Hervey Bay, Australia

Around 35km northeast of Maryborough along Route 57, HERVEY BAY is a rapidly expanding sprawl of coastal suburbs known locally as "God's Waiting Room" due to the large number of retirees living here. Though very spread out, it's in fact a straightforward enough place, somewhere to pull up for only as long as it takes to join the throng crossing to Fraser Island, or to venture into the bay to spot whales in the spring.

Pialba is Hervey Bay's commercial centre, an ugly blob of car parks, shopping malls and industrial estates where the road from Maryborough enters town. It's about 1km from here to the Esplanade, which forms a pleasant seven-kilometre string of motels and shops facing a wooded foreshore as it runs east through the conjoined beachfront suburbs of Scarness and Torquay, and on to beach-less Urangan with its protruding pier and boat harbour for whale watching and Fraser Island trips.