Wetside Water Park
The Hervey Bay waterfront is very pretty. At one end of the Esplanade is the Wetside Water Park. This amazing waterfront park is free to the public and offers a water play area, an under-5s play area, a wave pool (at certain times), a coffee shop and waterslides. Entry to the main park area is free, but there is a small cost for access to the large waterslides.
Parking at Wetside can be hard to nab, because it’s a very popular spot. We were visiting during a peak tourist time, so it was extra difficult for us! We had to make a few laps before finding a two-hour (free) park nearby.
Tickets for the waterslides are $6.70 for 10 slides. You can buy your wristbands for these slides at an automatic ticket booth near the carpark, or from staff members working in a small demountable office just metres from this booth. We tried the booth and it wasn’t working, so we lined up and had wristbands for our girls within five minutes.
The slides are well-supervised by lifeguards, including one who stands at the bottom of the slides and keeps track of children coming down and heading back up the stairs. Wristbands are scanned at the entry to the path leading to the stairs, which is how the number of slides is counted. One of our children had to re-scan their wristband once, which meant the machine incorrectly deducted one slide from their count of ten. We would have pursued this with the lifeguard had we felt it would be an issue, but in the end, all the girls stopped after about eight slides. They enjoyed them a lot, but the crowds continued to grow throughout our time at Wetside, and by the sixth or seventh trip up the stairs, the length of time waiting in lines started to outweigh the benefits of the thrilling, but brief, trip down the slide. At a cost of approximately 70c/slide, we weren’t too worried when they decided they’d had enough after eight turns.
There is quite a bit of shaded seating around the area where the slides end. This is perfect spot for adults to wait and keep track of children. We felt our kids were pretty safe while they were within the gated and supervised slide area, but we obviously stayed within watching distance, just in case. There is a café on site and we contemplated getting coffee, but we had another plan in mind after the water slides.
Planet72 Icecreamery Milkshakes
We had seen that the popular Planet72 ice-cream shop also sold milkshakes, so we made this our final stop in Hervey Bay as we were heading out of town. It was the perfect way to mark the end of our trip and the start of our journey home. If possible, we prefer milk-based drinks which keep the kids fuller for longer, so it was a win all-round.
We drove through Maryborough on our way home but didn’t stop. This town is the home of the author of 'Mary Poppins' and is definitely worth a visit at some point. After our morning at the waterslides, we were all just ready to sit still for a while, so we decided to just push on for home as quickly as possible. We got drive-through lunch at a service centre to keep moving and made it home less than four hours later.
OUTBACK QUEENSLAND FAMILY ROAD TRIP: COMPLETE!
Day 12 Outback Queensland Family Road Trip Summary
Start:
Hervey Bay
End:
Brisbane area
Driving:
4 hours
(307 km)
Accommodation:
Home!
Notable Stops:
Wetside Water Park
Planet72 Icecreamery (again!)
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