Kinka Beach (27/3/12 - 29/3/12)

From Rockhampton, we continued a further 45kms north east to Kinka Beach, near Yeppoon on the Capricorn Coast.  Kinka Beach is halfway between the towns of Emu Park and Yeppoon and overlooks the islands of Keppel Bay, including Great Keppel Island.  What a beautiful spot.  The beach is definitely not for swimming, but a great beach for a walk or run.

The caravan park we stayed at would have to be one of our favourites of our entire trip.  It wasn't the most modern park, but it had beautiful lush tropical gardens, was so neat and tidy, had great sites, a nice pool, across the road from the beach, but most importantly the owners and staff were so helpful and friendly.

Emu Park is home to the Singing Ship Monument, a tribute to Captain James Cook who named Keppel Bay on 27th May 1770.  The ship actually sings almost constantly due to the onshore breezes.  We visited it on a VERY windy day, so it was singing loudly.

We enjoyed a couple of sunny, quiet days here.  The kids had fun in the pool.  Ben's swimming has improved so much in the past few weeks.  He is now swimming laps all by himself and is so proud of himself.  Mum and Dad are very proud of him too.

We will reluctantly leave Kinka Beach on Thursday, headed for Mackay.  We are booked into Airlie Beach from Sunday 1st April for eight days, including Easter.  We are all looking forward to a nice long break in the one spot, before we tackle the big drive to the Northern Territory.

Singing Ship monument

Keppel Bay (so rough & brown!)

The water babies

Our campsite

Happy campers!

Rockhampton (27/3/12)

We left 1770 on Tuesday headed for Tannum Sands, 50kms north.  Tannum Sands is a gorgeous beachside town of about 5000 population.  We had planned to stay with our friend Honi and her partner Cameron, however we discovered our van was going to be a very tight fit at their house.  Instead we continued onto Gladstone, a further 30kms north where Honi and Cameron both work.  We had a nice long lunch with them and then continued further north.

We stopped in Rockhampton, approximately 100kms from Gladstone, to have a look at the very high Fitzroy River, which is expected to peak on Thursday.  The water was high and fast flowing.  Nearby residents did not appear too concerned as no efforts had been made to prepare for the forecast flood.

The Fitzroy River

Seventeen Seventy (1770) (25/3/12 - 27/3/12)

We set off from rainy Bundaberg on Sunday morning.  We had only driven 35kms when we came to a detour - the main road we needed to take to 1770 was closed due to the rain in the past 3 days.  No surprise.  Unfortunately the detour added 80kms to our trip.  However, when we arrived in 1770 we discovered we were lucky to have got in at all.  No one had been able to get in or out of 1770 for the past three days up until the morning we arrived.

1770 is a gorgeous little coastal town.  Famously known as the birthplace of Queensland, 1770 was named by Captain Cook and his crew who came ashore on their ship the Endeavour on 24th May 1770 and discovered Queensland.  1770 and nearby Agnes Water are seaside communities connected by kilometres of beach, and the start of the southern Great Barrier Reef.

We stayed at the 1770 campground, which was right on the beach.  Great location.  Unfortunately we didn't swim here as it is well known for stone fish and a fellow camper spotted a blue ringed octopus the day we arrived.  Despite this, the kids had a ball at the beach digging holes and building sand sculptures.  The crocodile was a stand out.  As has been the case the last few stops, we had one day of rain and one day of sunshine.

Simon got his boat fix by going out with Trevor, another camper and pulling his mud crab nets.  Trevor became Donna's best friend as he generously gave us 2 huge crabs he had caught.  Donna's favourite seafood!

We visited the site of Captain Cook's landing, not far from where we were staying.  Chloe and Ben had their history lesson here.  

We went to Red Rock Reef in Agnes Water.  A surf beach and not at its best.  Unfortunately because of the heavy rain recently, the river water has flowed into the ocean, so it is brown.  Not very appealing at all.  The kids still managed to have fun - playing on the rocks and in the ocean foam!

1770 also has one of the nicest pubs in terms of location.  It has stools and benches facing out to the ocean.  Beautiful and very enjoyable.

We enjoyed watching the sunset at 1770 - its been a long time since we have seen the sun set over the water.

We had thought we would stay at 1770 for 5+ days.  Unfortunately, Rockhampton was put on flood alert, with the Fitzroy River expected to peak on Thursday.  As Rockhampton is only 130kms north of 1770 and we need to pass through Rockhampton to progress north, we decided to move on and pass Rockhampton prior to Thursday. 

Detour!

Captain Cook's landing site

Daddy's little helper

Red Rock Reef

1770 beach

Sunset (campground)

The Tree Pub

Cheers!

Bundaberg (23/3/12 - 25/3/12)

Our main reason for visiting Bundaberg was so Simon could see where his favourite drink of his youth, Bundy Rum was made.  Simon enjoyed the tour at the Bundaberg Rum Distillery, especially the five rums he had at the end!! The kids enjoyed seeing the big rum bottle and the Bundy Bear.

We all enjoyed the self guided tour of the Bundaberg Ginger Beer Factory.  The best part of the tour, as far as the kids were concerned was the tastings we did at the end.  We tasted 12 different flavours!! Sugar overload.... Ben's favourite was sarsaparilla (licorice flavoured), which was the least favourite for the rest of us.

We enjoyed a nice lunch at the Bundaberg RSL overlooking the river.  The kids were in heaven as not only did they have pizza and chips for lunch, but included in their "kids pack" they got a lemonade, special activity pack and an ice cream.  Not bad being a kid!!

We had two weather extremes in Bundaberg - rain the day with arrived and left and beautiful sunshine, warmth and blue sky on Saturday.

Ever since arriving in Queensland, the news has been dominated by firstly the bad weather and secondly the state election campaign.  It was while we were in Bundaberg that the election finally took place.  Thank goodness as we were sick of hearing about it and the nasty campaigning!   It was a historical election outcome, with the Australian Liberal National Party winning by a massive margin.

Next stop 1770, a tiny coastal town 130kms north of Bundaberg.  We are really looking forward to staying at 1770 as so many people we have met along the way have recommended it to us.

The Bundaberg Ginger Beer Factory

The tastings...

Bundaberg Rum Distillery

Sugar cane crop

Hervey Bay (21/3/12 - 23/3/12)

Once again the forecast was for very heavy rain on 22/3/12, so we thought we should keep moving as we didn't want to be driving during bad weather.  So we reluctantly left Rainbow Beach, headed for Tin Can Bay, 40kms away.  Tin Can Bay turned on the rain for us, but despite this it was a nice small coastal fishing town.  Unfortunately none of the caravan parks appealed to us, so we kept on driving another 110kms to Hervey Bay.  On the way we passed through Maryborough and we discovered that Maryborough was the place of birth of the author of "Mary Poppins".  Ben was very excited to spot Mary Poppins in the main street (her statue of course)!

Hervey Bay turned on the rain for us too - in fact it did not stop until the following morning.  One positive was that the kids got lots of schoolwork done.

Hervey Bay is a town of 75,000 and is known for its whale watching and close proximity to Fraser Island.  We stayed in a caravan park on the waterfront, which was perfect as the kids had great fun finding hermit crabs and building houses for them.

Our second day in Hervey Bay was warm, sunny and without the rain that was predicted.  It bypassed Hervey Bay thank goodness.  Unfortunately, Maroochydore and Mooloolaba, where we had been last week had torrential rain, resulting in 200 properties being flooded.  Lucky for us but very sad for all the people affected.

We made the most of the sunshine and spent a couple of hours at Wet Side, a free waterpark next door to the caravan park.  The kids had an absolute ball.   Plus they had it to themselves most of the time.

We left Hervey Bay on Friday not knowing if we would get through to Bundaberg.  We had more rain overnight and we were worried some roads may be closed.  We discovered that trying to find out road conditions in Queensland is quite difficult.  As it was we had only gone 35kms when we came across a closed section on the road!!  A new experience for us... Before working out an alternative route, some locals and two truck drivers convinced us and some other travellers it was fine to pass.  It was not fast flowing and was only 20cms deep, so after watching them safely cross, we pushed on and made it to the other side unscathed.  The kids thought it was very "cool".

We stopped at Childers on the way and sampled and bought some of their local peanuts at the Peanut Van.  Yumm!  Childers was a beautiful town, with very much a small country town feel and lovely old buildings.   Childers sadly was where a backpacker hostel was set on fire, killing a number of people, including two Lake Grace girls, ten years ago.

We arrived in Bundaberg early afternoon...the priority for Simon being to visit the Bundaberg Rum Distillery.

The hermit crab hunt begins...

1st stage of construction for the hermit crab house

View back to our campsite

At Wet Side, with beach in background (very tidal)

Fresh pineapples, delicious...

The closed road

Rainbow Beach (19/3/12 - 21/3/12) & Fraser Island (20/3/12)

On Monday we left Noosa for Rainbow Beach.  On the way we passed through Gympie, a town which had recently flooded.  There was so much water still around and it was quite obvious how high the water had reached.  Very sad to see.

Rainbow Beach is a gorgeous small, quiet coastal town 130kms north of Noosa.  The main street is lined with cafes, shops and accommodation which ends at the beach.  Our main reason for staying at Rainbow Beach was its closeness to Fraser Island.  However, we fell in love with Rainbow Beach.

We made the most of the sun on the day we arrived.  We went to Carlo Sand Blow, which is a growing sand dune that covers an area of 15 hectares.  It ends at some cliffs that overlook the beach, coloured sand cliffs and Double Island Point.  On the opposite side it overlooks Tin Can Bay, Inskip Point and Fraser Island.  The sand was so white!  The kids had a ball digging and playing in the sand.  We finished off the day with a dip in the pool.

On Tuesday we visited Fraser Island, which is the largest sand island in the world and is world heritage listed.  From Rainbow Beach, we drove 12kms to Inskip Point where we boarded the barge, that took us and our car across to Fraser Island (a 10 minute trip).  We had to wait a while for the tide to go out, so we could safely pass on the beach to the inland road.  From here we headed north, passing a number of lakes.  There was heaps of water around and some rough 4wd tracks, so it made for some great fun.  We were amazed at the vegatation on the island - amazing dense, tropical vegetation with heaps of ferns and palms.  The kids even found some coconuts on the beach.

During the morning we came across four Danish backpackers and their overheated 4wd.  Simon helped them out as much as he could and thankfully they made it back to the mainland.

We reached Lake McKenzie around lunch time.  WOW!!  Lake McKenzie is a perched lake, which as described by the Fraser Island pamphlet means "it develops when an impermeable hard pan of organic debris forms in the depression between dunes, enabling run off and rainwater to collect."  So the lake is totally filled with rainwater (no groundwater at all).  Lake McKenzie was beautiful - white sand and crystal clear, fresh water.  Needless to say our swim was very enjoyable.

After our swim we had lunch in the "dingo safe" picnic area.  There is a huge dingo population on Fraser Island and they are the "purest" dingoes in Australia.  Fraser Island have gone to a lot of effort to promote the danger of dingoes and provide a safe environment for tourists.  As such, no food is permitted at swimming spots and picnic and camping areas are fenced.

From Lake McKenzie we headed to Eurong, a small townsite and then north along the beach to Eli Creek.  It was on our way to Eli Creek that we finally spotted some dingoes.  Three in fact.  Although we had seen dingoes at Uluru, we were very excited to see the Fraser Island dingoes.

From Eli Creek we headed south along the beach towards the barge for our return to Rainbow Beach.

What a fantastic day - a definite highlight of our trip.  The only downside was we were only there for a day and didn't get to see half of what we would have liked to.  A long day, 200kms travelled and 5+ hours of driving!!

We were very lucky with the weather - very little rain during our stay.  Unfortunately, the rain from northern Queensland is moving south, which means we are in for some very heavy rain over the next few days.

Next stop??

Carlo Sand Blow

The hard walk back up

View to Tin Can Bay, Inskip Point & Fraser Island

Ready to board for Fraser Island

Waiting for the tide to go out a little

If only we were in one of these!

Not too deep - come on through.

One of the many lakes

Lake McKenzie

A popular spot

Thank goodness for the zoom lense!

Eli Creek

The end of a wonderful day...ready to head home