Hervey Bay was a nice drive from Brisbane. I found that the countryside reminded me of Quebec in a lot of ways with their hills.
The Emeraldene resort turned out to be a big score in terms of accommodations. We felt like we were treated like royalty by Rob. The room was so fantastic that we decided to pick up some chicken at the grocery store along with some Coopers Pale Ale and spend the night there instead of heading out. It turned out to be a good idea to save some money.
With those of you who are familiar with my first trip to Germany and seeing my amazement at radio controlled clocks, then you will be happy to know I was amazed once again…with the shopping cart at Woolworths! This cart handled better than any of the high end cars on the road. It glided across the floor with ease. I had to keep it in check going around corners. Vero was having a ball watching me go around the grocery store with this cart. I was trying to think of ways to offer them money for the cart but I figured there was no way it would fit in the overhead compartment on the airplane ride home!
The first day at Hervey Bay brought us on a Hummer tour to Fraser Island. Craig picked us up in a Hummer and we picked up two others who were from Canbera up for their aunt and uncles 60th birthday…coincidentally their aunt and uncle share the same exact birthdate!
We hopped on a ferry for forty five minutes and hit the sandy roads. Fraser Island literally is a sand island and you can’t bring a regular Mazda3 onto the island otherwise you would get stuck. Hence the Hummer. Unfortunately for me, the off roading was way too intense and I started to get motion sickness like when I was a kid. I hadn’t felt that bad in years! Where was the Gravol for this ride?
We crossed one part of the island and stopped on the beach for some tea and biscuits. Then we drove on the beach at 80 km/hr. The beach is actually a part of their highway system and police can pull you over for any infraction. But there’s no lines on this highway and the only borders are the woods on one side and the ocean on the other and you have to mindful of the waves coming in. It reminded me of a boat as you observe similar rules when approaching an oncoming vehicle. I bet Steve would love to be patrolling these highways instead of the great white north!
The day involved cross crossing the island on those nasty motion sickness trails, stopping at spots with trails and getting a bite to eat, and swimming in me of the lakes on the island. All in all, it was a fun day other than the motion sickness every time we got back into the car.
The next day we were picked up by a limousine which Vero thought would be a little over the top just to go to the airport. Turns out that we fell for the alligator trick again…the limousine was simply their name for a taxi cab! We had a great laugh when it showed up.
We headed to the Lady Elliot Eco-Resort which is a small (you can walk around it in an hour) island along the Great Barrier Reef. The bonus on this trip is we got to fly in a Cessna over Hervey Bay where we saw whales. Quite amazing to fly in a small plane overtop the world. I can only imagine how Rick feels over Toronto now that he is getting his pilots license. Too bad the motion sickness nipped me in the bud again today and didn’t let up on any mode of transportation.
We landed on a grassy strip and were welcomed by the manager of the Eco-resort. The rules were simple…don’t walk back onto the landing strip if you see a plane coming! We had an orientation session which outlined the activities of the day.
First up, a snorkelling lesson in the swimming pool. Vero and I had tried snorkelling in the Dominican for Steve and Anne-Marie’s wedding but I definitely didn’t get the hang of it there. There is a mental block you have to get over when you put your face in the water and need to breathe through your mouth. At least I had this block…my brain was saying “Your face is in the water! Don’t stay too long!”
We then hopped on a glass bottom boat out to a spot of coral where we could snorkel. We saw sea turtles and manta rays along the trip. When we got to the snorkelling bit, we actually encountered a sea turtle swimming with us to get some air! It was fabulous to be amongst the sea life at such a close distance. Quite the highlight. The coral was fabulous to peer at and I have to admit that unless you have some shipwrecks to look at, it must be fairly dull to dive in Ontario compared to the marvels of corral, sea turtles and countless coloured fish.
We got back to shore and had a lovely buffet lunch in the sun and then headed out for a corral walk since the tide was down. The entire area is made of corral so you have to watch where you walk. We found a sea turtle stuck in the corral since the tide went down so we helped the guy out. We also encountered an actual shark which I’m sure Joelle will be thrilled to hear about. I wasn’t too thrilled when the thing came a few feet away from me but considering the guide didn’t say anything I figured this trout sized shark couldn’t be too harmful. We also saw an eel so we were pretty happy with the trip out to the corral.
It was tour guide Kim who spotted a sea urchin and I said “Good eye Kim!” And she replied “G’Day to you!” I then realized that Good Eye and G’Day definitely sound the same in the Aussie accent! I explained what I meant to tell her and we had a good laugh.
Afterwards we had a tour of the island with a history lesson of the place as well as checking out a spot where they feed hundreds of fish.
Our day at the Lady Elliot Island was fabulous and in hindsight we would have skipped Fraser Island to stay a night on the island. The first day can be spent going to the activities while the second could be spent doing whatever you wanted.
We flew back while having a spot right up front so we could see the airplane controls. I have zero knowledge on flying an aircraft but was intrigued by how the plane seemed to fly itself until Vero reminded me of the concept of autopilot. I will have to ask Rick how that all works when he one day brings me in a plane. Wink wink nuge nuge (that’s not a typo but an old joke…Sonia once said that instead of nudge nudge and I thought that was hilarious.)
That night we headed into town to Maddigans which reportedly has the best fish and chips in town. Considering we waited for forty five minutes I would think there must be some truth in this claim! The place was packed with people who seemed to come up to Hervey Bay for a weekend of fun in the sun. The meal was great but we definitely could have split one meal as it was too much.
We headed back to the hotel and was going to walk around the area until a low flying helicopter with a spotlight came over us and we figured that the worst case scenario was an escaped convict so we locked the doors and stayed in for the night! It flew over the place six more times that night but Lord knows what it was searching for.
Hervey Bay was definitely worthwhile of a visit and we recommend it to anyone.
