Day 44 Wednesday 21/6/2023 Maryborough, sunny 7 – 22

When a diesel heater starts it makes a tick, tick, ticking sound. Last night Elle woke to tick, tick, tick. She leapt out of bed to check the diesel heater and turned it on just in case it was trying to start. Now, once you start a diesel heater you must leave it on for a while before turning it off. She wandered off to the loo while waiting. It was then she noticed the drip, drip, dripping of the shower! Any wonder she was a little bleary-eyed this morning.

VeeWee is setting up her new fridge/freezer. Woody is cleaning the car and the side of the van that missed out yesterday. I do a bit of washing and catch up on more blogs while we’ve got a signal and power.

After lunch we drive into Maryborough so Woody can have a walk and we girls can do a little touring of the historic part of town. On a back street, we notice a house that is sitting high on wooden pallets. This is not an unusual sight in Queensland and it means that either the house has been moved from somewhere else or it is in the process of being raised higher to avoid future flood damage. Chances are it is the latter as Maryborough recently suffered serious flooding.

While Woody walks the town we girls zoom about in the car and every so often there he is, pounding the pavement down side streets and alleys, it’s like ‘Where’s Wally?’. We visit the wharf and historic buildings. The bank that was home to author Pam Travers when her father was the manager is now known as Story Bank and is dedicated to Mary Poppins. Even the traffic walk lights are Mary Poppins themed.

Back at camp B & G from our caravan club, who retired to Hervey Bay 6 years ago, drop in for a chat. There’s always someone to catch up with on these trips.

Dinner is experimental hamburgers, which quickly becomes Winner, Winner Hamburger Dinner. You see having made rissoles in the pie maker a few weeks ago, I thought, why not burgers? Our pie maker has 4 pie holes, in two I put burger patties and closed the lid. When half cooked I broke an egg into each of the remaining 2 holes and closed the lid again. Then it was only a matter of assembling the cheese, meat, egg, tomato sauce, tomato, beetroot, lettuce, and mayo on the toasted and buttered brioche buns. There are 2 minor refinements that need to be made next time…thinner patties and adding the egg a little bit later to ensure that it is runnier. The result though is the best and easiest burgers with no mess as the pie maker is nonstick and doesn’t splatter.

Accom: $23.00

Fuel: $62.14 (1.759c/L)