1770 & Burrum Point

Our last week on the road and we are lucky enough to get to spend it with my parents and both my brothers; something we have been really looking forward to for some time. Mum and Dad picked out the caravan park at Seventeen Seventy as a spot to stay as they had heard plenty about it and were keen to check it out. It was on the coast, just down from Gladstone, so it was far enough north of Brisbane to make it a bit of a road trip for them (Dad even put together a Spotify playlist- 1770 road trip – get on it). They have been setup here for a couple of days by the time we arrive, back to basics camping with tents and a tarp. We have scored a spot right next to them and in a tight caravan park, Holly did a ripper job of getting the troopy and van reversed into position (Proud moment when they old bloke setup next to us says to me “wow you did a good job getting that van in there, it’s a tight spot” – ‘mate that wasn’t me, my wife did that’).

We spend the first night at a spot up the back of the park before getting upgraded to a beach front site for the next night. The caravan park is positioned on the water and prime spot for big reef boats to head out from.  Dad has towed up my tinny so we can have a muck around doing some fishing and crabbing. Turns out the inlet is fairly shallow so crabbing wasn’t ideal but we were keen to do some fishing around the point as Dad had already caught a decent sized flat head before we arrived.  The weather was perfect and we had a great time basking in the sun and taking turns going out in the tinny but unfortunately did no good here.

What a ripper caravan park on the water; with a camp kitchen, massive shower blocks and coin laundry. You defiantly get value for your money here but for us this is only the second big van park we have stayed as we cannot fork out these big $$$ all the time so we are looking forward to our next stop where we can show my family the budget style of camping we have been exploring for most of the trip.

 

Camp Location: Seventeen Seventy Camping Ground / Van Park

Cost = $46/night power & water off peak

Travelled From: Yaamba Rest Area

Travelled:  265 kilometres

 

After a few good days here at 1770 we make the call to begin moving south, before we make it to our camp location we drop into see some family friends in Bargara (just out of Bundaberg on the coast), The Keens. Recently Barry & Michelle shifted up here so we drop in for a quick stopover to checkout their new place. What a cool little suburb they have there, walking distance to the beach and nice boardwalk with some nice shops and restaurants. We could have stayed and talked for ages but we had to keep moving to make it to camp before the sun went down.

Our next stop is at Burrum Point, a beach camp just out of Woodgate. We have booked a site online and after checking some of the comments on wiki camps we find you can enter the camp from either an inland sand track or via the beach if the tide is low enough. The tide is low and the beach entrance is solid so we hit the beach for a short drive before we make out way to the camp site entrance.

The entrance from the beach has the sand a little soft and chopped up, nothing major for a 4WD but not that straight forward with a big caravan. We walk the first part of the track and Dad goes on through first with the boat in tow, gets a little stuck by picking a bad track but we let the tires down and he gets out by backing up and tacking the easier looking track. We make it through the entrance with a bit of a run up with the Troopy no dramas but once we get closer to the camp we get caught up on a tight 90 degree bend that has some soft sand.  With the soft sand and not swinging wide enough we end up getting caught in the deep tire track, I have cut the corner with the van behind and it is now stuck on top of a bollard. The sun is pretty well gone now so under torch light we are unhooking the van, jacking it up and cutting off the bollard. Repositioning the Troopy to hook up again and attempt to get around this tight bend, all a little frantic to begin with but we all put in and get out with no damage in the end. It definitely made for some laughs (all at my expense) once we got setup at camp.

Morning comes and Dad and I go for a quick explore. As we drive down the beach we see bait busting up everywhere getting smashed by birds and big fish just meters from the bank (clowns, we didn’t bring any rods). We head back to camp for some breaky and rally the troops before we all head down to fish along the beach for the day. We drop the tinny in the water in the afternoon; just beach launching it in calm conditions meters from our camp was unreal. We end up spending a couple of days like this with Sheldon landing the prize catch of a spotted mackerel caught trolling the channel just off the beach.

 

 

Camp Location:  Burrum Point

Cost = $6.50/person/night

Travelled From: Seventeen Seventy Camping Ground / Van Park

Travelled:  195 kilometres

 

After three nights at Burrum Point we pack up early Sunday morning and head to our last stop before returning home. No dramas getting the van out; this time we just take it real slow and trust the Troopy power to get us through the soft sand. We are all heading to Kenny & Julies pace in Eumundi for an afternoon of food and drinks on their deck. Turns out perfect timing as Michelle & Tracey who have been travelling Australia in their bus and working along the way have been at Eumundi for the weekend. Michelle & Tracey have been on the road for 20 months so we had a great afternoon of sharing stories on what was our last afternoon travelling. Next morning we wake up and have a big breaky before hitting the road. Thanks to Kenny & Julie for having us all in their beautiful home.

 

6^th August and only a short last drive before we make it to Mum and Dad’s place where our adventure started over six month ago. We have a week at Mum and Dad’s cleaning everything up before we move back into our home over the weekend. It has been great to spend some time with my family we had an unreal time together, the only reason we didn’t end the trip on a sombre note.

After 187 days on the road and a total of 32,078kms, our adventure has come to an end. We have had the best time, seen some incredible places, met some amazing people and have been so lucky with the reliability of the Troop Carrier and Caravan. All would not have been possible without my beautiful wife Holly, seeing as we hadn’t even really been camping together at all, it worked out pretty well. We are both looking forward to the next chapter in our lives together but that last chapter is one we will never forget.  Thanks for all the support and for following our journey around Australia.

Zac.