RV Homebase Marybrough

Before I go on to describe this interesting over 55s lifestyle at Maryborough I want to say something to readers of our blog.  Do not just go by the date at the head of a post.  If the date stays the same it does not mean the blog is static.  As we add to an existing post, rather than creating a new post for another location or another topic, the new stuff we add to each post comes in at the bottom of the post rather than at the top.  We have been adding new info to the post about the farm at Mooloolah Valley rather than creating a new post.  We have now moved on and this needs a new posting.

On the way to Maryborough, we had a brief stopover at the Yandina Ginger Factory which used to be at Buderim but moved here a few years ago.

There are hundreds of products made from ginger, mostly of the sweet variety.  My favourite is the chocolate covered crystallised ginger which is lovely with a little dram of Jack Daniels for me after dinner and a port for Andrew.

The little train that winds itself around the factory.  I was too slow to capture the little engine at the front.

We played bridge at Maryborough where, upon seeing our motor home, one of the players asked if we had heard of the RV Homebase village.

This is an over 55s lifestyle development, very similar to the one at Fullerton Cove in Newcastle, where we bought a house but gave it away as not to our liking.   Here the concept has been extended further in that each villa has a very large and tall garage where people can house their RV under cover, with electricity plug in and water readily available.

Here is a photo of the verendah of one villa

and the garage.

The RV and car wash which operates of a $2 coin.







This arrangement would have suited us much better than the one in Newcastle. Had we discovered this village earlier, we may well have bought in here and stayed in Maryborough for the winter or used the location to travel from here to other parts of OZ.  Once you are this far up the coast of Qld, you are always on your way somewhere up further north or west.  And you can leave the RV parked in the garage over the summer.  We met a couple from Kaleen, Canberra who have chosen to do exactly what we had hoped to do in Newcastle.  They bought in here and they keep their RV here in summer but spend the winter in Canberra each year where they still have family.  They are much younger than us and have many more years of motor home travel than we do.

The other aspect is that what you have in common with all the residents here is that they all like and are interested in travel.  And another plus is that at least four bridge players live here.  The mix of people here seemed more varied than what we found in Newcastle.  Who knows if we would have been happier here or not?

One further and very important plus is that there is no stamp duty, solicitors or exit fee here.  Residents buy and sell and keep the capital gains.  Because of the lack of these fees, there is quite a bit of movement in people buying and selling but staying in the village as new opportunities come up for a better location or a different style or size house within the village.

We met Lesley and Erich, originally from Switzerland, at the Friday 5:00pm happy hour and had a further chat to them in their villa over a cup of coffee.  They too have travelled widely and gave us a good contact for a possible Vietnam tour operator which I plan to follow up.  They too have a blog which I will now have a look at.  Erich's great passion is photography, so I expect to be impressed.