A bit of a walk around Yeppoon township this morning, then out to Emu Park which is about 30 k’s south of Yeppoon. Emu Park was a lovely little town and it had a superb ANZAC memorial. It seems a lot of towns around the country were able to gain significant funds from the Commonwealth Government to assist in building memorials for the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing. Numerous places we have visited around the country have put a lot of thought into building or upgrading their ANZAC memorials and Emu Park’s was one of the best.

Also Emu Park was were “Captain” (he was Lieutenant when he travelled to “Terra Australis”) James Cook named Keppel Bay in May 1770, one of the many places he visited on the east coast of Australia. A memorial has been erected at Emu Park in remembrance of this occasion.

I’ve mentioned before that Yeppoon had a very large resort, its called Capricorn Resort but unfortunately its closed. Only 1 of the championship golf courses and the Japanese Restaurant are still open, otherwise its a ghost town. It amazing to see an 830 room resort, with many restaurants, pools, bars and other attractions all overgrown and abandoned. There is talk that it will be rejuvenated and reopened but I think COVID might have put a dent in those plans. As I said the place is a ghost town but we couldn’t get a booking for the restaurant as it was booked out, simply amazing!

We also ventured out to Byfield, about 30 k’s north of Yeppoon to Nob Creek Pottery, were we purchased our first bit of “stuff” for our new house in Emerald. It was a unique pottery and the owners had been there for 40 years. The owner told me he came to Yeppoon for 1 day and has never left. Then again he did come from a freezing cold New Zealand.

Yeppoon has been much more than I envisaged and I would be happy to come back here again.

The drive from Cape Palmerston to Yeppoon was non eventful but I have to say the stretch of highway between Mackay and Rockhampton is the worst bit of road I have driven on for a major state highway. If I was a Queenslander I would be disgusted with the state of the Bruce Highway, its no wonder its deemed one of the most dangerous in the country. Doesn’t help also that you have idiots passing on bends or double white lines, makes the driving rather tiring.

Anyway we got to Yeppoon safely and its surprising how big it is. I do remember this was going to be the big tourist place for the Japanese but in the 80’s and 90’s but didn’t quite get off the map. Never the less its certainly a tourist town and with Great Keppel Island just off the coast there’s always tourist coming thru town. We’re staying at a Caravan park right on the beach and its been booked out for months and is booked out to the end of October, so business has been good here.

Yeppoon looks nice, so we’re looking forward to spending a few days here before heading off south to 1770 for a week.

We’ve had a couple of days here at Cape Palmerston Holiday Park, which is just south of Mackay on the QLD coast. It’s a very quiet spot with no shops or services around anywhere, so if you want a relaxing holiday, communications free, then this is the place to be!

Susan and Andrew again tried their luck fishing in the river but other than 2 small fish caught by Andrew, they came up short again. What does piss you off is you set up and are fishing for an hour and then someone comes along next to you and catches one in 5 minutes. Susan says fishing is very relaxing, too relaxing if you ask me! I think you get more action watching grass grow (particularly in North Queensland).

So with my free time, I sat down and worked out our itinerary for the remainder of our trip. We are planning to travel down the coast to Bundaberg (of course) then come inland to Longreach in the “outback”. Then head south to Charleville and back over to the coast via Toowoomba. We’ll travel down the north coast of New South Wales to Newcastle then head inland again to Dubbo and Parkes before heading back to the coast to the Blue Mountains just outside Sydney. Then down to the Central Highlands south of Sydney, on to Canberra for a few days, before hitting the coast again at Bateman’s Bay and then follow the coast down into Victoria, staying at Mallacoota, Paynesville, Yarram and Inverloch before getting home just prior to Christmas.

We are sort of on the home run now. We’ve covered about 23,000 k’s so far and I expect we’ll have covered approx 30,000 at the end so we are about 3/4’s thru the trip.

Tomorrow we are off to Yeppoon, which is about 30 k’s from Rockhampton but on the coast. This is the launching place if you want to go to Great Keppel Island. Those of you old enough will remember the tourist slogan of get “wrecked” on Great Keppel. We don’t plan to get wrecked on this trip.

Our last day in Airlie beach and what a day it turned out to be! Sailing the Whitsundays in Providence V, a 2 Masted Schooner made of Mahogany and Beech. It was truly one of those bucket list days and we’ll remember it for a long long time.

It was a beautiful day, a little bit of cloud in the morning but the afternoon was superb, sunny and about 28 degrees. Our first stop was just off Hook Island for some snorkeling on the Reef. The coral and fish were great although the coral spawning did make the water murky at times. I forgot to take my GpPro with me, so I don’t have any underwater shot, bugger! Then we sailed further into the Whitsundays and anchored off Whitsunday Island. The tender took us ashore we’re we had to walk across the island to Whitehaven beach. It was a long walk but boy was it worth it.

Whitehaven Beach is spectacular and the water is the clearest water I have ever swam in. I thought Lucky Bay in WA was the best beach I had seen but Whitehaven has now gone to number 1. We could have stayed much longer but an hour was all we were allocated before it was time to head back. Lunch and a drink on the boat under full sail back to Airlie Beach marina was also a highlight. The photos below give a small glimpse of our day on the water, we’ll sleep well tonight!

So its pack up tomorrow morning as we head further south to Clearview which is about 50 k’s south of Mackay. Staying right on the beach so we hope Susan and Andrew can catch us some dinner for the 2 nights we are there.

Today was golf day and Andrew and I played in the Thursday competition at Proserpine Golf Club, about 30 k’s inland from Airlie Beach. It’s very surprising that Airlie Beach does not have an 18 hole golf course considering its a big holiday/resort town. There is a small 9 hole par 3 course recently opened and we’re informed its the pre-cursor to the building of a 18 hole Championship course what will be aligned with the retirement resort nearby.

So until the new course comes on board, if you want to play competition golf then Proserpine is the closest 18 hole course in the area. It’s a very flat course, which is understandable as it lies amongst the cane fields in Proserpine. Whilst it has only 2 bunkers, it does have a number of lakes and creeks, with 2 of the creeks having Saltwater Crocodiles as inhabitants.

So my CRAPP rating for Proserpine is as follows:

Design – 12 out of 20 (not much you can do with the land available but it seemed to lack some imagination)

Condition – 10 out of 20 (whilst it was generally “alright” the greens had been cored and sanded which made them difficult)

Cost – 19 out of 20 (outstanding value with 18 holes costing $18, including comp fees).

Visual Appeal – 9 out of 20 (unfortunately it didn’t get our juices flowing, obviously being very flat does not help but on first viewing it looks fairly ordinary and it doesn’t change much from there)

Facilities- 8 out of 10 (had a well stocked pro shop and the clubhouse up stairs was impressive, so it gets high marks for these two)

Ambience 6 out of 10 (just didn’t give us any real wow factor, although the locals were good and very accomodating of despite our Victorian origin.

So the final rating is 64, which is probably artificially high because of the good rating on the cost index. Whilst its not the lowest rated course we’ve played on in Queensland, I think it may be the most “boring” if I can say that. Probably a bit unfair but once again, its how we rate it on the day!

No golf for a week and a half, then we play Agnes Waters, near 1770 and then a week later its Coral Cove near Bundaberg before Andrew and Sue head home.

So until my next CRAPP, stay safe everyone!

We’ve spent the last 2 days having a look around Airlie Beach and the surrounds. Unfortunately our yachting trip on the Great Barrier Reef was cancelled yesterday which was disappointing but the good news is we get to do it on Friday. Fingers crossed for good weather as yesterday was a perfect day for cruising the reef and snorkeling.

Being school holidays at the moment in Queensland, means there are many people in the region, all the caravan parks seem to be full, although I’m not sure on the resorts and AirBNB’s.

When you think of Airlie Beach, you straight away think of a beach full of white sand that you can swim from, well its not quite the case. There is one “beach” at Airlie Beach that is close but the tide is out for most of the day, so swimming is difficult. Fortunately there is the Airlie Beach Lagoon, basically I giant pool right beside the sea and just of the Main Street. We had a quick dip yesterday, all be it late in the day but it was good fun. I like it because there is no sand, if beaches didn’t have sand I would be there all the time!

Today we ventured to Proserpine, about 30 k’s inland from Airlie Beach, basically a Sugarcane town. Then to Conway & Wilson Beaches, both disappointing as the tides were so far out and they are frequented by Crocs. Cedar Creek Falls wasn’t bad but the falls had no water and we decided not to have a swim. So it was then off to find somewhere for lunch!

Fortunately we ended up on the northern side of Airlie Beach, known as the Northerlies, at a restaurant and a good decision that turned out to be. It was a great setting, looking back across the water to Airlie Beach. We had a very nice lunch and then spent some time having a drink on the beach looking out over Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays. A very pleasant afternoon, topped off by Cold Rock ice cream on the way home. “Retirement, beautiful one day, perfect the next”!

So today we travelled from Townsville (Black River Stadium) to Airlie Beach, about 270 k’s south of Townsville. On the way we stopped at Ayr for a late – breakfast or “brunch” and then a quick stop to stretch the legs just outside Bowen.

We travelled the Bruce Highway on this trip and I can understand why its deemed the most dangerous road in Australia. It seemed at times we were playing Russian Roulette with other vehicles, particularly trucks. Although some of the smaller non towing vehicles also caused us much aggravation.

There was not much patience shown but fortunately we arrived safely here in Airlie beach.

We are here for 5 nights and looking to enjoy the local “culture”. We have a cruise booked on a yacht for tomorrow on the Whitsunday’s, so really looking forward to that.

Finally, during our quick stop off just outside Bowen, we had a Kodak moment with the big Mango. Not a very eventful day (thankfully) but certainly memorable because of the other road users!

Spent most of today on Magnetic Island. Caught the ferry over early this morning and then back again in the afternoon.

Very different to our stay at Fitzroy Island, for one it was way, cheaper and there were numerous accomodation options across the Island. Also there was many activities as well, such as jetski’s, outrigger boats and ski-ing on top of snorkelling & swimming. One of the favourite things we did was ride on scooters. After a quick lesson, it was away you go and it was quite fun, although a bit scary at times. All these 60+ people, riding scooters for the first time, yes we are “thrill seekers”!

Other than the scooter ride, the other excitement was the Sunday markets at Horseshoe Bay and our breakfast and lunch. Breakie was at Horseshoe Bay whilst lunch as at Picnic Bay.

We would like to come back to Magnetic Island and stay awhile. I think it would be a very good and rewarding holiday spot, not just a day trip!

Today Andrew and I played at Tropics Golf Club. So that means its time for my CRAPP report and I know you’ve been eagerly waiting for another of my informative and comprehensive reports.

Before I give the ratings I have to mention that for a state which has minimum COVID cases, I can’t believe the difference each golf club has re their COVID compliance. It’s all over the place but social distancing requirements are a joke. I suppose its the same elsewhere and we shouldn’t complain as we are playing golf whereas in Melbourne its no go!

So The Tropics Golf Club is one of 3 golf courses in the Townsville area. It was previously know as the Willows Golf Club but was bought out about 18 months ago. The new owner is working hard to get it right, he has a good canvas to work with but time will tell if he’s successful. Apparently he’s employed a credentialed course superintendent so that’s a start. Of course water is a big ingredient in the recipe, so hopefully, whether by natural resources or other means, the course gets a good and regular drink over the coming years. Now for the ratings.

Design – 15 out of 20 (A very good layout, with a couple of tweaks, like reversing the front & back nines, could make it suburb)

Condition – 9 out of 20 (Unfortunately this is where the course fell away. Greens were very patchy and need a lot of work and due to lack of water the fairways were also in places sub- standard)

Cost – 17 out of 20 (Very reasonable pricing. Would have rated even higher if the course was in better nick.)

Visual Appeal – 15 out of 20 (An impressive club house greets you and there is water also in view on arrival)

Facilities – 6 out of 10 (The putting green was below par and the pro shop also needed work. Another negative was no food/bistro available)

Ambience – 5 out of 10 (Probably a bit harsh here but there just needed a more vibrant aspect to it)

So that results in an overall rating of 67. Not a bad rating, very much on par with a lot of courses I have played. I suggest it would be good to come back in a few years and play it again after the new superintendent has had sometime to put his imprimatur on the course.

Until my next CRAPP, happy golfing!

Whilst I have us at Townsville, in fact we are staying at Black River which is about 25 k’s north east of Townsville at the Black River Stadium Caravan Park. It’s a rather unique park, in its only for over 50’s, so it really caters for the Grey Nomads. Each night there is happy hour in the camp kitchen and tonight (Friday) was pizza night. Also there was a quick competition that yours truly won with skill and overall talent!

It was amazing after so many weeks in the lush green rainforests of FNQ, to find ourselves back into the dry barren country side here in Townsville. It seem to happen all with about 20 k’s just south of Cardwell. One moment were in rainforest country and its poring rain then very quickly the rain stops and its dry and brown. Feels very much like we are back in central QLD again.

With Andrew and Sue we ventured into the Townsville CBD for a look around and it would have to be one of the most confusing towns we have been too on this trip. Normally you get a feel for a town and a sense of direction but Townsville is not one of them. I think the town planner was dyslexic because there seemed no structure to the road . system in the city area. Then people probably say the same about Melbourne but that’s 5 million plus population compared to 160 K.

We managed to have a quick bite to eat along the Strand and then up Castle Hill lookout for a view over the Townsville area. A bit of shopping and driving around , saw the day out before heading back for “Pizza night”.