July 12, 2009
Hervey Bay
Hervey Bay is a great place to party…if you’re an old age pensioner and want to dance in your zimmerframe. Hervey is retirement central, it’s where old people prepare to essentially grow old and die. It’s probably the most bland and non-descript town I’ve ever been to, a bit like something out of Stepford Wives. There’s the car show room, pets r us, car parts r us, tyres are us, DIY stores…anything that involves doing up your retirement home or buying a people carrier.
It also happens to be the base for taking a 4×4 trip to Fraser Island and the only reason you would stay there. You can also visit Fraser from Rainbow Beach but in my opinion the Palace Hostel in Hervey Bay is an easier place to meet people before your trip, and they don’t make you go out and buy all your supplies the night before- you can do it on the day. Plus you get a dorm which is in a 2- floor ‘house’ with a huge kitchen, living area and a couple of bathrooms- there’s also a swimming pool, pizza night after your Fraser Island trip and most importantly, you guessed it, hammocks.
On a boiling afternoon I got off the Oz bus in Hervey Bay. That was the day I met Julia- my, from then on, travel buddy for the rest of the trip. It’s probably best if I introduce Julia now since you’ll be reading a lot more stories involving our antics. Julia, nicknamed ‘posh’ because of her southern English accent, favours a spot of afternoon drinking and lets just say ranks highly in the list of drunkest girls I have met. Jules was staying in a dorm in my ‘house’ with 3 Welshies- Mikey, Sing (actually called Andrew but uses a shortened version of his surname) and his girlfriend Sarah. I happened to spot them playing Frisbie on the beach- like most of the people on my trip, I can’t remember how I got talking to them, but before long we had all bonded and were soon cooking lasagne in our communal kitchen.
The biggest and hardest decision we had to make by far on our Fraser Island trip was what alcohol to take. That night there was a shuttle bus that took us to the supermarket to stock up on alcohol- too much and you might waste it…too little and god forbid you might run out. I think Julia and I must’ve spent an hour looking at all the different alcohol options. Goon? Too gross, but cheap. Beer? Too expensive, but tasty. Tough decision. In the end we just went for the whole lot.
Now we were ready to do some 4×4ing.
