Detour #351: A Blunder on the Bruce Highway, Australia
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Tracking the Queensland coast for over 1,000 miles from Brisbane to Cairns is the Bruce Highway. There’s little danger of getting lost, but it’s not always plain sailing.
We were already well north of Townsville when I began to worry. The fuel warning light of our rented motorhome had just flicked on and there were no signs of civilisation.
I was mentally kicking myself for not stopping to fill up at the last servo (as the locals call it), which was now at least 20 miles in the rear-view mirror. We had two choices; press on in the hope of finding fuel ahead or track back. Either way it would be touch and go.
It was a rookie error, made worse by the fact that it wasn’t just me who was at risk but the whole family. The only consolation was that it was so noisy in the back that young Max and Oscar couldn’t hear the swearing up front.
Since leaving Brisbane it was a problem I hadn’t even contemplated. While not exactly densely populated, the Sunshine Coast is well-geared up for travellers and we passed plenty of big-name fuel stations as we headed north.
We’d stocked up on food and water for our five-day drive, and initially our biggest concern was the aftermath of a typhoon which had done considerable damage to buildings and hurled palm trees across the highway.
As the A1 Bruce Highway cut inland towards Gympie the lush green bush seemed even more vivid after the storm, and we made steady and uneventful progress to our first overnight halt. A small township pub near Marlborough was happy for us to stay in its car park as long as we tucked into their grub. We also managed a few games of pool before retiring for the night, to the sounds of the local fauna.
The next morning, we paralleled the coast once more, running alongside old railway tracks, the ocean just tantalisingly out of view to our right. At Townsville, though, we’d get a proper taste of it, taking a boat tour out to the barrier reef for snorkelling and a desert island visit.
All in all, it was proving to be an amazing family adventure. Until it almost went wrong. On the next leg of the Bruce Highway there are few fewer places to refuel and refresh. 60 miles or more might separate the two closest servos. So, after a quick look at a map which we’d barely needed to refer to until this point, we pulled a U-turn and made it back to the pumps on fumes.
Cairns came as a relief, a bustling city, with no shortage of amenities and family activities. Any lingering anxiety was washed away in the warm ocean, and the kids had barely noticed the unplanned detour anyway.
We made plenty of memories on this trip, but that one moment I’d rather forget.
If you’re planning on following the Bruce Highway don’t make the same mistake I did and keep your tank topped up.
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ROADBOOK
CLASS: OCEAN DRIVE
NAME: BRUCE HIGHWAY
ROUTE: Brisbane to CAIRNS
COUNTRY: AUSTRALIA
Distance: 1,060 Miles
Tracking the Queensland coast for over 1,000 miles from Brisbane to Cairns is the Bruce Highway. There’s little danger of getting lost, but it’s not always plain sailing.