Camping with Moths, Bush Turkeys and Kookaburras

From Hervey Bay we headed north to Woodgate. We enjoyed a coffee, chat with the locals and beautiful sea views. We were now feeling relaxed and definitely ‘on Woodgate time.’

We parked the Patrol in a shady spot to reorganise; fill the water tanks and prepare for the next stage of our camping trip.

Camping in a National Park, you’re meant to go online and buy your permits, but we found this almost impossible.

Luckily, this time we were successful and – after some considerable time – managed to secure permits for the campsite at Burrum Coast.

What was our site was going to be like?

Some info: – Burrum Coast National Park is spread over four sections—between 25km and 95km south-east of Bundaberg.

There were a few other campers nearby and throughout the trip we have found that even people who choose to camp in remote spots love to have a chat and exchange travel stories.

There was a clean amenities block at Burrum Coast with showers and toilets – and very large moths residing in the loos, on the walls and under the toilet rolls! This caused some shrieks of surprise from unsuspecting visitors (including me) as there was a great surge of flapping moth wings as soon as they were disturbed!

Two bush turkeys chased each other around, eating whatever food scraps they could find – and a resident kookaburra and plenty of mozzies also kept us company.

The beach was very safe to swim (and ideal for some skinny dipping if you’re that way inclined) and the water was quite warm.

There were a few people fishing but generally the beach was deserted.

The day we left we drove to the end of the beach, thinking we might be able to drive all the way back to Woodgate instead of going back by road.

No such luck! We had to turn around and drive back down the beach to a turn off that took us back onto the original track.

On the drive along the beach we saw some amazing trees that resembled white sculptures.

Bundaberg was our next destination, where we booked into Bargara Beach Caravan Park, mainly because we needed to do our washing.  The amenities block was excellent and we did the washing, but after hanging it out, the heavens opened and it poured with rain that night!

The local pub sounded good, except the restaurant was being renovated. There was a food wagon outside with two friendly Kiwis cooking meals so we decided to stay and have a couple of beers and share a delicious rice dish.

We had a couple of nights at Bargara Beach and Peter and I had a good walk around the area through what appeared to be a stalled development for a large marina in the process of being built.  It was a great spot – but had lousy access – which may be why the marina development hadn’t been completed. 

Deepwater Creek https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/deepwater/about was our next destination, however getting there took a bit longer than planned. The first road we went down was water-logged and blocked by trees. 

Peter managed to clear the way a couple of times but when we were confronted by the third tree lying across the road, we decided enough was enough.

We eventually found the road to Middle Creek and although we had tried many times to book a permit online, we didn’t manage to get through, so decided to risk camping the night and hoping a ranger might turn up to keep us honest …

A large group of local very noisy tradies and and their partners and teenage children had a birthday celebration on that Saturday night, with a very loud boom box. 

They were a friendly lot though, and did venture down to the beach about 11pm, but emerged again in the early hours of the morning with the boom box playing music loud and clear!  So, not much of a sleep for us that night. 

Set off early next morning and found the back road to Agnes Water. 

Wherever we can, we prefer to free camp, and there are usually plenty of good spots, often on the gazetted but ‘no through’ roads.

Agnes Water camping ground was full but luckily we managed to find a (free) camp spot for a couple of nights at the Workmen’s Campsite.  Met some great young people there who were travelling around Australia.

It was great to see Agnes Water again (I had stayed there back in 2019 on my way from Broome to Brisbane. Apparently many Victorians had since moved to the area, as evidenced by a surge in housing.

The beach was nice and we were able to swim, but on the third day it started to rain and we decided to pack up and head for Gladstone.  Funnily enough, we reached Gladstone about 4.30 pm and it started to hail and Peter said, “let’s get a motel” which we did. 

It was a nice change to have a hot shower and generally refresh! And we took the opportunity to have a meal out.

It’s worth looking around the jetty area at Gladstone where the HMAS Gladstone is moored, and Auckland Wharf is very impressive.

I was intrigued to see a ‘dozer’ on display in the park and wanted to include it here …

And that’s about it for this part of the trip. Next stop is Rockhampton.