Day 45 Thursday 22/6/2023 Maryborough to a bush camp, sunny 9 – 23

As we can’t enter the bush camp until 11:00am and it’s not far away, we have a late start, but as we’re almost ready to go, the woman camped beside us comes over for a chat. Why do they always wait until you are leaving? Anyway, we learn that she’s middle-aged and hit the road 6 months ago with a large van and a Toyota Landcruiser and she’s loving the lifestyle and the friendly people.

We leave the Bruce Highway at Torbanlea and take the Old Bruce Hwy through Burrum to Howard. These towns are small and neat and Howard has an IGA supermarket, pub, chemist, baker, and butcher and we have a bit of a wander.

Then it’s on to the bush camp that we’ve booked online. The property features a number of deck sites overlooking two water lily filled dams and boasts a peaceful bush camp for over 50’s with self-contained RV’s. We meet the criteria, we’re all so well over 50, we can barely remember 50. We have RV’s and we are self-contained. Though like most caravanners and well-trained cats, we do prefer morning ablutions somewhere far away from where we eat breakfast. There’s a dump point near the gate, drop toilets in the scrub, and the manager informs us that we can park wherever we choose. The front part of the park is closely packed and higgledy-piggledy on unlevel black sand. It’s funny how your eyes quickly assess the levels in this caper. Woody’s mumbling “This isn’t a bush camp it’s a caravan park without flushing toilets”. We head past the deck sites which not only overlook the dams but also the sheds, that’s an added bonus for their $45. The second section is less crowded but still uneven. The hardest part is choosing a site, it’s always easier when a grumpy old sod says “You’re on site 30!” And you daren’t argue. We find a spot but thankfully before dropping our legs, the owner comes over to tell us that it’s on the runoff from higher ground and we wouldn’t want to be here when it rains. Great. After much pacing about and anguish over widow-makers and unlevel ground our delightful new neighbours suggest we share their patch of grass and we hook up to power and water. Upon reflection, we should have taken the level unpowered section at the back of the camp it may have been quieter.

The bird life is a delight. There are ducks and an egret on the dam. Kookaburras, blue-faced honeyeaters, magpies, and grey miners. VeeWee spends the afternoon trying to get a TV signal and eventually does. Elle, on the other hand, can’t get any signal at all and we’re not all that far from Maryborough. Woody hot-foots it into town to see how far we are away. We later learn he has an ulterior motive.

We’ve booked to have dinner at the local hotel and at 5:30 (we’re oldies remember) we stroll up to the gate to await the pub courtesy bus. At the first glimpse of the bus it’s ‘on your marks everyone’ for the courtesy bus stampede! We stand back and watch as folks push their way on as if the world is ending and we’re being evacuated. Five minutes later he’s back again and we board, the passengers are as noisy as a bunch of corellas on a hot afternoon. I can see we’re going to be in for a noisy evening because no doubt, most are deaf. As we pull up in the pub car park the sun is setting at the end of the street illuminating the row of power poles.

There are 2 tables reserved for the bush camp mob undercover outside where gas heaters do a half-decent job to keep the chill off. We’re here because of the advertised Thursday $16 T-Bone, but as VeeWee gets to the counter to order they announce that the T-Bones are off (the menu), they’ve run out. Funny that, as the park had booked for 30. Guess we should have fought for the first bus. Anyway, the salmon is good, Woody’s crumbed steak ok and so too Elle’s rump steak. Poor old VeeWee, who was hanging for the T-Bone, is about at the end of her tether and is disappointed in the veggie burger. By the time we are served both the indoors and outdoors of the pub are packed. Where there are walls, there are murals of stockmen, horses, and cattle (they’re just rubbing it in VeeWee). In the gap between the roof and the walls, we can see Venus and a sliver of moon (ok, that’s a waxing crescent). To the side of us over a low brick wall is the laundromat lit with fluorescents and beside that the butcher. I’ll bet there are plenty of T-Bones in there.

Our tables are as noisy as the bus was. We meet an interesting couple from Coffs Harbour who have just retired and still drive 700kms a day, no doubt they’ll soon learn to slow down.

Back on the bus, the corellas are still yacking loudly, Gawd, I hope they don’t talk in their sleep.

And on Channel 7 tonight the weatherman declares “I really can’t give you a forecast tonight as there’s no weather happening this week.” Huh?

I’m beginning to think we’ve landed on another planet.

Accom: $32.00 Power, water, drop toilets, dump point, all you can burn firewood.

*Widow-maker is the name given to eucalypts as they are prone to dropping branches without warning. Always look up before you park and judge the size of the tree canopy.