Yeppoon QLD

Saturday 29th of June

Today we left St Lawrence and headed south 215km down the Bruce hwy to Yeppoon via Rockhampton. While in St Lawrence I had rang and booked in at the Top Tourist Island View in Kinka Beach 15km from Yeppoon towards Emu Park. Given it was still school holidays it was a great surprise when the nightly fee was only $34 a night with kids under 5 free we then got out top tourist discount of 10% as well.

The park, as most are along the coast, was pretty much full, with mainly Victorians escaping the cold but Paul, the owner, put us out on the overflow area as we have a bigger van. Before booking in he took us down to the overflow area to make sure we were happy. It was a great spot close to the amenities room around us for the kids to kick the ball and play without being jammed in like sardines.

Looking from the overflow area to the amenities

The overflow area, still with power water and tv cord, just no concrete slabs a little sandy but plenty of grass cover.

The park has old but very clean amenities, a small playground (swings and a see saw) and a pool. It is across the road from the beach and the bus from Yeppoon stops out the front.

The beach in front of the caravan park with Great Keppal island in the background but you do need to take a cut lunch when the tide is out 

Sunday 30th June

Whilst surfing the net to find out what's to do in the area, I came across the Archer Stream Railway Museum in Rockhampton and today was their family fun day. $2 per adult for entry children free and $2.50per person to ride on the steam tram. They had the local pipe and drum group playing, Star Wars characters to entrain the children, balloons and vintage cars on display.

J outside the station

The boys on the tram

Needless to say with 2 boys both very much train mad they had a ball. 

After a quick bite to eat we headed to the Rockhampton bontanical gardens and to visit the free zoo. Wow, the zoo wasn't what I expected, with dingos, reptiles, a large walk through bird avery, koalas, 3 chimpanzee enclosures, wombats, and kangaroos. Well worth the stop is you are driving through Rockhampton

Monday 1st July

Monday we walked around Yeppoon, then in the afternoon we caught up with a lovely family whose 2yo also has several congenital heart defects which I had met via the Heartkids Australia Facebook book page. Heartkids is a charity which supports families with children with congentigal heart defects/disease. Did you know that congentigal heart disease (CHD) is the biggest killer of children under 5 in Australia? One in every 100 babies in Australia are born with a congentigal heart defect. Many needing life saving surgery before their 1st birthday . A has 3 congenital heart defects and will require surgey in the next few years. We have an appointment with his cardiac surgeon from the Royal Children's Hositpal in Melbourne when we return home in Septemeber to discuss a surgery date.

For more information on congentigal heart disease and the work Heartkids Australia do or to donate please visit there website http://www.heartkids.org.au/ 

Tuesday 2nd July

The morning was spent once again looking around Yeppoon while we the landcruiser was being serviced. It took longer than expect so the little boys and I caught the bus bak to the caravan park for lunch and afternoon sleeps

After the boys woke we did a mad dash into Rockhampton to have a look at a new car which i had found on carsales website. We hadn't planned one buying one till a little closer to home and I would drive it home but this was was exactly what we wanted and even trucking it back to Victoria we saved money (plus time) compared to similar cars in Melbourne. Many thanks to Luke from Ian Weigh Toyota for all his help. 

Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 3-6th July 

We didnt really do a lot over these days, Rob finialiesed the car. Domestic chores where done, the kids played with another travelling family, many trips to the beach and just sit back and enjoying life.

We did take a drive up to Byfield National Park but the weather turned and started to rain up there so we turned around and headed back to the caravan park (andof course the sun was out) We also did the walking track at Bluff Point in the Capricorn Coastal National Park ( not far from Kinka Beach towards Yeppoon) up to turtle look out. Rob was the only one who briefly saw a sea turtle in the ocean below.

Overall our time in Yeppoon area was great we stayed 4 nights longer than we first booked in for. Certainly a Park and a place we would love to return to if we are ever up this way again

Next stop.....the small town of Seventeen Seventy (1770)