STANAGE BAY, QUEENSLAND

We were curious as to the condition of the 100 odd kilometres of dirt road into Stanage from the Bruce Highway. Some said it was good as far as the military gate but then deteriorated but we found the opposite to be true. I think it depends whether there has been much rain and where the road maintenance has been most recent. Anyway we were pleasantly surprised by the condition of the road and also by the scenery along the way. The road passes through grazing land and most of it is really nice country with some lovely creeks and wetland areas - lots of birds and wildlife. I wouldn't recommend driving at night though as there are lots of roos.

We arrived at the campground on Thirsty Sound at around 4 pm which gave us plenty of time to set up. Fortunately it wasn't too crowded despite it being the second week of the school holidays. It wasn't long before we had been invited to a neighbouring camp for happy hour drinks where we met some really nice people who were really helpful as far as where to go for fishing and general information about the place.

Our camp.

The beach in front of the campground.

Some caught their own bait but we had good results with mulies (pilchards).

Next morning we headed out fishing. We were going to head out around Quail Island headland but there was quite a sea swell rolling in and a bit of wind so we turned around and headed down the Sound to explore the creeks etc. The first thing of interest we encountered was the "washing machine" - a narrowing of the sound which creates an area of water which swirls in all directions. Apparently it can be quite treacherous if the weather isn't so good. Anyway we navigated through it and continued down to explore a couple of the creeks. They all looked like good crab country and we're told it is but not many were being caught while we were there so we didn't bother to put our pots in. We threw a line in here and there with no success but it was nice to just be out in the tinny pottering around.

The boat ramp is good but could be challenging with a following sea or wind.

Next morning the weather seemed better so we headed out around the heads only to discover that conditions at the favoured fishing spot were deplorable. We bobbed around like a cork for about an hour with not a bite so we headed back down the sound and tried our luck at one of the rock bars where I managed to catch a reasonable bluey and John landed an average cod. 

Back at camp, we again enjoyed happy hour and were told that although there are no showers at the campground, you can pay a couple of dollars for one up at the shop. There is no guarantee of any fresh water being available at the campground either. Some may be available in the water tanks there but don't count on it. There is a fresh water lagoon back toward the village where there is a hill which provides a good lookout of the area. We saw people in there presumably filling water drums. There are toilets at the campground though. They are only pit toilets but are OK. There is no set charge to camp but it is expected that you should make a donation to the local community group who maintain the grounds and also donate to the local fire brigade and air-sea rescue group. We paid $20 for the week were there and they seemed very happy with that. We're told that unfortunately many campers pay nothing which is a shame, as it is only the goodwill of the local storeowner etc that keeps the camp open.

This old girl has seen better days.

This pigface was growing in rocks on the beach.
It's an amazingly tenacious little plant.

Our next two days proved really great fishing wise. The weather was glorious and we managed to bag some lovely fish on our next trip around the heads. The grunter were all very good size, as was John's salmon and my jewfish. We also caught several nice bream. Our third day out was not so successful but John managed to land two nice grunter. 

John with his salmon and a grunter.

I was pretty chuffed with my grunter and jewfish.

Over near the lookout hill there is supposed to be an old oyster lease which we're told you can visit for a feed of oysters. Unfortunately we didn't make it to this spot this trip but will make a point of exploring it next time we visit. I also had a great time doing some bird watching. As well as shore birds there were plenty of lorikeets, honeyeaters and even some monarchs. 

The views from the lookout hills were quite spectacular.

That's the tip of Quail Island at centre left. We went just around the corner from there to fish. At the left of the headland it appears that there is sea but the two taller bits of and are joined by a long rock bar which is high and dry at low tide.

We look forward to visiting Stanage Bay again. Hopefully next time we'll get into some crabs as well!