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.
