13 March 2013 – Mackay

We searched high and low today trying to find something of interest in Mackay.  We started at the marina and yes it was pretty but surely there had to be more.  Back in the car we drove around a few of the towns but there was nothing that really caught our eye so we went to the local shops and picked up some rolls for lunch and then went to find a park to sit in.  Josh had found a free local pool, Bluewater Lagoon, in the centre of town pretty similar to what you also find in Cairns and it was a great spot.  It had a couple of lagoon style pools as well as a great kids’ area.  We spent a few hours here before trying to find more in Mackay.  In the centre of town we found the information centre but get this – it was shut.  We couldn’t win this one.  We wandered around town and even considered going into the local police station and asking for a tour…  Instead we just went back to the pool and made the most of the sunny weather before returning to the caravan for dinner and prepared to leave this boring place.

 

10 March– 12 March 2013 – Bouldercombe (including Rockhampton and Yeppoon)

After having a bit of a lazy Sunday morning, we ended up jumping in the car and going for a drive past Mount Morgan (I recall in 2002, doing a tour of this old gold mining town and the dinosaur caves with Josh), then into Rockhampton to check out how much it’s changed in the last ten years.  The Fitzory river was a little brown but that is likely due to the rain that has happened up there of late.  There wasn’t much happening in town except for the Arcade markets – but they weren’t that exciting either.  We went for a drive up to Mount Archer and the view over “Rocky” was pretty good except for the mistiness.  I was amazed at some of the homes built on the side of the mountain, not that they were “mcmansions” but the way they were built off the edge of the cliff was pretty scary!  Our last stop for the day was Emu Park which is on the coast a little north of Rockhampton.  Not a lot had changed except for the small shopping centre that had recently been opened and they were still trying to lease a lot of the sites out.  We had a quick look at the “Singing Keelbut didn’t even get out of the car as it was pretty cold and windy.  It was probably around 6pm when we returned to the Bolt family home and Marilyn had just made a lovely big batch of her delicious pasties.  They invited their neighbours over to meet us as they too had done a lot of travelling and we had another lovely night of discussions.

Monday morning we decided that it was time for the kids to do some school work.  I also caught up on a bit of washing before we packed up the school work and took it with us to Yeppoon to finish off on the beach.  Along the way, we stopped in at the Rockhampton Ford dealership where Josh had previously worked, in particular catching up with his friend and old flatmate Russell.  The kids and sat in the car singing the Lord’s Prayer to me (it was very funny) while Josh had a bit of a look around the dealership.  Later at Yeppoon, we grabbed a bit of afternoon tea and went to the beach so the kids could complete their allocated art task (to make a sculpture solely out of natural materials).  Sami (with Josh’s help) decided she was going to build a stacked rock sculpture while Zoe (with my help) decided she wanted to make a heart sculpture out of coloured rocks on the sand.  Sami was so enthused by this exercise that she then went on to make a snake from rocks, which looked like it was slithering along the waterline.  We took photos as per their assignment and then returned “home”.  Josh and I were making dinner tonight as a thank-you to the Bolt family for having us and from Kathryn’s (their daughter) reports, I’m not sure that Marilyn was used to being kicked out of her kitchen.  Nevertheless we finished off dinner and all sat down for our last dinner together.

It was great to catch up with the Bolt’s but we had to keep on moving so we packed up and said our goodbyes.  We had a long drive ahead of us today, from Rockhampton to Mackay via the Capricorn Caves.  It’s pretty sad that we have lived in the Hawkesbury for around 12 years and never been to the Jenolan Caves with the kids, instead though we take them to similar caves just north of Rockhampton.  These caves are a little different as they are mostly above ground which formed millions of years ago and they have very few stalagmites and stalactites growing inside.  The most beautiful section of this cave was the cathedral area where they hold up to about 30 weddings per year.  There are pews set up inside for approx. 80 guests and the quality of sound from within was near perfect.  Our guide left us to our own devices to exit the cave via the zigzag walk (very tight zigzag sections of the cave which Josh was lucky to fit through) followed by the swinging bridges which we crossed to the exit.  After having a bite for lunch we continued on our trek to Mackay which meant nearly a 5 hour drive once you include all the roadworks.  Trying to find a suitable caravan park to stay in was painful.  We began by driving to North Mackay to the Big4 and drove straight past as it looked terrible.  Next on our list was back in South Mackay and it too was pretty bad.  We went back again to North Mackay and found another and by this time it was after 6pm so just checked in – and although it still wasn’t very nice, it was cheap.

 

6 March– 9 March 2013 – Heron Island

This morning we packed up the caravan and moved on out of Tannum Sands bound once more for the Gladstone Information Centre.  We were today heading to Heron Island hoping to see some turtles and hatchlings during the breeding season.  We locked the car and caravan up in a secure parking area over the next few days and walked over to the marina.  We were a bit underprepared for an island holiday but we managed to scrape together a couple of small bags to stow some clothes in.  Upon checking these in, we headed down to the boat.  The wind was howling and it didn’t appear that we were going to have a smooth two hour ride across to the island.  Once on board we found some seats inside towards the back of the boat.  They advised that due to the rough conditions, there would be no opportunity to sit outside in the fresh air for this trip – boo!!  About half an hour into the trip, Sami was already extremely pale and about 20 minutes later, Zoe too wasn’t feeling too well.  The hostess told us that we were welcome to sit just outside the back door if we weren’t well but Sami chose to stay inside.  Josh and Zoe on the other hand went out back to brave the huge waves that were splashing right over the double decker boat.  We made it about half way to the island before Sami couldn’t keep it in any longer.  Thankfully she had a bag in hand and didn’t miss it!  Finally we made it to land.  That terrible boat ride was all worth it when we saw the gorgeous colour of the water and sand.  We had a short brief of the island (including being told that we had no phone or internet service) and then headed to our buffet lunch.  We found that the rooms weren’t too bad for a fairly old resort.  Upon unpacking our bags we had to spread all of our clothes throughout the room as the bags had gotten pretty wet on the way over.  Then we raced down to jump on a tour of the island.  We walked along the beach to Shark Bay and then back through the centre of the island where the forest and many noddy and mutton birds were.  It was a very interesting tour and I was pleased to learn that the sharks around this island were of no real harm to us whilst snorkelling.  After a pretty relaxing afternoon, it was time to head to dinner.  Tonight was a lovely three course dinner of choice but the kids stuck to the kids meal and ice-cream for dessert.  The sun was just setting when we finished dinner so we headed back to the beach to try and spot some turtle tracks.  We decided to sit and wait in hope that some little hatchlings would wander past – but no such luck.  We did however meet another lovely family also hoping to catch a glimpse of the hatchlings.  Daniel, Jodie, Yasmin and Taj Lewis are from Lorne, Victoria and were spending the same amount of time on the island as us.  It was getting late and the kids were getting tired so we reluctantly returned to our rooms ready to try for a better result tomorrow.

It was really good to sleep in a full queen size bed last night, the only downfall being that our window was broken and wouldn’t close.  This meant that the many shearwater birds (muttons) outside our room were well heard.  These birds do not shut up throughout the night.  They make a squealing noise that sounds like a baby crying but it’s not just one baby crying but an entire nursery.   Needless to say it wasn’t the best night’s sleep.  After breakfast we headed down to the beach and did an entire lap of this gorgeous island.  We recovered from our walk (not that it is a big island) by sitting by the bar/pool for the remainder of the morning with our new found friends and the weather was gorgeous.  After more eating at the lunch buffet we did another tour, this time the research tour.  We got shown around the research centre that is located on the island and then had a chance to learn a bit more about the sea life around the island via the “touch tank” including the handling of some stunning sea-stars.  After our tour we did a bit of snorkelling with the kids but Zoe wasn’t in their long.  I think the sighting of the lemon sharks freaked her out.   We also came across a small stingray right in near the beach before we got out.  We had another early dinner, three courses again, and then we again hit the beach with the Lewis family in the hope of seeing turtles.  We passed some other tourists that said there was a mother turtle on shore at Shark Bay so we headed straight up there and found what we think was a large leatherback turtle laying her eggs.  We were only there about 30-40 minutes before this mother had packed up her sand and was ready to head back into the water.  She was lovely (even in the dark) and really big, I would estimate about 70-80kgs.  It was amazing to watch her drag herself back through the sand and into the water.  Now, if only we could find some little hatchlings!!

Friday morning, and we were loving this island lifestyle.  Meals all cooked for us, no washing up and a good night sleep (Josh managed to bend that window back into shape so that it was almost closed).  We lazed about all morning today.  However, straight after lunch and being low tide, we grabbed our wet shoes and headed out onto the now shallow reef.  This was a 2 hour tour and the colours and sea animals that we found on the reef were stunning.  We must have walked out about 500 metres or more from the shore and the water was never more than about knee deep.  There were many different coloured clams, all types of coral and a few weird looking sea creatures that I wouldn’t have noticed if they weren’t pointed out to me… but the fish were all in hiding.  Straight after the reef walk, the kids went off to do a ranger course.  This went for about 1.5 hours and meanwhile, Jodie, Josh and I headed to the water to do some more snorkelling.  There was just enough water covering the coral to glide above it and get a good look down amongst and under the coral at lots of different fish.   Josh and I managed to find another shark and some rather gorgeous fish on our travels, and again a lovely stingray swam straight past me with no fear.  We quickly rinsed off and then picked up the kids just in time to hear our next tour guide, this time for the turtle tour.  Surely the guide would know where to find the hatchlings or more mummy turtles laying their eggs?  We did the 1 hour brief of the guide and then had our dinner.  It was around 8pm that we all met up ready to go and find what we’d been looking for.  We had walked the length of the beach again right up to Shark Bay – and no luck – there was nothing to see.  Damn!!  The ranger had advised that this had been a bad year for turtle breeding due to the bad weather and lots of rain which had destroyed the food for the turtles and therefore, even though we were in the peak part of the season for hatchlings, this was to be a smaller season in comparison to previous years.  Once back from the beach, I sat in the bar a while and Josh headed off once more with the kids in search of hatchlings.  However, it didn’t last long as a heavy shower had begun so the rest of the family returned ready for bed once more.

Saturday morning and we were aiming to eat a rather large breakfast.  We were departing the island today and the boat was to leave at 2pm.  A big breakfast followed by no lunch sounded like the best idea for rough seas.  We had packed our bags and left our room so went to the auditorium area to do a few hours of school work before the boat came.  We’d taken our motion sick tablets this time and were all feeling pretty good about the boat ride back.  It was a shame that our expected departure time had been delayed and it was about 3.15pm by the time we left.  Josh and the both the girls sat outside and were pretty wet again by the end of the trip but at least everyone was feeling well this time.  We were really hungry by the time we got back to the mainland at Gladstone so we jumped back in the car with caravan all hooked up and headed for the closest McDonalds – lunch and dinner all rolled into one.  A couple of hours driving north, we were headed to Rockhampton.  Instead of going into town, we drove to Bouldercombe to surprise an old workmate of Josh’s from when he lived up here in 2000.  We did call Marilyn and Paul Bolt about 10 minutes before arriving on their front door step and although it wasn’t a lot of notice, they were absolutely more than welcoming upon our arrival.  It was great to sit with them for a few hours tonight and catch up on what had been happening in all these years and show off our children to them (that they knew nothing about).