Froggles Travels: Cania Gorge, Yeppoon 30.03.2016

Cania Gorge 30.03.2016-03.04.2016

We arrived at Cania Gorge on the 30^th of March after a lengthy drive from Baffle Creek. We originally planned for this trip to take approximately 3 hours, however the road that we were intended to use was not suitable for a vehicle towing a caravan and hence it took us a lot longer than we thought. We set up camp and made friends with our neighbours and his family that were caravanning there for a week. The camp was easy going with a great family atmosphere and the caretakers were wonderful people.

Every afternoon they feed the birds, and must say the amount of Lorikeets that visited at feeding time were a lot, with some other birds trying in vain to get to the food.

The next day we decided to be energetic and we hiked to big foot and the Giants Chair. I must say it was very warm and the humidity was high, hence Bernie started looking like a walking Jacuzzi. Halfway up the hill we were informed that we had started at the wrong end of the track which was the hardest point, there was another track further down from where we started that was an easier walk as you would be walking down instead of climbing up. Anyway – we survived this, and it was all worth it as the view was fantastic.

Here is a photo of myself and the walking Jacuzzi.

Later that day we went to Cania Dam and that too was very scenic.

These scenes reminded us so much of South Africa – you could almost expect an Elephant, Springbok or Giraffe to appear in the distance.

On Saturday 2^nd April, we decided to travel to Biloela and do some site seeing. We turned off to a lookout that was called Hurdle Gully Lookout, which was on a dirt road about 30 minutes from the turnoff. The view from here was also quite stunning.

On our travels to Biloela, we also came across this dance hall in the middle of nowhere, near the town of Thangool, with this beautiful mural on it. (We just had to take a photo of this.)

As we previously realized travelling on the weekend to small country towns is always disappointing as all the shops close at midday on Saturday. We were fortunate enough to find a little coffee shop that would accommodate us with our dogs to get some lunch. So after spending a lot of time travelling we were very happy to get back to our camp site.

Here Bernie decided to master an old Christmas present that he has been battling to fly.

In this picture below you can see our setup we are slowly becoming caravan experts, within 45 minutes we are normally setup ready for a drink.

The picture above is of the ablution block. Note the mural on the wall of the bloke on the “thunder box”

Below is the view of the mountains from the caravan park.

The three days went by rather quickly and we thoroughly enjoyed spending the evenings sitting at a bonfire with our new found friends from Gladstone having a few drinks, tasting “Damper” for the first time. Damper is a bread mixture that is cooked on an open fire in a Kafir pot, and gets served with butter, honey or syrup. It is actually really nice, just like normal bread.

Map of our trip from Rules Beach / Baffles Creek to Cania Gorge

Next port of call is back to the coast line at Kinka Bay near Yeppoon.

Yeppoon 03.04.2016-9.04.2016

After a long drive travelling through Biloela, Mount Morgan (where we stopped for lunch) and Rockhampton, we finally arrived at Island View Caravan Park in Kinka Bay. We originally booked for 4 nights but soon realized there was a lot to do, so we extended our stay by another 3 nights.

Kinka Bay is situated approximately 10 km south of Yeppoon and the same distance again north of Emu Park. This caravan park is well maintained having 2 swimming pools with one pool reserved for adults only, and you only have to cross the road to a tidal beach. The tide is so high in Yeppoon that you have to walk at least 200 metres to the water when the tide is out. See photos below.

Next day we went to Yeppoon for breakfast and see what the town had to offer. Yeppoon is a very quaint town with lovely esplanade and scenic lookouts. See the photos below.

While we were in Yeppoon we booked a trip to Great Keppel Island and booked the dogs into a kennel for 2 days, thus enabling us to visit the Island and go to some National parks.

Great Keppel Island is roughly a 45 minute ferry ride from Yeppoon yacht club and worth every cent we spent to get there. The Island is picturesque and we rate it as one of the best beaches that we have been to in our travels. Forget going to Bali or Thailand, as these beaches will blow you away. The water is crystal clear and the sand is snow white, with very few visitors on the Island. See the photos below.

After spending a full day in the sun, we gave ourselves a break from the beach and we decided to go to the Capricorn Caves, near Rockhampton. This was a pleasant experience and a welcome relief from the heat.

The rest of the time we went to Rockhampton, Emu Park and Byfield National Park only to be literally eaten alive by mosquitoes, sand flies so cancelled that stop pretty quickly.

Our stay at the caravan park ended on a very happy note, every Friday night they have meat raffles and Jag the joker. This is how it works, you buy a ticket for the Jag the joker and if your number is pulled out of the bag then you go and choose a card from a pack of cards. If you choose the joker you win the cash(about $2000.00). We had bought tickets for the meat raffle and jag the joker, and we won a meat pack but we were not fortunate enough to win the jackpot.

So naturally our last night we shared this meat pack with 2 lovely couples that we met at the caravan park and some of the staff, photos for you to see.