Maryborough, Queensland

Friday June 9th saw us saying our fond goodbyes to Bargara and beginning our journey South. We enjoyed a relatively short drive to Maryborough of 120 Km. The road was good and not too crowded and we arrived late morning. We pulled into a low cost camp run by the local soccer club. Doon Villa has set aside a large open area for self contained campers. Cost of $10/night is very reasonable and includes toilets, hot showers, dump point, and potable water available. There were about 10 vans there when we pulled in and a few more came throughout the day with about 15 there by nightfall. The caretaker, Glen, came around in the later afternoon to collect fees and welcome us to the park and Maryborough. Very nice man who donates a lot of time to ensure the success of the campground initiative. Comes around at least 3 times a day to ensure everyone pays and that any non self contained vehicles (backpackers, tents, etc.) are moved along. The park is new and not everyone is supportive of the venture so the rules need to be followed. Hopefully it is successful as is the primary reason we and several other campers stayed in Maryborough. The amenity block is small and old, but kept spotlessly clean. 4 Stars! Had a lovely full moon during our stay.

We took a drive downtown in the afternoon and took a short walk around Queens Park. A lovely large garden/park area along the river banks where the old port used to be located. We also stopped at a tyre place as two of the caravan tyres have worn very unevenly and need replacement. We arranged to bring van in to have a new set of tyres installed on Saturday morning. As such we had a quiet night and packed up the van as much as possible.

Saturday morning we finished packing up the van and headed into the Tyre shop. Four new tyres were installed and the bearing checked over at the same time. One bearing needed a bit of an adjustment but all else was good. Amazing how fast they can fit new tyres these days even with a 3 tonne caravan. All done and back at the campsite within an hour and a half. We got setup again although in a slightly different location from the day before. Found we were in a bit of shade which doesn't help the solar and also were getting poor TV reception. New location was closer to the dump point as well which was handy to dump the grey water we were collecting in a 20L pail.

Had a pretty quiet afternoon although about a dozen campers got together for afternoon drinks and stories. Ended up having a bit of a late dinner but was fun.

Sunday morning we took a drive out to Hervey Bay to see Colin, Lorna, and Tamara Hatte who had recently moved there from Harrington. We used to golf with Colin and Lorna once a week with a friend of theirs, Bob. We had a nice visit and returned to the park for a relaxing afternoon. Sandra and I did several laps of the grounds to get a bit of exercise in the afternoon. As a side note, Hervey Bay appears to have grown in leaps and bounds since our last visit 5 years ago. Too busy for my liking but convenient for shopping etc.

Monday morning we reported to the town hall to do a free walking tour of Maryborough. Another couple from the caravan park came along with their two dogs. A local man took us through a tour of the downtown area explaining much of Maryborough's history. Turns out it is/was quite an important location in Queensland's history. The tour took about two hours and was very informative. Well done Maryborough. Sandra and I both said that we would return here someday to do a bit more sightseeing and exploring.

We did a bit of grocery shopping before returning to the caravan. Spent the afternoon relaxing, walking, and prepping for the next leg of our journey. We quite enjoyed our stop here and will return someday. We would highly recommend the Doon Villa camping site and hope they are successful in offering travellers a low cost camping option in Maryborough. We ended up spending over $1200 locally that would have been spent elsewhere if not for this option. A bit of a funny thing happened with the local newspaper showing up in the afternoon to do a story about the park. Took a few pictures and some information. Had a follow-up call later in the week and apparently the story appeared in the local paper with our smiling faces.

For those that are interested the articles is at:

Grey nomads