Take a walk along the Esplanade

The Esplanade is the main street of Woodgate that runs along the beach. And between the street and the beach itself is a wonderfully shady paved path for walking and bike riding.



And every so often (approximately at each street intersection opposite the Esplanade) is an entrance down to the beach.

Found on the beach

I really enjoyed my early morning walk along the beach during our stay. Often getting there just after dawn, I was keen to see what the tide had washed up. (And it was a perfect time to escape while the children were still sound asleep!)

My first view of the beach would often look like this


On closer inspection I might find a pretty shell or two




Or a bunch of seaweed


The variety was amazing when I took the time to look closely!

A variety of houses and a little garden colour

There's not a lot apart from the beach and kangaroos in Woodgate Beach - unless you talk about houses!

From fishing shacks:


to established family holiday cottages:


to alternative, organic-looking houses:


to multi million dollar residences:


There are also houses straight from suburbia, but try as I might I couldn't get excited enough to take a photo of one LOL.

Gardens vary a lot as well. Most are pretty sparse - the kangaroos eat everything green and succulent so unless the house has a keen gardener in residence it can look a bit bare!

There is the occasional dot of garden colour as in this lovely red flower


And some of the larger trees have nice hanging fronds out of the reach of the munching kanagaroos!


Apart from residences, there is a
* bowls club (with restaurant)and community centre (including tennis courts);
* caravan park with an outdoor only coffee shop;
* small centre with a general store/takeaway, real estate agency, post office and dress store;
* (another) real estate agency;
* hairdresser;
* restaurant; and
* pub.

Mind you these are spread out over about 4km along the beachfront area so there is definitely not that built up feel!

There is a newer estate adjoining the established Woodgate Beach residential area with many new houses being built and near to this area is a small centre with a
* mini-mart;
* bakery;
* chemist;
* doctor's surgery; and
* yet another real estate agency.

I guess in areas that are popular with land and house sales as well as holiday rentals, real estate agencies are going to be the most common business to be found!

As you can see you can find the basics, but as it doesn't even warrant a school (children travel by bus to the nearby Goodwood School) it definitely is not a shopaholic's haven - but perhaps it's good for those who are recovering shopaholics with next to no temptation?

Footprints in the sand

I really enjoyed going for walks along the beach early in the morning. A few others did too....

A fellow walker:


A kangaroo:


A crab:

Our Woodgate holiday rental

There is no need to pack for a day at the beach - situated one street back from the beach near the corner of Mackeral and Tenth Avenue, it is only about a 100m walk to the beach! You can easily see the ocean through the trees on the Esplanade from the verandah :)

Enjoy the early morning sunshine from the verandah that is accessible from the lounge, bedroom 1 and bedroom 2. In the afternoon the verandah is in the shade from the hot sun and catches the sea breezes straight off the ocean.

Let the kids chill in front of the TV/DVD in the rumpus area downstairs while you relax in the comfortable loungeroom:



Fall to sleep listening to the waves lap the beach and enjoy the sea breeze all night long in the hot weather.

Bedroom 1


Bedroom 2


Bedroom 3


The top floor also has a fully equipped kitchen, a full bathroom (incl. bath), a laundry chute from upstairs to the laundry below, a verandah at the front which accessible from the loungeroom, bedroom 1 and 2. There are ceiling fans throughout. The loungeroom also has a TV, DVD and CD stereo.

Downstairs is a rumpus area with large TV and DVD and comfortable chairs. A second shower and toilet is perfect for kids to use after being to the beach rather than invading mum and dad's privacy upstairs! The laundry has a washing machine and dryer and there is a clothes line in the backyard. A BBQ is also supplied for guests use. The garage is indoor for one car.

The back yard is fenced and the property is pet friendly - but only for outside dogs. A dog kennel for a medium sized dog is provided.

If fishing is a favoured pastime, there is a sink with tap at the side of the house for cleaning your catch :)

If you would like to have a holiday here, please click the house photograph in the right hand column which will take you to the realtor's booking site for the house.

Kangaroos!

Woodgate is FULL of kangaroos. If they're not there in the flesh they've left a trace on the lawns LOL. However, you usually see them either nibbling the grass on the lawns or sprawled out beneath shady tree or shrub.

Of course they ARE cute, however you must remember that they are a WILD animal and as such a respectful distance needs to be kept. Their claws are long and sharp and their tails are massively strong. Stay a few feet away and even further from the larger males.


I remember getting a very large shock when I went around our water tank at the rear of the house and was confronted with a male kangaroo taller than me! I backed away slowly!!


Early in the morning you may be fortunate enough to see some kangaroos along the beach. They go down to the water's edge and wash themselves with the salt water, purportedly to remove parasites from their fur.

One very famous photograph of a kangaroo hopping through the edge of the water was taken well over a dozen years ago by a local and the photo features heavily as the local postcard. The same photo is reportedly a large feature in the London office of Qantas. Perhaps you'll get a great photo of one on the beach too!

Discovering Woodgate - 2006

We ventured north for our annual family holiday in September 2006. As we had friends in Maryborough and Bundaberg we wanted somewhere not too far from either place, so I looked at an aviation map and saw the village of Woodgate Beach, situated on a thin strip between the ocean and National Park.

It doesn't appear on most maps unless they are localised area ones, so I was fortunate in the map I chose! I googled a query for "holiday accommodation Woodgate" and found that real estate agents listed holiday properties for weekly rentals. Perfect.

I booked a house on The Esplanade - it looked pretty basic, but just across from the beach. A couple of weeks later we left home and arrived in Woodgate Beach.

What a surprise! A strip of pristine beach a massive 15km long and hardly a soul on it. There were kangaroos everywhere, hopping down the street or lazing under shady trees on people's lawns.

The majority of houses showed the village's roots as a place for the 'weekender' for those living not too distant or holiday cottages for those living further away. Most houses were fibro or weatherboard and pretty basic and a lot of them circa 1950s. Our rental that year was no different!

The very basic nature of the house (small, fibro, old furniture, basic amenities and the only bathroom downstairs under the house and only accessible by going outside, down the steps and back under the house!) was easier to ignore when just across the road was a magnificent beach!

We discovered that the village was actually packed during school holidays, when half of Queensland (it seemed) came to stay! But we were outside of the Queensland holidays and so there were very few holiday makers - mostly just the year round residents.

The real estate agent thoughtfully provided a brochure on what was for sale in the area when we checked in, and it was hard not to look through it. No one was more surprised than us when, a week later, we had bought a house!

Unable to afford the million dollar price tag attached to the shacks on the Esplanade, we chose a house located one street back from the beach - or second sand dune back as my husband describes it!

The house had "good bones" - two storey, with a rumpus area, shower, toilet, laundry and garage on the bottom and the living areas upstairs - a lounge, dining room, full kitchen, full bathroom and three bedrooms as well as an upstairs verandah along the front, facing the beach.

We took possession a few weeks later and spent a full week from dawn to dark painting, cleaning and preparing it for the Christmas holiday rental season.

Since then it has continued as a holiday rental, including being our holiday house for a fortnight a year! We never get up there enough - but we love it when we do!