Fraser Island Day Trip ... Whales Galore

Hervey Bay is world renowned for its massive amount of Humpback Whales that spend time in the bay nursing their young.

We were told the best tour was the one with the Conservationists as tour guides. However their boat was in dry dock getting routine maintenance!

So we took the tour which fitted in with our schedule, which was the Tasman Venture Remote Fraser Island and Whale Watching Tour. This included whale watching, snorkelling, kayaking and walking the beaches on the west side of Fraser Island. Upon boarding at 7.30am after the safety briefing we were advised that we would not need shoes or socks all day. It was a perfect sunny day (like most in Queensland).

Once out on the water, my eye naturally looks for and enjoys patterns.

Myriads of little patterns cross the seas...I think they are fabulous!



No matter how beautiful the view is there is always a cell phone to trump it!

Our first whale sighting...everyone is excited and keen.

Mother and..

Child.....early morning...still half asleep!?

Then slowly but surely the calf starts to play, flipping its fins.

Then their tails at all sorts of odd angles



Apparently the mothers teach them this as it’s needed later!





Mother and calf with another adult protector come in really close to the back of the boat.

We then went ashore in two parties, I went snorkeling in the first group while the other group climbed a sand hill!

This is how we got onto the shore, with this little amphibious Sea Legs boat, made in NZ.

These are Fraser Island Dingo tracks.

Some sort of Crab makes these little balls of sand!

Our American guide tells us this white sand blew all the way from Antarctica...hard to believe! 

Different colour sand..nearly as white as the pommies on the tour!

Below is the whistling skite

Below is the Whistling Kite...the real deal!

And this one is the White Bellied Sea Eagle.

Patterns in the sand... I can’t get enough of them!

Back on the water we really get into some whale action...

Mama Mia.....that’s a whale of a Jump

That really is belly up!

We then went kayaking.

Up a small fresh water creek, no crocs, only eels..the guy with his feet over the side is one of the crew.

His shirt is a bit of a clue!



There was another couple of beached whales from Switzerland on our tour...

Very little chance of them seeing this blog!...or knowing how to track me down!



Full steam ahead we’re heading home...some bow wave Eh!

This was a terrific day without shoes, but with sunburn.

Amazing Australia has it all in vast amounts!

That’s all Folks......

Next blog we are still heading north and inland too!

Till we meet again....some sunny day.

Take care and be creative.

Jimu & Christine.

(Backup) Handover day at Bundaberg Jayco!

Well, the big day finally arrived. At 9am on Monday 10th September, we rocked up to the Bundaberg Warburton’s Jayco yard.

We had been dealing with Levi, who was there to greet us and handed us over to Clint for the official handover. So much information for newbies to take in, we paid attention, but really we were so excited and flummoxed, much of it flew right over the top.

I had to let some nervous energy go and rode the unicycle around the yard a few times!

Many clowns have picked up Jayco Caravans but this was the first actual bonafide Clown!



All was looking great inside. When they connected the trailer connection to check the lights and indicators etc, the tail lights on the caravan were flashing. This is a known fault with my model and year of Ford Ranger (PX XL 2014) and easily fixed by purchasing the below extension with some electrical wizardry inside (diaodes?)

With the caravan now all ready to test drive, Clint hopped in the driver’s seat and asked where is our trailer brake controller? Unfortunately our reply was, “What’s a brake controller?”. Without this it’s not legal to tow on the road. I rang around locally to try and get one fitted and only managed to get an appointment for 3 days time. Levi kindly towed our new caravan to the recently opened Bundaberg CMCA site near the Burrum Street shopping centre.

Peter the custodian, a friendly chap showed us where to go, with no troubles joining into the happy hour.

We met a kiwi family travelling in a huge bus, also towing a car.

Their bus is named Obby, which is short for “Our Big Back Yard”.

Aiden & Rachael had been planning for 18 months for their big lap with their two boys.

Very friendly boys, Nate in the middle and Sebastion at the front!

Hansens in Bundaberg did a top job fitting the Redarc brake controller. 

After having difficulty with the awning, and needing neighbourly help we finally headed out towards Maryborough

I had met some nice people in Maryborough on our previous Apollo Motorhome trip, who had very kindly offered us to park up in their back yard.

I had to back into their garden up a long drive through a gate, all done with no reversing cameras (we had them installed in the factory, but as yet not fitted inside the ute). Amazingly the backing job was an unrecorded masterpiece (if you’ll believe that...you’ll believe anything).

Ross & Rene were fabulous hosts and we quickly set about stocking the caravan with all the necessary, cooking, eating and cleaning gadgetry, with many visits to Big W, Bunnings, Supercheap, Spotlight, BCF, etc, etc.

We had quite a huge shopping list, some of which is in the trolley below.

Spotlight had this amazing material...I just had to buy it...I’ll make something out of it..for sure!

We were given a couple of Jayco caps, perhaps they will be first on the list for a colourful upgrade with this fabric!

Maryborough had a special event being held around the streets about 400 metres away. Every year the town holds a 24hr HPV race with special bikes designed and made by the schools, or in some cases bought and these are very professional looking, costing in the $5-7k range.

Each team has 8 drivers/riders, they are recumbent style bikes mostly with a full body, as below!

Here is the pits view, practice for lap times and grid position. Fastest lap around 2m5sec.

Each vehicle is exactly 1HPV, (human powered vehicle) fueled by Coca Cola, Macdonalds, Pizza and large amounts of sweets. Lots of teenage bravado, a few close calls, some crashes, none requiring medical attention. Cheering and horn beeping was definitely allowed!   

This is not the actual winner as in my book they are all winners!

Saturday night in Historic Maryborough was a happening place.

The band was excellent, certainly got me up dancing and prancing!

When we were about to leave Maryborough Christine noticed this screw sticking out to the caravan tyre.

Not sure just how long it was, we quietly limped to Bob Janes Tyre Yard.

It took some digging out but was only about 12mm long, advice was to put a core (plug) in it as water may get in and rust the steel radial wires.


I had intended to get the wheels balanced on the Caravan and took the opportunity to do so.

Weights fitted of 50 and 55 grams fitted to each tyre. Was told some of the larger 4WD tyres need as much as 350 grams! We have recently joined a facebook group called “Jayco Journey Owners Australia” who have over 5000 members, who have helped us in many ways and one of their suggestions was to get the wheels balanced.

Getting some Nitrogen put into the tyres...was a gas gas gas!

I asked the guys at Janes for some old inner tubes.

I like to make my own rubber bands, which are very handy for all sorts of jobs.

My wife has a term for my fixing things with rubber bands....it’s called “Rosedaling it” after my days at the farm in Rosedale (NZ).

We headed north towards Fraser Island and took a day tour on the western side, so lots to report in the next blog.

Till then...stay safe and free.

From the Campsites of Queensland.

Jimu & Christine