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Past GYMPIE and MARYBOROUGH , historic gold and timber communities and now healthy market towns with handsome stone and wooden period buildings in their centres testifying to their wealthy past, it's a couple of hours to HERVEY BAY - a rapidly xpanding sprawl of coastal suburbs, which has no such pretentions. The only reason to visit is to join the throng crossing to Fraser Island or to venture into the bay to spot whales in the spring. Pialba is the centre, with shops strung along the Esplanade as it runs 7km from here east through Scarness and Torquay to Urangan harbour and marina ; barges and tours to Fraser Island leave from here and from River Heads, 17km south. Approaching Hervey Bay from the south, turn off at Maryborough; from the north, leave the highway at Howard. The bus station is at Bay Central shopping complex, just off the main road into town about 1km from Pialba; the airport is about 5km south of Urangan off Booral Road, on the way to River Heads. Hervey Bay has a fairly decent local bus service , circuiting around town from Bay Central between about 6am and 6pm, though you'll need a taxi for the airport (tel 13 1008; $10-15). Almost every place to stay provides information and makes bookings, but you'll get more reliable, pressure-free help from the tourist information office right next to the bus station (Mon-Fri 6am-5.30pm, Sat-Sun 6.30am-1pm; tel 07/4124 8244). Watersports enthusiasts with time to kill might want to take advantage of Torquay Beach Hire, on the Esplanade at Torquay, which has it all - from surf skis to windsurfers and outboard-driven tinnies for a day's fishing . More sedentary folk could indulge in a beach bonfire, while nature lovers can search out echidna in the vegetation strip between the Esplanade and beach, or visit Natureworld ($12.50), about 2km back from Pialba on the way to the highway, whose stars include freshwater crocs, snakes, wombats and koalas.
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