11th July 2026: left Hervey Bay heading for Maroochydore via Maryborough. We drove past the airport, much as I remember it as a field with a small shed, where I landed in a Piper Cherokee, one of 5 passengers and a pilot going to Proserpine for a Melbourne University Underwater Club diving holiday out of Shute Harbour. We had to make an unscheduled landing because suddenly we had limited visibility through the windscreen. This turned out to be due to a faulty grease nipple, and I was dispatched to walk to the nearest petrol station to try to get a new one, which I was able to do! We camped that night on the airfield.

Maryborough is a very spread out town full of old run down  high rise on stilts weatherboard houses. The Bruce was once again stressful driving due to the single lane status. Finally we hit dual carriageway! We stopped about 3/4 hour short of Maroochydore at a huge new service G’s where we had crab sushi and a coffee,

We got to the Maroochy River Caravan Park at about 2,30pm. They had a tractor to tow our caravan into quite a tight space. We set up camp, I did the washing, Nic sorted out his cricket gear for tomorrow and I sorted out the car. I cooked a vegie omelette with salmon on the side for dinner and we had an early night after I jammed my foot under our bed whilst lifting the bed and trying to save Starlink from becoming unplugged! Nic kindly provided me with ice!

Not a photo was taken for the day! 


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