The Yeppoon area is nice! Very nice. There are beach communities north but mostly south of Yeppoon which is the main uncrowded hub, with only 18,000 people scattered across several different beach areas. We are staying at Emu Park ( Pop 2,000), which is 19km south of Yeppoon, where there are road signs for emus and a number of colourful emu figurines around town but none of the actual animals to be sighted! Hmmm. (Sooz: The community has tried hard to preserve some of its history and it is a very friendly place.) But it’s a nice little town with one of the best tributes to returned servicemen that I have seen anywhere.
Offshore lies many visible islands that eventually become the Whitsundays. There are plenty that are unheard of and some that are only a kilometre or two offshore, but clearly seen is Great Keppel which is 15km away and quite large. The scattered islands provide a very attractive backdrop while driving up & down the coast road. (Sooz: There is even an island for sale at the moment – Pumpkin Island! So, if you have a spare $15-20mil…)
30 km inland is Rockhampton. A man has never heard nor seen written any good reason to visit ‘Rocky’, but I don’t know why! We have been in there a couple of times and I gotta say, it is an attractive city. Big too – 83,000 people and with a beautiful, lush botanical gardens within which lies a really neat, award winning free zoo with all the compulsory Australian animals including crocs & dingoes along with meerkats, chimps, otters and more. In this part of West Rocky named The Range, there are nice hilly treed streets with magnificent homes (many) in the traditional Queenslander style. It’s the Mosman or Toorak part of Rocky. It’s all very, very appealing. The unappealing part is the Fitzroy river that while wide and running through the middle of the city and populated with barramundi, it has crocs. This rules out fishing from a kayak! (Sooz: So, if you can’t fish from a kayak, its out. 
I thought the “unappealing” parts are all the “meat processing plants” that used to be called abattoirs. Rocky is the beef capital of QLD and it is pretty obvious.) Rocky has a wonderful paved and tree-lined boulevard along the river with many heritage buildings from the late 1800’s. Who knew? I tell ya – it’s nice! (Sooz: I agree – it is a well preserved historic town, with attractive parks, gardens, lots of hills and tree lined-streets. If it didn’t get so hot in summer, it would be on the list of places I would want to live.)
Mt Archer overlooks Rockhampton and its 604 mtr (2000 ft) peak provides fantastic views across the district and has a really nice boardwalk around the summit.
We went to watch the AFL Grand Final and cheer the Swans at a pub in Yeppoon. Yeppoon happens to be the home of the Yeppoon Swans AFL team which has the astonishing record of more than 120 straight wins and 8 straight premierships. They have not lost a game in the local comp since 2015! As we all know, the game was a disaster for Sydney Swans supporters (Sooz: I tried to leave after ¾ time, but was not allowed to leave. Mind you, it was a good pub!), but that’s why cricket was invented. Time to switch focus!
Spent a great day on Great Keppel island which has seen better days regarding it’s facilities, but there is no argument about it’s claims to have some of Queensland nicest beaches. Bloody bewdiful in fact! (Sooz: It really does take your breath away, it is so beautiful and unspoiled. That’s the catch – if it was more popular, with better facilities, it might lose the deserted island feel that it has.) It’s a half hour fast cat ride out there for $50 return trip from Yeppoon. We walked a pretty rough & steep trail to Monkey Beach which is nicely isolated from the main beach. There are no monkeys (der!) but while snorkelling in a lovely little bay, we had an interesting experience. We noticed a couple in a twin outboard wave piercer heading straight at us. They weren’t speeding, but nonetheless, I was getting ready to take evasive action as I was thinking that they had not seen us and were going to run over the top of us. They ended up stopping right next to us and called out and pointed “Can you see a shark just there”? Talk about blowing bubbles! Sure enough, a really good size big ol’ bull shark cruised past us – about 15 feet away. JESUS!! (Sooz: It looked huge!!! But was probably 6 feet or so.) Susan was wanting to climb aboard the boat asap but the creature moved on into the blue and we were only 100 meters or so from shore, so we headed for safety while the boat remained between us and the animal, which they could see on their sonar. (Sooz: still breathing hard when I think about it! We also saw several turtles, some HUGE stingrays, and plenty of good eating fish – flathead, bream, trevally.)
Not too far from where we are staying is Koorana Crocodile Farm. Visitors are not subject to a sensationalist Steve Irwin type experience (with all due respect to him), rather an educational look at the animal and what the farm does as Australia’s original skin exporter and nurturer of this dinosaur creature. While it had a rather amusing rough ‘n tumble guide, it was a good learning experience. Did you know that crocs can lose a limb and not bleed to death, rather they can ‘shut off’ their circulation and that they do not catch diseases? (Sooz: Did you know in 1970 there were estimated only 3,000 wild crocs in Australia? Thanks to conservation efforts of organisations like Koorana, the population is now estimated at 120-150,000)
Fishermans Beach Holiday Park, Emu Park. 8.5/10 ; Sooz: 9/10
The guy behind the counter obviously wasn’t listening Sooz when you said “I’ll have a crocodile sandwich and make it snappy” …… because he’s taped him up!
I had a swim at Emu Park in the summer of 67 on a drive up to Cairns with my folks. I still remember how warm the water was.
The Mosman or Toorak of Rocky is located up on the hilly part for a reason. When the summer heat arrives they can sit out on the wide verandahs of their old Queenslander houses and catch even the lightest of breezes. As evening rolls around and the breezes taper off they can also lounge out there with the ceiling fans on and crack a cold XXXX. I can see you adapting Leigh.
Cheers
Go well you two.
The Pics and updates are great. I want to get on the road !!
Keep well ,
love Gus and Mairin xx
Hi guy’s Jacky & I did Yeppoon on the way up last year and enjoyed it so much stayed there on the way back as well. I recognise most of the photos you posted of the area a lady at Emu Park caravan site looked after Dinky while we went out to Great Kepple. “The Nomads” seem To be enjoying themselves , safe travels & have fun… by the way Leigh I caught a 40cm bream this morning
So pleased you guys are dealing with the crocs! No such creatures in Lake Como thank goodness. We nearly trod on a snake today in Bellagio. How bizarre? Love reading about your travels. Keep the adventures going.
Hi! Looks like you’re having a great time.
Beautiful photos. 🌈
I’m glad you both are safe. it’s a real adventure.
Your Dad & I would have loved a trip like this.
Keep the photos coming. I love it.
Have a great time and be safe.
Love you😘
I noticed that Susan was the one holding the baby croc and Leigh was the one taking the photos … such a gentleman!
Fantastic! The armchair traveler from France here and Loving the ride! Sooz, I’m finally back to routine and finally catching up. So enjoying your round about. Keep it coming. Stay safe. Xo