Greyhound Australia

We had preferred to go by train from Mackay, but it was fully booked. The next train only came two days later. So we had to go by bus. We were not very much in favour of travelling by bus, as it is much less comfortable than a train. Greyhound appeared to be the easiest as to taking bikes on the bus, so we booked for Sunday night 21.10 from Mackay to Maryborough, arrival there at 08.10 in the morning. Peter guided us from his home to the tankstation/busstop. We had to make makeshift lights, since our sophisticated machines don't have them. (An omission? Tend to think it is by now.)

The bus appeared to be quite comfortable and spacious. The bikes could easily stand (!) in the cargo hold and we had comfortable seats ourselves. Before leaving the driver told me everything about the sugar cane industry and about his vehicle. An interesting man with knowledge of matters that a busdriver is not necessarily expected to have.

As a matter of fact he told me that almost half of the sugar produced here is used for the production of fertilizer. The bus we were travelling on was 12 years old and “she” was still doing fine, which we later could only confirm. We slept most of the time during the ride and were not tired after it. To our surprise we learned that the bus would stop in Hervey Bay before stopping in Maryborough, so we decided to get off there. We had planned to come there anyway for a whale watching boat excursion and an excursion on Fraser Island. The latter is the largest sand-island in the world an it is covered by rainforest, which is exceptional. So in the morning we could quietly look for the nicest campsite in town and we ended up in Torquay Caravan Park, on the beachfront with shops, restaurants and even a pub at the other side of the street. Exceptional as well, everything so close.