Reasons to Visit Hervey Bay With Your Family
I am somewhat obsessed with travelling and exploring new places. Luckily, my husband and two young kids don’t complain about me dragging them around everywhere.
Even though a lot of these places are truly amazing (I’m looking at you Bora-Bora), we always miss home. After a few weeks away we always happily return to our home town of Hervey Bay in Queensland.
Hervey Bay is truly a wonderful, relaxing place for a holiday. With it’s mild weather and long coastline of calm ocean, it’s particularly suitable for families.
So… If I haven’t convinced you already, here are 10 reasons to visit Hervey Bay with your family!
Reason # 1 – The Beach is Great for Kids
The beach stretches for kilometers and the ocean waters are sheltered and calm. There is heaps of soft sand for the kids and if your kids aren’t confident swimmers yet, low tide brings shallow puddles to splash around in at some of the beaches.
Reason # 2 – The Esplanade is Awesome
The esplanade stretches for 14 km alongside the ocean from Urangan to Point Vernon. Walk, skate, scoot or ride your bike either the whole length or sections at a time…the choice is yours! Free parks and exercise equipment are spread along the length of the esplanade as well as plenty of opportunities to stop for a coffee or ice-cream.
Reason # 3 – Fraser Island is Next Door
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and home to some very unique and beautiful features. This heritage listed island is a ‘must see‘ and will no doubt, be one of the highlights of a family trip to Hervey Bay. You can head over with your own 4WD and camping gear, stay in one of the resorts or join a tour so you don’t miss out on any of the highlights.
I will go so far as to confidently say that Fraser Island is not only a highlight of this area, but one of the highlights of Australia! Check out my Fraser Island page here.
Reason # 4 – It’s not Crowded
With a population of just under 60,000, Hervey Bay is large enough to have both a decent public and private hospital as well as plenty of shops for all of your needs.
However, it’s also small enough that although busy in peak times (for e.g. the school run), you won’t have to deal with the frustration of traffic jams. Parking is free and even in the height of summer, you still won’t have to share your stretch of sand on the beach.
Reason # 5 – Whale Spotting Opportunities
Hervey Bay isn’t known as the whale watch capital of Australia for nothing! If you visit between late July and early November, expect to see whales up close and personal on one of the regular whale watching boats.
Unlike other coastal towns where the whales pass by, the whales use Hervey Bay’s sheltered bay as a stopover for a few days to rest, play and socialise before continuing their migration.
Reason # 6 – Accommodation Options to Suit all Budgets
From camping on the esplanade in a caravan park to five star resorts; there really is something to suit all budgets. Check out some great accommodation deals in Hervey Bay here.
Reason # 7 – The Weather
The weather is pretty mild with an average high of 21 degrees in Winter and an average high of 30 degrees in Summer. It’s not uncommon for Hervey Bay to get seasonal visitors escaping either the heat from up north or the cold from down south.
Reason # 8 – The Iconic Urangan Pier
The Urangan Pier is pretty great. It stretches for nearly 1km and as a result, is one of the longest in Australia. A family stroll to the end gives great views of the Hervey Bay coast line and you may even spot pods of dolphins, stingrays and schools of fish.
Bring your fishing gear (or buy some here) and try your hand at catching some whiting from the pier. The kids will love learning to fish from here!
Reason # 9 – Free Waterpark
Wetside Water Park is a FREE waterpark on the Esplanade. Yes…that’s right. Free. No gold coin donation. Nothing. The park has a special area called Totside for under five’s and a larger area for older kids.
There is a busy fish and chip shop on site as well as Bean Beat; one of the best coffee/cafe shops in Hervey Bay.
The park closes for maintenance over Winter and usually re-opens again in September. My only gripe is that it doesn’t open until 10 am which is when early rising toddlers start getting tired.
Check out the Fraser Coast City Council’s website here for opening hours and information.
Reason # 10 – Lots of Free or Cheap Ways to Occupy the Kids
The beach, the pier, the esplanade, the waterpark….it’s all free. You can also visit the botanical gardens, walk along one of the smaller jetty’s or visit the Arkarra Tea Gardens.
I’ll be writing a post soon on free and cheap things to do in Hervey Bay so If you haven’t already, sign up to my monthly newsletter here so you don’t miss out!
Looking for More Awesome Family Holiday Inspiration?
For more information on visiting the wonderful Hervey Bay, head on over to our Hervey Bay page. Alternatively, head back to the home page for inspiration on other destinations in Australia and worldwide.
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Resources for Booking Your Family Holiday to Hervey Bay
Flights
Hervey Bay is located 3.5 hours drive North of Brisbane. Get a great deal on flights by comparing major airlines on I Want That Flight. Deals on car hire can be found at Discover Cars.
Accommodation
CAMPING – There is a Discovery Park on Fraser Street as well as a council-owned beachfront tourist park. For those seeking a little more privacy, the author (yours truly) offers private land camping through HipCamp at our property, Hervey Bay Bush Escape.
MIDRANGE – Try the Woolshed Eco Lodge for larger families, Silver Sands Apartments or Break Free Great Sandy Straits.
UPMARKET – Try the Grand Mecure Allegra, Akama Resort or Oaks Hervey Bay Resort and Spa.
Booking.comActivities
When you get tired of lazing around on the beach, you can’t beat a visit to Fraser Island or a Whale Watching trip.
- Check out the great tour options on Viator here.
Other Home Town Stories
This blog post was written in collaboration with a few other family travel bloggers. We have all written a ‘home town story’ sharing how awesome our home towns are. Here are the links to their stories:
Lots of planets have a north‘s story can be viewed here.
Click here to read World schooler exchange‘s hometown story
Going where the wind blows‘s story can be viewed here.
Click here to read a home story from Magnets from everywhere
You can read a home story from The Little Den here
Border Free Adventures home story can be found here
Oh Hervey Bay does look like a lovely area to raise your children. We lived in Gladstone for 3 years but sadly did not venture that far down the coast during our exploring. Looking at your fabulous photos I wish we had now!
Hervey Bay is wonderful 🙂 If you ever decide to travel back this way, let me know!
Wow. Just wow- the water, the fun activities, the free waterpark!!! This is definitely going on my list of places we have to visit! What an awesome place to spend time
With your children.
Let me know if you ever make it here and we can organise a catch up 🙂
Oh Hervey Bay! This is a kind of home for me, given that we lived just down the road in Maryborough for the year before and for a fear after we were married! Many many drives were had down to Hervey Bay!
You’ve convinced me 🙂 Adding this to my bucket list for whenever we visit Australia!
Wow, wow, wow! Sounds amazing. I’m also adding it to my list for when we visit Australia!