Ayr to Airlie Beach-tenting with a dog

Desperately seeking ideas on camping sites along a stretch of the Qld coast that we'd like to explore further.
Our beloved home-made camper trailer had to go when we needed to fit my (late) father's belongings into our house and garage last year so we are back to holidaying in a tent.
I have a great book "Bush Camping with Dogs" but I don't know how suitable the sites are for tents (eg a roadside stop with ground like concrete is not really great for tent pegs!). We used to just pull in anywhere with the trailer but the tent needs a bit more consideration...
We will be unfortunately be travelling during the 2nd week of the Qld July school holidays. Normally this does not faze us because we're usually out west but, as coastal residents ourselves, we know the coast can be awful for accommodation in most spots.
Can anyone suggest spots that we could camp in, for 1,2,3 nights as we explore the Ayr to Airlie Beach stretch? We happily do caravan parks and bush camping.
Bundaberg is about 5 hours from here (night one) so any suggestions from Bundy to Ayr would be very much appreciated.
We have dual range 4WD, a simple tent and a small dog.

Many thanks.

:) Robyn