Last time I told you that I had to have a diving medical as I am over 55 years of age to enable me to dive at Airlie Beach. How things work in this life keeps amazing me! When I went to the Doctors I was sitting there filling out about 8 sheets of medical history when I was tapped on the shoulder. Who should be there but Judy Smith from Bargo. We met Judy and her husband Tony 2 years ago at a caravan park between Ballina and Lennox Head. Although we had not caught up physically in that time we had kept in touch by email and phone. Neither of us could believe our eyes. It turned out that she and Tony was “baby sitting” a boat at Hamilton Island. We arranged to travel over by ferry on Saturday and have lunch with them. I forgot to ask her the name of the boat.
Friday saw us get up early and head to Shute Harbour to go out to Hardy Reef on the “Fantasea”. It is
about 1 ½ hour trip and we were lucky enough to have 5 separate whale sightings on the way out. Me, of course, was going diving and Walter snorkelling. It was a gorgeous day, not a breath 
of wind with the water that lovely turquoise colour. I had 2 great dives, getting up close and personal with a great Queensland groper and “Basil” a huge Maori Wrasse. Walter went for a ride in their semi submersible sub which cruised along the reef wall.When disgorging passengers at Hamilton Island on the way back we tried to guess which boat it was that Judy & Tony were looking after. Some big motor cruisers and yachts in the marina that caught our eye, particularly one close to the quay.
Next day we again caught the bus to Shute Harbour ferry terminal and caught the ferry via Daydream Island to Hamilton Island. Saw another whale just off Daydream too! We arrived at Hamilton to be met on the wharf by Judy. I guess our faces were a real picture when she pointed out the boat that Tony was waving from! It was the biggest one and
most beautiful that we were admiring from the ferry! It is called Kokomo 11 and belongs to Lang Walker, a Property developer multi billionaire! The boat is worth $40 million….. It certainly showed us what a lot of money can buy. It is total class and the most beautiful timber work and interior design. This is what Tony does. When we were in Ballina he told us that he outfits boats but didn’t tell us it is for this one guy only! He apparently own
s 5 other boats including a big racing yacht and is also having another one built in Italy at present. The photos really don’t do it justice. It has a full spa and bar on the top deck, a formal lounge and formal dining room, 1 speed boat and 1 zodiac, 2 galleys, a masters/owners suite complete with office, 2 double guest bedrooms with private ensuites and 2 twin rooms again with private ensuites (all in black and gold). It also is fully outfitted for deep sea fishing and also for diving. They have a normal staff of a chef, an engineer, and a deck hand that is also a dive master, and 2 housekeepers or cabin hands.
Judy prepared a lovely lunch which we had on the second back deck. We spent a great day with two great friends on a boat that you had to see to believe. After lunch Tony hired a golf buggy and Judy and I toured Hamilton Island. Very pretty but very touristy!
From Airlie Beach we then travelled a whole 60kms to Midge Point. We stayed 4 days. A lovely park but the sand flies were too friendly! We walked or rode on our bikes along a couple of tracks through the bush to creeks and lagoons or Rob walked right out on the beach. When the tide went out here you had a kilometre hike to the water!
From here we drove further south to Cape Hillsborough Nature Reserve. This is a lovely spot. We were lucky to get in here because of Queensland school holidays. This meant the park was very busy particularly with campers and camper trailers. This is an amazing place where early
in the mornings or in the late evening the locals (kangaroos and wallabies) come down to the beach. There are also a number of walks to do. Walter undertook the Mangrove Boardwalk with me, this is a fairly easy walk through a mangrove forest with 32 different types of Mangroves. It also went past a Shell Midden that is dated over 1000 years old. Very pretty with lots of bird life. I decided that I wanted to do the Andrews Point walk. This definitely wasn’t for Walter with his crook hip. So to beat the heat she got up at 5.30 am and went first to the beach 
and watched the roos and the sunrise for before starting off. The first section was about 256 steps straight up for 500 metres. When you reached the plateau the views were definitely worth it. It was about 4 kms around the top, overlooking a rocky beach called Turtle Bay and Wedg
e Island. Wedge Island is joined to the mainland by a causeway that is exposed at low tide. If you want to walk over there you have to give yourself an hour either side of the tide or you might be staying over there for a while! The track from the top is down more steps down to the beach, again you have to time it for low tide or you have to retrace your steps! I had a bit of paddling to do but not much. Another walk was the Beachcombers walk and again you time it with the tide as the track comes down the mountain onto another beach that you can walk back along to the park. So very pretty.
From Hillsborough we then drove further south to Yeppoon. We had a lovely site at the Beachside Car
avan Park, just 50 metres from a beautiful beach with views over Great Keppel Island. We gave Bill and Marie a call (we met them at Rollingstone) and Bill drove down to see us then took us for a drive along the coast to Ridges Resort, around Yeppoon including Roslyn Harbour and the Marina. He took us back to their place in Yeppoon for afternoon tea. Marie had been shopping in Rockhampton with her daughter Debbie but was back in time for afternoon tea. They were fantastic to us during our stay in Yeppoon.
We had Barbeques with them, went out in their boat around Great Keppel and North Keppel, with a picnic lunch off a beach on the far side of Keppel, and had many drives, mornin
g teas and breakfast at their favourite haunt called “Food for Thought” Best brekkys! We even travelled with them to stay and their daughter Debbie and son on law Alistair’s property at Calliope outside Gladstone. Deb had organised for us all to attend the Ubobo Spring Fair. As we had to dress appropriately, Marie and I went to St Vinnies in Rockie to buy the hats etc. We had a lot of fun their and came out with hats, blouses, shoes all for under $10! We turned out as the best dressed at the fair! We had a drive into Gladstone with them and saw the huge harbour traffic and loading facilities. Bill also drove Walter and I to Awoonga Dam. After the 2 nights we jumped back into Bill’s car and drove up to Monto and then onto Cania Gorge. We stayed the night in cabins there. Ve
ry dry at present and Cania dam very low. Usually there is platypus in the creek but the creek did not have one skerrick of water in it so no platty pussys. What was magnificent though, was the bird feeding. Lots of King Parrots, lorikeets and galahs, white cockatoos come into be fed each evening. The King parrots come right down and sit on your arms or shoulders, no fear at all. Such beautiful birds. Later in the evening the Rufus Bettongs also come into the feeding area to scavenge what the birds miss!
We left Cania Gorge and drove towards Biloeala where we had lunch with friends of Bill & Maries. Darryl and his wife are involved in a huge property development there of 229 blocks of land on the outskirts of the town. The land was originally a Lucerne farm. With the mining around the area it will be a sure fire money earner. They are big blocks and so close to the town. After leaving there we drove through Mt Morgan, another town with heaps of mining history and back to Yeppoon.
We also drove up to Emu Park and saw the Singing Ship (it wasn’t singing though) and to Zilsie. Beautiful views across the bay but land is not cheap. Found a nice block and rang the Real
estate agent and he told us it was “cheap at $595,000”. Walter and I also drove up to visit a crocodile farm. This was quite different as he “farms” these 3000 odd crocs for their meat and their skins. The skins when cured are exported to Gucci in Italy. I was sceptical but deigned to try a crocodile dish. I had a crocodile pie and I have to admit it was lovely!
Whilst we were in Yeppoon we also attended Rotary. What a great club this one is and so friendly. They have an amazing project of low cost housing for the elderly. They have a number of both single and 2 bedroom units that they maintain and their tenants only get charged about $70.00 per week. I was also lucky and won the lucky door prize and it was a bottle of red with their own label on it. They buy the wine as clean skins and then label it!
Another 2 friends who we met at Walkamin came to stay at the same caravan park so along with B
ill and Marie we arranged to travel to Byfield, about 35 kms from Yeppoon. It is a sort of arty community and also some alternative type lifestyles. We booked on a WaterPark Eco tour. This turned out to be great value for money. We cruised the river in an electric boat, saw water dragons and Azure Kingfishers, we then were taken by truck around the property which specialises in Tea Trees and the distillation of Tea Tree Oil. It was fascinating to look at the processes. Their oil is 100% pure and retails for $15.00 for 100mls. The crazy thing is that they get $50.00 a bag for the Tea Tree mulch! This is getting more and more popular as been found to protect against termites. Following that they had a lovely old horse and sulky ride around more of the property. Following this we went to a lovely pottery place with café and had lunch and then visited another potter and glass blower who apparently provided all the gifts recently for the APEC conference! Had lovely stuff but travelling in a caravan sure prevents you buying anything!
Bill and Marie had us all around again that night for a farewell BBQ as the next day we were heading south once again.
We travelled down to 1770 but were very disappointed in the caravan park there. Worst Park we have come up against. So instead of the 2 weeks we were planning, we changed it to 2 nights. However, 1770 itself is a very pretty place with lots of history. Captain James Cook landed here on his way up the coast, and the beginning of his many troubles too! We drove around and went to the lookouts and beaches and also had a peak at Agnes Waters. Lovely spots but the rates here are astronomical! For a block with no services you can pay between $3000-$6000 per annum just for the view!
We got out of the park at 7.30am on the morning and then left the van in the boat trailer park opposite the Marina as we were headed out on THE LARC for the day!
Now what is a LARC you ask? It is a Lighter Amphibious Resupply Cargo vessel. Tota
lly amazing bit of gear and we were to travel with her up 35 kms of beach to Bustard Bay Lighthouse, the first ever built in Queensland. These fascinating vessels are equally at home on land or sea, were originally for military use. The one we travelled on was named in honour of Sir Joseph Banks who accompanied James Cook.
The beach was beautiful and runs beside Eurimbula National Park. It also has 3 estuary tidal creek crossings as well as a 4WD track up to the lighthouse. They provided both morning tea and lunch. The lighthouse was fascinating and also has a restored lighthouse keeper’s cottage. There is also a graveyard with sad tales to tell of the hard life these early pioneers had in trying to protect seafarers. After lunch the LARC travelled through more water to some large sand h
ills where they then issued us with boogie boards and instructions to climb to the top and slide our way down. Braking meant dragging your toes in the sand and if you didn’t get enough grip you could end up in the water! (It also takes off your toe nail polish!) Needless to say, I didn’t get much braking power and ended up in the water – I did have my swimmers on just in case!
Tide was in on the way back so much of the trip was in the water. For any coming this way it is a MUST DO!
Next day we again caught the bus to Shute Harbour ferry terminal and caught the ferry via Daydream Island to Hamilton Island. Saw another whale just off Daydream too! We arrived at Hamilton to be met on the wharf by Judy. I guess our faces were a real picture when she pointed out the boat that Tony was waving from! It was the biggest one and
most beautiful that we were admiring from the ferry! It is called Kokomo 11 and belongs to Lang Walker, a Property developer multi billionaire! The boat is worth $40 million….. It certainly showed us what a lot of money can buy. It is total class and the most beautiful timber work and interior design. This is what Tony does. When we were in Ballina he told us that he outfits boats but didn’t tell us it is for this one guy only! He apparently own
s 5 other boats including a big racing yacht and is also having another one built in Italy at present. The photos really don’t do it justice. It has a full spa and bar on the top deck, a formal lounge and formal dining room, 1 speed boat and 1 zodiac, 2 galleys, a masters/owners suite complete with office, 2 double guest bedrooms with private ensuites and 2 twin rooms again with private ensuites (all in black and gold). It also is fully outfitted for deep sea fishing and also for diving. They have a normal staff of a chef, an engineer, and a deck hand that is also a dive master, and 2 housekeepers or cabin hands.
Judy prepared a lovely lunch which we had on the second back deck. We spent a great day with two great friends on a boat that you had to see to believe. After lunch Tony hired a golf buggy and Judy and I toured Hamilton Island. Very pretty but very touristy!
From Airlie Beach we then travelled a whole 60kms to Midge Point. We stayed 4 days. A lovely park but the sand flies were too friendly! We walked or rode on our bikes along a couple of tracks through the bush to creeks and lagoons or Rob walked right out on the beach. When the tide went out here you had a kilometre hike to the water!
From here we drove further south to Cape Hillsborough Nature Reserve. This is a lovely spot. We were lucky to get in here because of Queensland school holidays. This meant the park was very busy particularly with campers and camper trailers. This is an amazing place where early
in the mornings or in the late evening the locals (kangaroos and wallabies) come down to the beach. There are also a number of walks to do. Walter undertook the Mangrove Boardwalk with me, this is a fairly easy walk through a mangrove forest with 32 different types of Mangroves. It also went past a Shell Midden that is dated over 1000 years old. Very pretty with lots of bird life. I decided that I wanted to do the Andrews Point walk. This definitely wasn’t for Walter with his crook hip. So to beat the heat she got up at 5.30 am and went first to the beach 
and watched the roos and the sunrise for before starting off. The first section was about 256 steps straight up for 500 metres. When you reached the plateau the views were definitely worth it. It was about 4 kms around the top, overlooking a rocky beach called Turtle Bay and Wedg
e Island. Wedge Island is joined to the mainland by a causeway that is exposed at low tide. If you want to walk over there you have to give yourself an hour either side of the tide or you might be staying over there for a while! The track from the top is down more steps down to the beach, again you have to time it for low tide or you have to retrace your steps! I had a bit of paddling to do but not much. Another walk was the Beachcombers walk and again you time it with the tide as the track comes down the mountain onto another beach that you can walk back along to the park. So very pretty.From Hillsborough we then drove further south to Yeppoon. We had a lovely site at the Beachside Car
avan Park, just 50 metres from a beautiful beach with views over Great Keppel Island. We gave Bill and Marie a call (we met them at Rollingstone) and Bill drove down to see us then took us for a drive along the coast to Ridges Resort, around Yeppoon including Roslyn Harbour and the Marina. He took us back to their place in Yeppoon for afternoon tea. Marie had been shopping in Rockhampton with her daughter Debbie but was back in time for afternoon tea. They were fantastic to us during our stay in Yeppoon.We had Barbeques with them, went out in their boat around Great Keppel and North Keppel, with a picnic lunch off a beach on the far side of Keppel, and had many drives, mornin
g teas and breakfast at their favourite haunt called “Food for Thought” Best brekkys! We even travelled with them to stay and their daughter Debbie and son on law Alistair’s property at Calliope outside Gladstone. Deb had organised for us all to attend the Ubobo Spring Fair. As we had to dress appropriately, Marie and I went to St Vinnies in Rockie to buy the hats etc. We had a lot of fun their and came out with hats, blouses, shoes all for under $10! We turned out as the best dressed at the fair! We had a drive into Gladstone with them and saw the huge harbour traffic and loading facilities. Bill also drove Walter and I to Awoonga Dam. After the 2 nights we jumped back into Bill’s car and drove up to Monto and then onto Cania Gorge. We stayed the night in cabins there. Ve
ry dry at present and Cania dam very low. Usually there is platypus in the creek but the creek did not have one skerrick of water in it so no platty pussys. What was magnificent though, was the bird feeding. Lots of King Parrots, lorikeets and galahs, white cockatoos come into be fed each evening. The King parrots come right down and sit on your arms or shoulders, no fear at all. Such beautiful birds. Later in the evening the Rufus Bettongs also come into the feeding area to scavenge what the birds miss!We left Cania Gorge and drove towards Biloeala where we had lunch with friends of Bill & Maries. Darryl and his wife are involved in a huge property development there of 229 blocks of land on the outskirts of the town. The land was originally a Lucerne farm. With the mining around the area it will be a sure fire money earner. They are big blocks and so close to the town. After leaving there we drove through Mt Morgan, another town with heaps of mining history and back to Yeppoon.
We also drove up to Emu Park and saw the Singing Ship (it wasn’t singing though) and to Zilsie. Beautiful views across the bay but land is not cheap. Found a nice block and rang the Real
estate agent and he told us it was “cheap at $595,000”. Walter and I also drove up to visit a crocodile farm. This was quite different as he “farms” these 3000 odd crocs for their meat and their skins. The skins when cured are exported to Gucci in Italy. I was sceptical but deigned to try a crocodile dish. I had a crocodile pie and I have to admit it was lovely!Whilst we were in Yeppoon we also attended Rotary. What a great club this one is and so friendly. They have an amazing project of low cost housing for the elderly. They have a number of both single and 2 bedroom units that they maintain and their tenants only get charged about $70.00 per week. I was also lucky and won the lucky door prize and it was a bottle of red with their own label on it. They buy the wine as clean skins and then label it!
Another 2 friends who we met at Walkamin came to stay at the same caravan park so along with B
ill and Marie we arranged to travel to Byfield, about 35 kms from Yeppoon. It is a sort of arty community and also some alternative type lifestyles. We booked on a WaterPark Eco tour. This turned out to be great value for money. We cruised the river in an electric boat, saw water dragons and Azure Kingfishers, we then were taken by truck around the property which specialises in Tea Trees and the distillation of Tea Tree Oil. It was fascinating to look at the processes. Their oil is 100% pure and retails for $15.00 for 100mls. The crazy thing is that they get $50.00 a bag for the Tea Tree mulch! This is getting more and more popular as been found to protect against termites. Following that they had a lovely old horse and sulky ride around more of the property. Following this we went to a lovely pottery place with café and had lunch and then visited another potter and glass blower who apparently provided all the gifts recently for the APEC conference! Had lovely stuff but travelling in a caravan sure prevents you buying anything!Bill and Marie had us all around again that night for a farewell BBQ as the next day we were heading south once again.
We travelled down to 1770 but were very disappointed in the caravan park there. Worst Park we have come up against. So instead of the 2 weeks we were planning, we changed it to 2 nights. However, 1770 itself is a very pretty place with lots of history. Captain James Cook landed here on his way up the coast, and the beginning of his many troubles too! We drove around and went to the lookouts and beaches and also had a peak at Agnes Waters. Lovely spots but the rates here are astronomical! For a block with no services you can pay between $3000-$6000 per annum just for the view!
We got out of the park at 7.30am on the morning and then left the van in the boat trailer park opposite the Marina as we were headed out on THE LARC for the day!
Now what is a LARC you ask? It is a Lighter Amphibious Resupply Cargo vessel. Tota
lly amazing bit of gear and we were to travel with her up 35 kms of beach to Bustard Bay Lighthouse, the first ever built in Queensland. These fascinating vessels are equally at home on land or sea, were originally for military use. The one we travelled on was named in honour of Sir Joseph Banks who accompanied James Cook.The beach was beautiful and runs beside Eurimbula National Park. It also has 3 estuary tidal creek crossings as well as a 4WD track up to the lighthouse. They provided both morning tea and lunch. The lighthouse was fascinating and also has a restored lighthouse keeper’s cottage. There is also a graveyard with sad tales to tell of the hard life these early pioneers had in trying to protect seafarers. After lunch the LARC travelled through more water to some large sand h
ills where they then issued us with boogie boards and instructions to climb to the top and slide our way down. Braking meant dragging your toes in the sand and if you didn’t get enough grip you could end up in the water! (It also takes off your toe nail polish!) Needless to say, I didn’t get much braking power and ended up in the water – I did have my swimmers on just in case!Tide was in on the way back so much of the trip was in the water. For any coming this way it is a MUST DO!
On return to the Marina we jumped straight into the car (about 4.15pm) and drove down towards Bundaberg. Bill and Marie had recommended Mon Repos to us. What a lovely spot. We are now in Turtle Sands Caravan Park which is also part on the Conservation Reserve. This is where the Great Loggerhead Turtles come into nest and lay their eggs. Apparently they begin this process about the first week in November each year so we hope to get to see this. The Turtle Rookery is right next door to us. The beach is 50 metres in front of us and we are spending each afternoon swimming or reading on the beach, then come back grab a glass of wine and take the chairs back up to sit there and watch the sunset and at present the full moon rising over the beach. Ho Hum, what a life.
Hope you all are travelling well and health is also on your side. Until next episode,
Rob & Walter
The Happy Travellers
Hope you all are travelling well and health is also on your side. Until next episode,
Rob & Walter
The Happy Travellers
