Yeppoon is a pleasant town which is mostly used as the departure point for Great Keppel Island. The ferry to Great Keppel Island takes one hour and can be choppy depending on the weather. Unfortunately, we found an island with a worn out feel and in desperate need of an injection of capital to bring it’s facilities up to the standard to match the impressive natural beauty of the island. The island’s walking trails have been washed out with heavy rains and are full of pot holes, the accommodation facilities and associated amenities are rustic and the ferry service is a bit provincial. The ferry pulls up on the beach and unloads it’s passengers directly onto the white sands. No jetty required! There is a rustic, local charm in this and based on the fully loaded ferry, there is a demand for holidays on this island. It is a local affair with family groups casually bringing cartons of beer and eskies, cooler bags of food and other small bags and boxes to be loaded onto the ferry.

It seems that every city in North Queensland must have free public swimming facilities as the central feature of their town. This is not a rectangular lap pool but usually, a beautiful resort style pool complex or a natural rockpool or ocean baths type feature. Yeppoon is no exception. It has a stunning infinity pool overlooking the beach! This part of Australia gets very hot and humid but there are stingers (jellyfish), sharks and occasionally crocodiles in the open ocean thereby discouraging swimming. These free pools are therefore a great attraction to cool off!

The city of Rockhampton is 40mins from Yeppoon. It was raining when we made a quick visit. There is a very pretty human created waterfall at Kershaw Gardens. Kershaw Gardens is a lovely spot with extensive and exciting playground installations as well as good amenities. It was the school holidays when we visited and there were at least 4 groups of children’s parties in progress. They were persevering valiantly despite the persistent drizzle!

The countryside around here is covered with sugar cane fields with a sugar mill and distillery at Sarina, just south of Mackay.

Ask many Australians, and their advice about visiting Gladstone is to “drive on!”. As a city, it is not considered pretty or worth taking the time to visit. It’s lovely however, to see a city that openly showcases it’s industries as these form the lifeblood of the country’s prosperity. Twice a week, there is a narrated harbour boat tour that takes people past the massive coal loading facilities and the three Curtis Island Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plants. There is a dedicated lookout overlooking the Queensland Aluminium operations that can be reached by car and you can also drive past the NRG Power Station for a good view. If you drive past the Boyne Smelter, you can see lots of aluminum ingots stacked up ready for transport!

Gladstone has also got pretty marina and the waterfront areas near Spinnaker Park are quite nice. At the time, Spinnaker Park was struggling with an infestation of flying foxes i.e. bats. These animals could be seen hanging from the trees and the health of the trees were visibly impacted.

You can’t go to Bundaberg without visiting the Bundaberg Rum Distillery! To be honest, this rum is only famous in Australia and Queenslanders are responsible for drinking a large portion of the rum produced. The tour was interesting as it took us through the molasses storage area and the building with the distillation columns. The tour guides really play up the Ocker Aussie accent and humour, (potentially too much) but they are pitching to the demographic that buy and drink Bundy. The tour entirely failed to mention that Bundaberg Rum is owned by British conglomerate, Diageo as it would have detracted from the Aussie ingenuity story. Complimentary drinks conclude the otherwise well-run tour.

Just 90 minutes north of Bundaberg are the charming, beachy, holiday towns of Agnes Waters and Seventeen Seventy. The town is called Seventeen Seventy after the year Captain Cook landed there. The sunset from the 1770 headlands is beautiful and the Paperbark Trail walk near Agnes Waters is really special!

Fraser Island is a sandy island just a 40 minute barge ride from Hervey Bay. Despite being entirely composed of sand, it boasts a diversity of flora and fauna, as well as a lot of fresh water! It’s an opportunity to see wide, pristine beaches, lush rainforests as well as dingoes in the wild. It is baffling how an island of sand isn’t a sand dune but has dense rainforests!?

You can take your 4WD onto the island but the inland tracks can be deeply rutted and the beach drive will cover your expensive 4WD in salt (and therefore make it much more prone to corrosion). We made a day trip to Fraser Island on a group tour in a 4WD bus so we could enjoy the day without worrying about damage to an owned or rental vehicle.

The Sunshine Coast, or Sunny Coast to the locals, is a booming strip of suburbs from Caloundra to Noosa. It boasts beautiful beaches and coastline as well as lush, charming elevated areas just inland. The climate is also good for most of the year. With the number of shops, amenities and excellent restaurants, it is no wonder why so many people are choosing this area to settle. Locals of the area love it and sing the praises of the Sunny Coast constantly.

Noosa, in particular, is lovely and charming, albeit touristy but it should be noted that the Noosa council is a little too crazy about roundabouts!! There are over 100 roundabouts in the Noosa area!!

Here are some pictures of the stunning natural beauty around the Sunshine Coast.

Australia is blessed with lots of beautiful blue sky days and it shows off any location to it’s best advantage. Central Brisbane, which is centered around the wriggly Brisbane River is no exception. The river feels like the heart of the city, with lots of people making the most of it at all times. The waterfront bars and restaurants are buzzing with diners enjoying the location, day or night. Runners, walkers, cyclists, dogs, prams, wheelchairs, gophers and scooters all use the walkways which hug the river’s edge on both sides. Ferries zip up and down and side to side all day.

Brisbane is a cycle friendly city with demarcated, separated cycle paths plentiful, the traffic isn’t too crazy and the hills are not as severe as Sydney.

Brisbane is quite a contrast to Sydney. In comparison, Brisbane has a small country town feel. Despite that, there are a multitude of great restaurants, vibrant markets and upmarket gin bars to enjoy.

Driving from Sydney to Byron Bay is about 800kms but should be done over a number of days to allow time to explore the many picturesque towns and cities along the way. We overnighted in Newcastle, Forster and Scott’s Head. During the drive, we stopped at Port Macquarie, Urunga, Coffs Harbour and Yamba.

The most awesome thing about Newcastle is to see the giant machines used for loading coal onto massive coal ships. Take a drive along Cormorant Road, Kooragang and you cannot miss them.

At the end of the point at Stockton, there is a breakwater which is called Shipwreck Walk. It was a turbulent and blustery evening when we walked here and it is easy to understand how so many ships came to trouble here.

Newcastle is a bustling big city with an affluent feel about it. It was a day of unusually big swells when we visited, much to the delight of amateur photographers hoping to get a shot of a large wave crashing down on the breakwater and for surfers, trying to catch the perfect wave.

Forster and Tuncurry are two towns right next to each other, connected by a large bridge. Forster seems more affluent and gentrified than Tuncurry. The highlights of this area are the lakes and waterways. The Forster Bicentennial Walk was stunning.

Just north of Port Macquarie is Ricardoes Tomatoes where you can pick your own hydroponic strawberries and lettuces and see tomatoes being grown hydroponically. Entry is free and its interesting to see the hydroponic setups.

Scott’s Head is a tiny town with a surprisingly large number of affluent looking new homes. It has a couple of beaches which are ideal for surfing.

There is a lovely boardwalk in Urunga which makes it a lovely stop to stretch your legs on a roadtrip.

At Coffs Harbour, there is a walk that goes past the picturesque marina up to the highest point on the nearby Muttonbird Island. The views from the lookout are worth the uphill gradient to get there.

Along this stretch of coast, we have seen a quite a number of surfers. These are mostly young men. Considering the cool temperatures, large and turbulent waves and the abundance of rocks, it’s a hobby that seems foolhardy and dangerous.

Byron Bay is a town which is getting a lot of bad press these days. The traffic is quite crazy and this detracts from the peaceful serenity of this small town. It’s hard to understand why there should be so many cars in such a small town! Paid parking is the norm in the town centre area as well which is highly unusual for a small town! Nevertheless, the farmers market was fun, with many stalls selling local, organic produce, the lighthouse walk was spectacular, you can hike to the most easterly point of Australia, the beaches are expansive and perfect for surfing and there are plenty of cute shops and restaurants to explore. The day we were there was overcast and threatening so I can imagine that Byron can look much better than these pictures show.