Hervey Bay

The main jetty at Hervey Bay - it used to be over 1km long, but is now only 856 m.

                                                                            
 

              

Our typical campsite! This one at Hervey Bay.

Note the following about our standard caravan park campsite:       

• damp towels hanging all over front of van
• bathers pegged on awning ropes
• swag, usually in the way, wherever it ends up!
• the blue 'squashy' bucket , that doubles as laundry basket, beach bag, shoe basket ... 
• the trusty purple Keith Library bag has become our dirty clothes basket  - often hangs on the hook on van above the swag 
• behind the blue basket are the kids clothes boxes, that ride in the van while in transit, but live outside when camped. Mostly they have lids on. Every now and then Jed ends up with wet clothes, due to the fact that 13 year old boys have cotton wool for brains!! 
• bikes hang at the back of the van, when not scattered around under our feet, along with rip sticks, scooters etc. We have now purchased a bike chain to lock them up when we are not around!. A bit like shutting the gate after the horse has bolted! 
• and usually we have chairs and a table under the awning too. (Jon had started packing up when I took this photo this morning tho' - as you can see he is about to do the last one!)

Hervey Bay is a very long town, with it's main esplanade running for more than 10 kms. ( I walked a bit of it and rode some, as there is a cycle/walk way right along).
I was thinking of the poor outside guys on their Council staff, having to maintain kilometre, upon kilometre of parks at the front of the town! 

Learning about surface tension
of water, or some such thing!

                            
 Sculpture in water park area, 'celebrating' water. In front
of the Hervey Bay beach, which is really flat and shallow and when the tide goes out, it goes out a long way!                                                                                                                        



Water slide, bucket on top thet fills slowly and reaches point
where it tips over, onto anybody below.

 One area they have made really nice is a Recycled Water Park - built with some Govt grant, or other. All the facilities use recycled water, and the plant for doing this is on site with interpretive signs as to how it's done. There is a big play/water park type area and a board riding/wave pool. Each of the boardwalk posts (and there are heaps!) have a plaque that contains a water related fact. Most of this facility was free for the kids to use as well, which made it all the more appealing!

We've seen this type of natural occurence on a number of
beaches. Crabs that live in the holes "scuffle' around
skimming the top layer of sand off the beach to make the
most perfect spheres of sand, and leaving them in beautiful
patterns. God's creation is constantly amazing!

 



 
If you've ever been to Oodnadatta, in the SA outback, you will have seen the Pink Roadhouse. Along the same vein, on the Esplanade, absolute beach front, Hervy Bay you have the "yellow house" (that's what we called it anyway!). Everything, and we mean everything was painted in bright glossy yellow! - The walls, the fence, the seat, the clothesline, the balcony, the taps, the cement verandah .... Must have been a cheap truck load! Tickled our fancy, and became a landmark for knowing how far we had to go until we had to turn off for the caravan park.
The house's real name was "Asbestos Manor"!  We actually liked "The Yellow House" better. And we are still trying to work out whether they were serious in their bid to sell, or whether it is a local protest sign to development issues that face the town?? We'll let you be the judge!