings on the road but we haven’t seen one yet.

Coastal scrub as we hit the last section of bitumen with a circle and painted H for a helicopter landing site in the middle of the road. Into Tinnanbar community - nice homes with a narrow Esplanade beside the tree lined foreshore. Windier here and the sky is very dark. Drove down to a big picnic area by the boat ramp but the wind nearly blew me off my feet.

There was a Community Library box so I had a look and found 3 new books for us. Opened up the camper and put our books in to replace them. Very handy for travellers.

Headed back out to the main road again and continued southward around the edge of a military training area on our left and more plantations on our right.

Steve spotted some brumbies ahead but I still missed the shot as I was trying to zoom in. They are healthy looking horses and are being monitored, rounded up and rehomed as they are a hazard to the traffic on these roads and to being hurt themselves.

Up and down hills to a T intersection - left to Tin Can Bay and right to Gympie. We headed left then turned right onto the road to Rainbow Beach. The sky is starting to clear up. Wendy text they were in Gympie and would catch up with us soon.

Into the Great Sandy National Park then down the steep hill. We turned off to check out Cooloola Cove which was a small township but not near the water. I checked on Hema and we needed to drive further up to get to Mullens Creek. The actual Cove is a long opening off the Great Sandy Strait with the military area on the west and the Inskip Point peninsula on the east. Turned around and headed back up the hill.

Up and down more hills - the road is very bumpy. Passed a swimming spot at a creek then the turn off to a camping area. Into Rainbow Beach township which is very commercialised now. Straight down the main street to a car park at the end beside the Surf Lifesaving Club. Long parks too so we didn’t have to take up two parks!

By the path is the propeller off the Cherry Venture. I remember seeing that when we came here many years ago.

When we were first married we came to Bundy on our way to the Australian F500 Championships in Murray Bridge (Adelaide). We had left Steve’s F500 at the house in Bundaberg and came for a trip down to see the coloured sands. I remember a house at Tewantin made of beer bottles and zooming along the beach heading north to Rainbow Beach. Steve remembers I got the ute airborne too on the ‘whoopy doos’ on the beach. We didn’t get around the rocks to the ‘township’ as the tide was coming in so high tailed it back but can’t remember much more than that. I still have the softdrink bottles filled with the different coloured sands.

Lovely pines and a great view up the beach. Zoomed in - the sand continues and Fraser Island hills appear in the distance.

Vehicles on the beach below us.

Walked down the path to the beach. Steve says these are the rocks we couldn’t get around. We got the sand from the hills further back along the beach. We must have climbed up over the dunes to cross the point as there is a lighthouse out on the point.

We walked back along to the beach access point. The map shows the track across that we must have taken.

Up the road to the rainbow coloured steps.

Back to the truck and drove around the block. Lots of utes loaded up to go camping heading towards Inskip Point. There are camping areas in the National Park along the peninsula as well as going onto Fraser Island. We didn’t bother driving out to Inskip Point as Wendy had messaged they were on their way to Tin Can Bay and we will meet them there for lunch.

Storm clouds are building again. Forecast was for high of 36 - it is quite warm now, with a storm later. They might have it right today.

Met Dave & Wendy at a park and had lunch. Wendy and I walked down to check out the water. Nice spot - lots of cruise boats and you can hire houseboats too. Those clouds are looking very mean.

Walking track info shows the township area. We are due west of Rainbow Beach on the north end of the Cooloola Cove.

We decided to go to Eumundi Markets which are on tomorrow. As parking is an issue we thought we would head down this afternoon and camp and meet them there tomorrow. We can park at the Sports Ground ($10/p/n) then we can walk along to the markets. As those clouds seem to mean business we decided to get going and the campground is first in best dressed so we don’t want to leave it too late.

We followed the Esplanade around to the point - lots of new homes among the older beach shacks. Painted toilet block along the way. There is a Whiting Street here too.

Wendy said they feed dolphins here daily around 7.30am. The Dolphin Centre info says this is one of the few places in Australia that the rare Indo Pacific Humpback Dolphins can be hand fed in a natural environment.

Around the parking area and then back out of town and on towards Gympie. We met the storm as we travelled through the pine plantations but only got the edge of it which was good. Steve was happy to have more fresh water spraying up under the truck to wash any lingering salt water away. Dave & Wendy have based themselves at Standown Park which is just out of Gympie. We turned southward to head for the highway when Steve noticed his blinkers weren’t working. We pulled over and the tail and brakes lights have stopped too. Luckily its not raining here so he got the fuses out and found the faulty ones. All the wonderful water hey Steve, shorted something out!

Back on the road and through the southern end of Gympie and onto the bypass road onto the motorway. Pulled off to Eumundi then into the Sports Ground which is actually beside the motorway. Surprisingly though the road noise isn’t too bad. We chose a spot and set up.

Steve looked into the fuse issue as the brake lights had stopped again. I went for a wander to check out the building. Looked very grand from the road.

The caretakers came around and collected the fee so we paid for 2 nights otherwise we had to be out by 10am tomorrow. A few more campers arrived and everyone settled in for the night.