Bargara to Agnes Waters and 1770

15/10/2014 - 17/10/2014

We left Bargara and headed for Agnes Waters Workman's Beach Camping Ground via Bundaberg as previously stated in the last scribbles. The Queensland coast does not have any legal free camping areas they are mainly inland, the site we are heading for is a campground run by the Gladstone Council and there is a small fee of $6 per head per night. There are designated campsites and they are the only places that you are permitted to park once they are full that is it. The sites start filling up by mid afternoon. Facilities are toilets and a cold water open shower in the park, it is a bare bones camp ground. You are permitted to stay up to 42 days and when you leave you cannot return for a 7 day period. The council ranger comes around 0700 hours in the morning to collect the fees, there are signs everywhere stating that skipping without paying is an offence.

(Campground areas, left, cold shower second post on left, right, looking into campground from shower and toilet areas) 

(toilet block, three toilets)

(Our campsite)

(Sun sets through the trees)

Alternatives are the choice of three caravan parks with prices that range from $33 to $50 per night for a powered site for 2 people. The 1770 caravan park being a waterfront park and naturally the highest cost.

We anchored at 1770 some four years ago and walked to Agnes Waters, the place then was very quiet and like a lot of coastal areas it was suffering from the economic downturn  and the high Australian dollar. Back then I mentioned that there was a  new estate and what looked like a motel or resort that had some structure started but the work had stopped with pallets of building materials rotting away in the yard, houses not complete up for sale. That estate now has grown along with a few more the resort is under construction once again with the front section near complete and the rest which is very large well under way. Agnes Waters itself now has a very large shopping complex which did not exist back when we visited before which includes a Woolworths.

 (1770 Harbour from marina area)

 (Marina cafe)

(Our rig on the waterfront)

The 1770 area has also grown some with a new resort  being built, the waterfront is basically the same . The Marina Cafe serves very nice meals and very friendly staff, the area has not change much here they have the Lady Musgrave Island boat tours and the old ex-Army duck that does tours.

Getting back to the campground where we stayed, here has many trees and we were blessed with the sight of a Frog Mouth Owl with its two young in a nest in one of the trees, there are bush turkeys wondering the campsites looking for anything to eat. The campground is dog friendly as long as the dogs are under control, unfortunately you will always get the one idiot that does not obey those rules and there was one such idiot but he was soon told by fellow campers.

 (Early bird gets the worm)

 (Frog Mouth Owl and two young)

There are an assortment of campers from caravans, motorhomes , tents and camper trailers. Many of the younger generation in tents but there are some families doing the same. It is a good campsite and everyone is friendly.

Nearby is the beach itself and is only a very short walk from the campsite, it is quite a nice beach with some rock formations in the one end.

(Track to the beach, photo from Nancy)

 (Photos of the beach from Nancy)

We basically had a relaxing time whilst we were here which was only two nights. I got talking to a couple in a caravan next door and he had some power problems with his fridge. I was able to help him a little with his problem, he had two 100 amp/hour  house batteries but he had them stand alone and the one battery was not lasting the distance. I suggested that he rewire the batteries in series so that he could have the draw of power on the two batteries at the same time. ( This is connecting the batteries earth to earth and positive to positive, this maintains the 12 volts and now has 200 amp/hour to draw from). The other problem was that he ran the generator for 90 minutes until his battery gauge indicated 13.5 volts then he shut the generator off thinking that the battery is fully charged. This is not always the case, having 100 amp/hour battery you need to ensure that it is charged so that all that amp/hour is stored. His battery charger has indicting lights and I looked up this charge on the internet and found out what the charge cycle was then explained that to him. After this he ran the generator to charge the battery and kept checking the light indicators on the charger it took 3 hours to fully charge the battery, so previously he only ran the generator half of this time so the battery was not fully charged. He went down town and was getting battery leads made to join the batteries in series. When he came back he said they had to be made and he would get them the next day, he spoke with the battery bloke and fortunately he confirmed what I had said about connecting and charging the batteries.

It was a good campsite and kept clean and tidy, you will get the occasional person that makes a mess and it is usually some fool leaving toilet paper shreds on the deck rather than putting it in the bin but you get those clowns in all places.

We enjoyed our short stay and we would come back again sometime, our next stop is Elliot Heads.

Cheers