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!