More washing! Where does it come from? A load of washing done and hung up in the moho. Water tanks full and toilet cassette emptied. We were ready to head out.

Katie and the kids were having a bit of a sleep in while Rich and I drove out to visit Carol & David who we’d gone to the Big Red Bash with in 2021. They live just outside of Dalby.

We had a wonderful visit with Carol & David. It was hard to get away, we could have talked all morning! Carol had made scones and pikelets as she thought we were bringing Katie and the kids so she insisted we take them with us for the kids. On the way back to the caravan park we received a message to say KT and kids were at the Tourist Centre so we met them there. We finally left Dalby about 10.30am and headed towards Kingaroy.

Dalby is situated on flat plains but as we approached Kingaroy we drove into hills. Closer to Kingaroy we started to see a very green low growing crop and we all wondered if they were peanuts that the area is known for.

Arriving in Kingaroy, the hometown of Queensland’s most famous premier, Joe Bjelke-Petersen, we went directly to the lovely little Lions Park. The community made possible the construction of the Big Peanut. It’s one of those large sculptures made from scrap metal, very clever. Of course we had to take pictures at the peanut photo screen.

Across the road from the Lions Park is the Peanut Van, a Kingaroy institution, with its variety of peanut flavours and peanut paste for sale. I bought Maple Bacon and Salted Caramel to try and some Smooth Peanut Butter. Will let you know how they taste.

We drove around to the Tourist Centre so we could take pics of the enormous Peanut Silos on the other side of the road. They certainly dominate the town and can be seen from miles away. The 43 metre silos can hold an incredible 16,000 tonnes of peanuts.

The name Kingaroy means ‘Red Ant’. Kingaroy is known as the Peanut Capital of Australia and has the largest peanut processing plant in the country.

Did you know that peanuts are NOT a nut? They are a pea and grow in the ground. Peanuts were first grown in South America some 7,500 years ago.

Kingaroy is also home to the largest pig abattoirs in Australia called Swickers Kingaroy Bacon Factory.

Another product of the district is the Navy Bean. Farming of Navy Beans in the area came about because American troops were stationed in the area during WW2 and the American military had been using Navy beans as a food staple sine the 1800’s. Navy beans are more commonly known in Australia as ‘baked beans’.

A quick lunch in our RV’s and then it was on to Maryborough.

On arrival in Maryborough and parking opposite the Tourist Centre we hurried across at the traffic lights. We arrived at 3.50pm to find that the doors to the Cistern Chapel had already been locked and they are meant to be open until 4pm. We were very disappointed. The Cistern Chapel is the toilet block attached to the town hall and apparently the entire thing is painted in fantastic murals however we can’t say anything about that as we didn’t get to see them. Oh well. The Story Book Museum was also closed so we didn’t stop in Maryborough although we did get a photo of the Mary Poppins statue on the corner in front of the Story Book Museum. The museum is housed in the bank building where the author of the Mary Poppins books, PL Travers, was born. Apparently there are some 30 murals around Maryborough so we’ll have to come back one day to check those out.

We continued on to Hervey Bay.

I called and booked us in at Pialba Beach Holiday Park and we were able to get two sites next to each other for $130 for both sites for one night. On arrival we checked in to find that they had plenty of vacant sites. The sites were all lovely grass and slab sites and the park is right on the beach.

On the way to Hervey Bay I also booked us into a Farmstay near Bundaberg for a couple of nights. Unpowered camping on large acreage along the Elliot River. You have to be self-contained but they have fire pits scattered around and wood for sale. They are 15 mins drive into Bundaberg or Bargara. Sounds perfect to us.

It was dark by the time we had finished setting up camp at Pialba Beach. Pa had offered to buy everyone fish & chips for dinner and, following the recommendation of the lady at the caravan park, we set off in the Prado to find Migaloos Fish & Chips at Urangan. It was all the way at the other end of The Esplanade and it was a shame is was dark as couldn’t see the water that we knew was just there.

There were quite few people out and about and seemed to be a lot of cafes and restaurants to choose from.

We found Migaloos near the entrance to Urangan Pier and bought a seafood feast. The fish & chips were delicious.

After dinner we all wandered out to the pier and walked all the way to the end. The pier is 800 metres long now but used to be some 1100 metres long. The pier was 100 years old in 2017. There were lots of people fishing from the pier but none of the ones we spoke to had caught anything. From the pier we could see lights across the water on K’Gari (Fraser Island) which is just across the straight. One of the reasons Hervey Bay is so popular with young families is the beaches are so safe because there are hardly any waves. The big waves are blocked by K’Gari.

The walk out along the pier was great and by the time we’d done that everyone was ready to call it a night so back along The Esplanade to Pialba Beach we went. We were all looking forward to seeing more of Hervey Bay in the daylight.