We really, really liked Yeppoon and the surrounding area, despite suffering appalling weather.

Kerry’s snippets in this colour

Getting there

1770 > Miriam Vale >   Mount Larcom > (Rockhampton) > Yeppoon (274kms)

This is pretty straightforward – up the Bruce Highway skirting Gladstone, then doing the same at Rockhampton. We left 1770 at around 8am – we are getting quicker at packing up – and were soon back in Miriam Vale. Kerry wanted some more crab pies so we stopped and refuelled at the extraordinary pie service station. It was too early to eat them there and then, so guess what we will have for dinner?

The Bruce Highway is pretty good with lots of overtaking lanes. Also lots of parking areas for trucks, but much fewer rest areas than we are used to. We got to one rest area but bad car parking made it impossible for us to get in and turn.  So inconsiderate when cars park in the long caravan spaces.

Getting close to Yeppoon we started to see the volcanic plugs that the area is know for – striking country.  These all set the context for the town – a dramatic landscape, and out to sea are the silhouettes of the Keppel Islands. Very pretty. 

Yeppoon

Yeppoon is situated 38 kilometres north east of Rockhampton, and is the gateway to the Capricorn Coast, the Southern Great Barrier Reef and the Keppel Bay Islands. It looks vibrant – lots of shops, cafes, bars and a great looking walkway on the waterfront.

The Capricorn Coast was part of the traditional lands of the Darumbal Aboriginal people. Yeppoon was first white-settled by the Ross family in 1865 which took up large landholding in the area. Fruit crops, cattle and wool were the major industries. A short-lived period of sugar cane growing failed.  Pineapples, mangoes, and other tropical fruit became the agricultural mainstay in the 1900s, with cattle grazing and fishing also strong economic contributors. 

 

Today, Yeppoon has a population of a tad over 18,000, is part of the commuter belt around Rockhampton, and is also an increasingly popular holiday destination.

The campsite

We drove through the beachfront and up the coast road to the Beachside Caravan Park sandwiched between the beach and the road, and about a km from town centre. The manager, Deb, gave us an overview of the site options and then took us on a golf-buggy ride to show us the available sites. Pretty impressive. 

The park is divided by a road separating the beach side (slightly more expensive) and the roadside sites. There are no drive through sites although some have plenty of room to move. There are a number of ablution blocks, a bush kitchen, a laundry and 2 dump points. 

We take the southern most site on the beach side as it is very roomy, quite secluded, has a great view and there is plenty of room to get Mobi in. 

Day zero (arrival)

It does not take us long to set everything up and then we go back into town for shopping – chemist ( i have a bee or wasp bite on my neck which is swollen and driving me nuts – I suffer allergic reactions), we need bread, fruit and veggies, and we need something for the late afternoon drinks – and I don’t mean cheese.

We then drove around the coast to see Rosslyn harbour. On the way we stopped at Wreck Point with some stunning views up and down the coast and out to the Islands.

The wharf at the harbour again showed how high the tides are here – mooring posts are all so high. At the Rosslyn Bay Fishermans Market we got a bag of banana prawns for a dinner entree. We also walked around the area trying to capture those amazing volcanic plugs on camera. 

Back home we devoured the prawns (superb) with Kerry’s special sauce, and ate our pie selections. A gourmet feast indeed, but devoid of much healthy food.

Oh I don’t know – seafood, dairy, lemon juice – all pretty good for you.  The lady at the fish co-op told me that the Banana Prawns are much flavoursome, sweeter and softer flesh than tiger or other prawns.  This is certainly the case.

Day 1

We had a dreadful night – the wind got stronger and stronger and I put on 3 guy-ropes at each end of the awning. But it was under so much stress I decided to roll it up – at about 1:30am. We were very conscious of a van we saw at Injune where the awning had been literally torn off the van by an unexpected wind surge. Not a pretty sight, and the owner said it was going to take months to sort out. 

Then an hour or so later it started to rain and our chairs got a drenching before we could get to them. I woke up about 3am and moved all the chairs and stools under the van out of the rain, which was almost coming in horizontal.

In the morning it was still blowing a gale with heavy showers to keep us on our toes. We decided to get to a more sheltered site as the awning was copping the full force of the southerlies. So, in between showers, we moved and reversed in, again without a hitch. This time we had the awning on the leeward side of Mobi.

It’s is dismal weather so we see what we can do to get more protection. We tried an end wall on the awning but this was no good. Eventually we rolled the awning half way in and secured each end with 3 guy-ropes on rubber ties.

By lunch we reckoned we have earned a break and went into town to try out the Strand Hotel on the esplanade.  Really nice place and lunch was great – 2 barras and salad, mine grilled (not the salad). It really was one of the better barras I have had.  And a little glass of Champagne and a beer.

Back at the campsite it was still miserable so we just veg’ed out for the afternoon. Later we cooked a BBQ in the camp kitchen. We talked to a couple of middle aged fellas doing it tough in the conditions. They come here all the time and have never experienced weather like this.  They had a twin cab Hilux with awning, which they had out but not secured on to the side rails so it  was thrashing about like an angry banshee, very loudly. Under that they had 2 swag tents on legs, not so waterproof, and much of their gear was in the open. As we finished our meal, they were moving the swag tents into the Camp kitchen. Don’t blame them.

Day 2

We woke to wind and rain, and lots of it – nothing has changed and the BoM website tells us to get used to it as it is not going away.  So we headed for Rockhampton to do some big-town shopping and to see the city. 

Rockhampton is one of the oldest cities in Queensland – the area first settled by  the Archer family in 1853, who discovered and named the Fitzroy River. More settlers followed, and Rockhampton was proclaimed in 1858. Within the year gold was found nearby and led to the first Northern Australian gold rush. The influx of migrants quickly transformed Rockhampton into the second largest port in the state. It was during this period that Rockhampton was nicknamed the “City of the Three S’s”: “Sin, Sweat, and Sorrow”. Subsequent gold rushes laid the foundations for much of the city’s Victorian architecture, a lot of it still looking good.  .

Today, Rockhampton is an industrial and agricultural centre, and is also a large tourist destination known for its history and culture.   The population is over 80,000, making it the fourth largest city in the state outside of the cities of South East Queensland, and the twenty-second largest city in Australia.

Its a quick drive to Rocky, and Kerry takes us to Stockland Shopping centre. I went to Specsavers to see about my glasses, which are a couple of years old and I know my sight has deteriorated. As well, one lens of my prescription sunglasses had fallen out somewhere near Copeton Dam, so they were useless. I got some clip-on polaroid sunnies but they don’t work so well. 

I must say it was amazing. They did my eye test almost straight away. They found cataracts which I will have to get done later in the year (oh joy), and that my sight had indeed deteriorated since my last test (the benefits of having my records on line with one company).  So they will make new glasses and prescription sunnies which they will forward to  Airlie Beach, where we will be in a couple of weeks. And they also juggled the benefits between our health fund (HCF) and an offer the NRMA was doing. This all only cost me $110, and we did not go cheap on the frames.  How good was that!!

We then got into the old part of town and really enjoyed the old buildings that are still standing proud and looking good. The riverfront is also a lovely walkway – they are working on parts of it. So Rockhampton was well worth a visit. 

A lot of restoration work has been done and is still going on.  There is so much work going on around the river banks – creating walkways etc… should be fabulous when its all done

Day 3

No need to guess the weather – strong winds and raining hard at wake up. We were going up to the Byfield NP but defer that for tomorrow as the forecast looks a tad better.

At about 9am, the rain stoped and the wind appeared to ease a bit. So we rolled out the awning. Having sucked us into that false sense of security, the wind came back with renewed vigour shortly after. We decided to do a bit of local touring for a few hours hoping that the rain will stay away. So we rolled the awning back in half way and secured it before we went.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We drove south along the Scenic Highway past Rosslyn through the coastal towns of Mulambit, Causeway Lake, Kinka Beach and onto Emu Park, stopping and taking photos on the way. It was a rough old day with the wind strong off shore so the sea was a mess and a horrible brown colour – if you did not see the white-water you would think it was a sandbar. But the headland volcanic plugs are amazing. 

 

 

 

 

 

At Emu Park, a surprisingly busy little place which was an exclusive beach resort at the beginning of the 20th C, we found the Singing Ship Sculpture. This is an impressive monument in a lovely location and, like most monuments along the coast, was dedicated to Captain Cook. Even a gentle sea breeze produces a musical sound through the fluted pipes; today it was very loud and clear!  

The Sculpture is the endpoint of the Centenary of ANZAC Memorial Walk, a board-walk that hugs the coast and has information on many battles of WW1. Very well done.

We returned towards Yeppoon with more prawns in mind. But first we stopped at the Double Head section of the Capricorn Coast NP, just next to the entrance to harbour. There is a steepish path to the top of the volcanic plug with stunning views.  Close to the top there is a path to a lookout right next to the Fan Rocks. This is amazing but does not feature much in the promotional literature. We found it almost by accident.   

The Fan Rocks “fan out from” a lava tube.  There was some quite interesting info about this.  You could almost picture it being formed – fanning out as the lava cooled.

At the top we enjoyed great views over the harbour up to Yeppoon, including the plug that perches over the harbour. Well worth the hike up. But seaward we saw a rapidly approaching shower. We scrambled down.

At the Fishermans Co-op we got some more banana prawns, some orange roughy for tonights meal, and a variety of seafood for a curry.  Some green prawns, a couple of tubes of squid and a decent chunk of ling (which hangs together well when stir fried). Decided against the scallops.

After that we picked up a few items shopping and headed back to Mobi for a snooze. Later I went back to the Mitre 10 shop where I had seen an ideal aluminium 3 step ladder. I had been using timber steps made by Kerry’s son Stewart as a school project back in the day, but I really needed a bit more height. 

That night the prawns were again brilliant and the Orange Roughy, quickly cooked in foil on the BBQ, exquisite – served with roasted potatoes prepared in goose fat (makes all the difference). As we finished, yet another squall hit us, high winds and intense rain. Fortunately it did not last long. 

Day 4

While the rain seemed to have stopped for now, the wind remains relentless. We are now used to leaning well forward as we walk back from the loo.

But for today, we were going to Byfield NP, which is only a short drive to the north. As we closed in on Park, we turned left onto Stoney Creek Rd to find ourselves on a pretty rough dirt road – major corrugations and potholes. Thankfully it was only 11kms. 

 

At the camping area, Stony Ck was flowing strongly over the causeway. But It was not so deep so we went over to the car park. There are many families there and the pool above the causeway is a great swimming hole, lovely place, though we heard many drawing in of breaths, and audible gasps, as warm bodies hit the cold water. 

 

We had not come prepared for a swim so had to settle for a walk along the Creek, which is flowing strongly making the rapids work well. But we were besieged by mozzies and had not applied repellent. We walked quickly. It would be really good to come here prepared for a swim, a walk and then lunch. We weren’t.

From there we went to Byfield town, but there is nothing much there. A short distance away is Water Park, which is another weir pool created by a causeway. The water is flowing rapidly but there are still people taking young children into the pool. This a very pretty area, and has a fish ladder which is good to see.

Back at Mobi, we have decided to leave the coast, enough is enough. We suspect we have come to Queensland too early, still lots of wet season activity. So tomorrow we will go back to Carnarvon Gorge. We have contacted the Takarakka Bush Resort, who were so helpful before, and the news is good – everything open and going great. So we book 3 nights from tomorrow – we will leave Mobi in Rockhampton and drive the 450km each way with an near empty Cruiser. 

So we start to get ready for our sojourn to Carnarvon. We will have an early start, get Mobi to Rockhampton and park her, move all the heavy gear from The Cruiser to Mobi, including the camping stuff on the roof cage, move things from Mobi to The Cruiser – such as the fridge stuff, food, clothes etc., then get going on the 450km journey. But at last we can leave that awful wind behind.   I hadn’t quite realised how much stuff we had in the car and on the roof – we unloaded the car into the caravan and most of the floor was covered.  Amazing.

Photos of this blog can be see at: click here