From spotting turtles in the Great Sandy Strait to driving the sand tracks of K’gari in a DENZA B5, this episode is about seeing familiar touring destinations from a different angle. There is also time for a sunset cruise, a waterfall swim, a country horse ride and a fresh snapper ceviche made beside the wetlands at Grampians Paradise.
Where they Stayed: Ingenia Holidays Hervey Bay
Ingenia Holidays Hervey Bay becomes Felicity’s base for exploring the region. The park offers powered and unpowered sites, cabins and a selection of pet-friendly options, placing travellers within easy reach of Hervey Bay’s foreshore, marina and major tour departures.
For motorhome travellers, staying close to town makes it easy to leave the vehicle set up while joining a cruise or spending the day exploring the coast.
Hervey Bay: Turtle Discovery Experience
Felicity joins Hervey Bay Eco Marine Tours for its Turtle Discovery experience aboard a glass-bottom boat. The pace is deliberately slow and peaceful, allowing time to look through the water and watch for turtles, dolphins, dugongs, seabirds and other marine life.
The tour travels through the protected waters of the Great Sandy Strait and includes a stop at Pelican Bank, a remote sandbar known for its white sand and clear blue-green water. With the conditions on her side, Felicity jumps from the boat and cools off with a swim.
The experience is not about rushing from one sighting to the next. It is a quieter way to discover the marine environment, with local knowledge and Butchulla cultural stories adding context to the landscape.
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Turtle Experience
Dual Opening Fridge · Dometic
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K’gari (Fraser Island): with DENZA B5
Felicity swaps the motorhome for the crew DENZA B5 and heads to River Heads for the ferry to K’gari.
K’gari is the world’s largest sand island and driving here requires preparation. Emily Rose from Australian Offroad Academy starts with one of the most important steps: lowering the tyre pressures before tackling the island’s soft sand and inland tracks.
With the DENZA B5 placed into sand mode, Felicity takes the wheel and begins exploring the island.
Boorangoora (Lake McKenzie)
Boorangoora, widely known as Lake McKenzie, is a perched lake formed in a natural basin above the water table. Its shoreline is made from almost pure silica sand, while the lake is filled by rainwater rather than a flowing river or spring.
The result is one of K’gari’s most recognisable landscapes: brilliant white sand surrounding exceptionally clear water.
Seeing a wongari on K’gari
While travelling across the island, Felicity spots a wongari, the Butchulla word for dingo. These are wild animals and an important part of K’gari’s natural and cultural landscape.
Visitors should keep their distance, never feed or approach wongari, keep children close and follow all island safety advice. A sighting is best enjoyed quietly from a safe distance.
Eli Creek
The journey continues to Eli Creek on K’gari’s eastern beach. Felicity follows the boardwalk upstream before stepping into the cool freshwater and floating gently back towards the beach.
It is a simple K’gari experience, but one that captures the island perfectly: clear water, coastal forest and the ocean only metres away.
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Australian Offroad Accademy
Fresh Snapper Ceviche
Recipe from Episode 1
Chivche with Corn Chips and Salad
Ingredients
- Fresh snapper
- Fresh limes or lime juice
- Bird’s eye chilli
- Jalapeño
- Red onion
- 1 tomato
- Fresh coriander
- Corn chips, to serve
- Salt and cracked black pepper
Keeping the fish fresh
Use very fresh fish from a trusted supplier, keep it properly chilled and prepare the ceviche immediately before serving. Citrus changes the texture and appearance of raw fish but does not remove every food-safety risk.
Method
- 1Cut the snapper into pieces of approximately 1 cm by 1 cm.
- 2Place the fish in a bowl and cover it with fresh lime juice. Mix well and leave it to cure in fridge for approximately 15 minutes.
- 3Finely chop the chilli, jalapeño, red onion, tomato and coriander.
- 4Check the outside of the fish has turned opaque or white as it cures in the lime juice.
- 5Add the chopped ingredients to the fish and mix gently.
- 6Season with a small amount of salt and black pepper.
- 7Serve immediately with corn chips.
Camp Cooking Tips
- ✓Keep fish cold until you eat it — fresh fish goes off quickly. Use a fridge or esky with ice..
Horse Riding: Susan River Homestead
Felicity returns to the mainland and heads to Susan River Homestead. Travellers can stay in rooms or bring a caravan, motorhome or tent, with powered and unpowered camping available.
The country property offers a completely different end to the coastal journey. Felicity saddles up for a horse ride and helps feed the cattle, making the homestead an experience as well as an overnight stop.
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Susan River Homestead
Hervey Bay: Sunset Cruise
Later in the day, Felicity returns to the water for the Milbi Sunset Cruise. As the light changes across the Great Sandy Strait, the evening cruise offers a relaxed contrast to the morning’s wildlife search.
Back on shore, Urangan Pier is another Hervey Bay essential. Stretching out across the shallow coastal water, it is a popular place for a walk, a fish or a broad view back towards the coastline.
Camplify Short Stay · This Season
Grampians
📍 Pomonal
In Victoria, Gerardo Lopez continues his Camplify short stay from Grampians Paradise Camping and Caravan Park. The campground’s open space, established trees and Redman Bluff Wetlands make it a peaceful base for exploring Pomonal, Halls Gap and the surrounding Grampians region.
Kerries Kreations: Chocolate Workshop
Gerardo swaps the market bags for an apron and joins Kerrie’s Kreations for a hands-on chocolate workshop.
Making a polished handmade chocolate involves much more than simply melting chocolate into a mould. Gerardo learns about tempering, the careful process used to give finished chocolates their smooth appearance, clean snap and glossy finish.
He then gets creative with painting and stencil techniques before filling the moulded chocolates with caramel. Once the chocolates are finished and released from their moulds, Gerardo has his own batch of colourful, handmade caramel-filled treats.
The workshop offers visitors a closer look at the skill and patience behind artisan chocolate-making – with the added reward of tasting the finished product.
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Kerries Kreations
Suggested itinerary
Your Route Title
- 1Noosa to Hervey Bay – Leave Noosa after Felicity’s surf tip, travel to Hervey Bay and settle into Ingenia Holidays Hervey Bay.
- 2Hervey Bay on the water – Join the morning Turtle Discovery Tour, stop at Pelican Bank and return to the marina before heading out again for the Milbi Sunset Cruise.
- 3Hervey Bay to K’gari – Drive to River Heads and take the ferry to K’gari. look for wildlife from a safe distance and explore Eli Creek. All driving plans should be checked against tides, track conditions and current park alerts.
- 4Susan River Homestead – Return to the mainland and finish with a country stay, horse ride and animal feeding experience.
Traveller Notes
From the calm waters of Hervey Bay to the sand tracks of K’gari, Felicity has packed plenty into this leg of the journey — and proved that slowing down can sometimes reveal the most. In the Grampians, Gerardo has found another side of the region through its markets, waterfalls, art and local produce.
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