Mt Etna National Park and Capricorn Caves (Yeppoon Trip)

 Monday 5 July 2021 – 311 453

Drew and I went running along the foreshore toward Yeppoon this morning – beautiful sunrise views over Keppel Bay!

After breakfast we drove the “The Caves” township.  

https://www.queensland.com/gb/en/places-to-see/destination-information/p-56b26056d5f1565045da37fb-the-caves

Our first stop was the Bat Cleft Track in Mount Etna Caves National Park – a steep climb to great views and awesome limestone formations.  The next stop was Cammoo Circuit – a disappointing walk, through rainforest that was destroyed by fire in 2018.  The picnic ground here was lovely.

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/mount-etna-caves/about

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/mount-etna-caves/things-to-do

Capricorn Caves for the Cathedral Tour was next.  These caves are dry, which means they are no longer forming decorations. The acoustics of this cave were astounding.  After lunch we did a one-and-a-half-hour Capricorn Explorer tour. This took us through a variety of caves and tunnels; some into the hill and some all the way through. This was a really good tour for adventure without being to scary.  It included the option of going through a tunnel where you had to go under a rock 40cm off the ground. This tour was definitely worth doing. It was a much smaller group than the Cathedral tour and far more informative. The Cathedral Cave was special in its own way and has amazing sound qualities.

https://capricorncaves.com.au/

https://capricorncaves.com.au/cave-tours/

Unfortunately, when doing the Zig Zag section out of the cave Drew’s glasses fell off and were stepped on. As a result, when we finished at The Caves we drove into Yeppoon to have the nylon eye wire repaired. The lenses have a few scratches, but they are functional until we get home.

https://www.smwestonoptometrist.com/about

History, animals and views (Yeppoon Trip)

 

Sunday 4 July 2021 – 311 339

Following our big day yesterday we all slept in. Archer Park Rail Museum was our first destination.

https://www.archerparkrailmuseum.com/

This is a beautiful old train station. On Sundays, they operate a steam tram.  The driver was very knowledgeable and explained all about the tram’s history and operation. Apparently, it is the only working Purrey Steam Tram left in the world.  The railway station also had several plaster style statues that I enjoyed.

A walk around the CBD of Rockhampton was next on the agenda, admiring the lovely older style buildings, followed by a walk along the riverfront.

https://www.explorerockhampton.com.au/Explore/Heritage-and-History

Then onto Rockhampton Zoo – a free zoo in the botanic gardens, which was quite good.  We enjoyed watching the chimpanzees play. 

 https://www.rockhamptonzoo.com.au/Home

The botanic gardens near Murray Lagoon provided a picnic spot for lunch. After exploring the botanic gardens we sought out some of Rockhampton’s famous bull statues.  

https://www.rockhamptonregion.qld.gov.au/FacilitiesRecreation/Parks-Gardens-and-Recreation/Rockhampton-Botanic-Gardens

https://www.visitcapricorn.com.au/service/rockhampton-bull-statues

We took a walk around Kershaw Gardens.  The waterfalls were pretty but the wetlands (like those at the botanic gardens) lacked water despite yesterday’s rain.

https://www.rockhamptonregion.qld.gov.au/FacilitiesRecreation/Parks-Gardens-and-Recreation/Find-a-park-near-you/Kershaw-Gardens

Heading back to Yeppoon we stopped at Wreck Point to admire the views over Keppel Bay and its islands. 

https://www.visitcapricorn.com.au/service/wreck-point-scenic-lookout

https://www.visitcapricorn.com.au/veiled-in-mystery-wreck-point-lookout

Capricorn Coast National Park – Double Head Section gave us the opportunity for an afternoon hike to Fan Rock and Rosslyn Bay Lookout. Fan Rock is an impressive rock formation caused by a lava spout. The views from Rosslyn Bay Lookout were worth the climb.  All up a busy day.

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/capricorn-coast

https://www.trailhiking.com.au/double-head-track/

On our way finally! Delayed by Lockdown (Yeppoon Trip)

 

Saturday 3 July 2021 – 310 716

This morning we got up at the crazy time of 3:30am!  Originally, we had planned to leave yesterday but had to wait for lock down to end.  After pumping up the tyres we drove to Maryborough Parkrun. https://www.parkrun.com.au/maryborough/

Our next destination was Capricorn Spire Visitor Information Centre – unfortunately the staff were neither friendly nor helpful.  

https://www.visitcapricorn.com.au/service/capricorn-spire-visitor-information-centre

Our campground for the net few nights is the Capricorn Yeppoon NRMA Park.  They were great when I phoned about needing to arrive a day later due to COVID restrictions. 

https://www.nrmaparksandresorts.com.au/capricorn-yeppoon/

After setting up we visited the Capricorn Coast Visitor Information Centre in Yeppoon. Thankfully I was able to obtain heaps of information for our stay.

https://www.visitcapricorn.com.au/service/capricorn-coast-visitor-information-centre

Mon Repos Turtle Hatching

 

Mon Repos Turtle Hatching

6-7 Feb 2021

The boys left around 12 noon on Saturday 6 February and drove up the A1 to Bundaberg. https://www.bundabergregion.org/

Arriving in Bundaberg, we stopped in at Woolworths to purchase food items to make up a special dinner meal for 2. All choices were made by Hayden. After another 20 minutes in the car, we arrived and checked into a holiday park cabin.

https://breezeholidayparks.com.au/park/bargara-beach/

We quickly moved in and sorted ourselves out ready for our turtle adventure that night. As we were not guaranteed a time to move to the beach to see a turtle event, we choose to have a quick nap just in case the night was a long one.

After approximately an hour of rest, we prepared and ate our special meal. Hayden had chosen well.

At around dusk we packed a backpack with clothes, water and headlamps and drove to Mons Repos, and checked in with the rangers at the Turtle centre.

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/mon-repos/attractions/mon-repos-turtle-centre

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/mon-repos/attractions/mon-repos-turtle-encounter-tours

COVID19 conditions were strictly enforced at check in, and when waiting. We had to sit in our own group of 2 within the centre, however we were part of a 20-person group for the beach.

Much to our luck and excitement, we only had to wait just under an hour to get the call for our group to head out onto the beach. Our Turtle adventure was underway!! It was very dark, and no lights allowed, thus it was very difficult to see and quite difficult to walk. To help ensure we did not hurt turtles we were forced to walk high on the beach in the soft sand.

For our first stop we the watched the “head guy” conduct a street light experiment, however due to the need to not use any other lighting we could not really see very much. I am not sure if this experiment has been run often or with different lights, however the streetlights had no effect on the turtles, so much brighter lights were needed. If the lights were to be used as real streetlights, they must be brighter to be of use.

After the group had seen enough, our group was able to move onto our one allowed event, which we were lucky enough to see a nest of turtles hatching! Our nest had round 50 – 70 turtles emerge. The turtles were smaller than I expected, and their flippers were very tough feeling. They truly were small fragile creatures. The few of us with torches (no phone lights were allowed) formed a tunnel between our legs and used our lights to herd the turtles into the sea. This was the highlight of the night for me. The little ones were definitely drawn to the lights and they climbed all over our shoes in their rush to the water.

Once all the turtles were safely into the sea, they were on their own, and we headed back to the Turtle Centre and from there we headed straight back to the cabin for a few hours’ sleep until morning. We slept in a little in the morning and as the weather was a little windy, Hayden did not wish to swim.  As we had holidayed in the area a few months earlier, Hayden did not wish to do anything else in town, so we packed up and headed home.

We arrived home around 12 noon, thus the complete adventure taking only 24 hours.