Day 17 - Hervey Bay to home

It was lovely having the two nights at Hervey Bay but as they say, all good things must come to an end - so we tried to be upbeat as we packed Ravi for the last time this trip.

 Breakfast was at a cafe at the Marina where I'd had coffee yesterday as I waited to go whale-watching. It was as good today. I didn't feel like anything "heavy" and Ray, our waitperson, suggested I try the Granola because it had a fruit selection and yoghurt as well as the oats. It was a good recommendation and I made sure to thank her as we were leaving.

The plan for today's drive of 4.5 hours was to miss the school runs and school zones as we left Hervey Bay, avoid Brisbane peak hour traffic, and gently wish for a lack of accidents and hold-ups on the Gateway and M1 Motorways. It was good on all fronts and we arrived back on the Coast just after 3, leaving enough time to unpack Ravi before we headed over to Aunty Rosemary's to collect Nigey who has spent the afternoon and evening getting re-acquainted with her favourite (table) box.

 

It's hard to work out if there was one definitive highlight of the trip - there were so many! The trip was 17 days long and we covered over 4200km, sticking mostly to the itinerary I was still fine-tuning on the way. It was good we came back via the coast road rather than going the inland route otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do the whale-watching yesterday which was very special - yes, and one of the (many) highlights.

 

One definite not highlight was the number of roadside memorials we saw in our travels - some were quite elaborate, others simple crosses by the roadside. Also not a highlight - the drivers who were rash and looking for a place to have an accident; hopefully they all arrived home safely.