Bust 3 days in this area, plenty to do and see and even without hitting the beach or the pub we had a very full 3 days. Also had a great fresh cooked prawn roll from a van next to the tourist information centre in Yeppoon.
Yeppoon
Yeppoon is a great little town with a lovely sea front with bars, restaurants and cafes along a lovely strip by the sea, but beware the Kraken.
Yepoon also has big shopping centres and even a Bunnings, which at first seemed overkill for the size of the town, but there are lost of little estates and nearby villages that are not immediately obvious and a tons of holiday accommodation. Great place to stay.
Emu Park
Pretty little town just south of Yeppoon, with a great lookout and ANZAC commemorative boardwalk and the Singing Ship monument to James Cook, which is a collection of pipes that plays an eerie but beautiful tune when the wind blows.
Emu Park has a pub and club and a few cafes basic shops but no supermarket. Very chilled out, I think this would be a great place to live.
Rockhampton
Busy small city with alot going on, we visited the the Tropic of Capricorn that runs through the City, the Botanic Gardens, the Zoo, a craft rum, gin and vodka distillery called Saleyards.
The Tropic of Capricorn is a line that represents the southernmost position of the sun on its annual journey. Rockhampton lies just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. The Tropic of Capricorn Spire is a giant sundial that marks the line.
The botanic gardens are a nice place to have a picnic but nothing special.
The Zoo was great and free mostly native animals (koala, kangaroo, Emu, crocs, wombats etc) and birds with a few additions such as otters and chimps.
The otters were not out and about though much to my disappointment.
Saleyards Distillery
Great tour free tour with tastings of 10 different rum, gin and vodka offerings, given by the owner and head distiller. Very interesting to see how the different botanicals impart the various flavours and the difference that the barrel ageing makes. We bough some Capricorn Spiced rum and some Billy Goat Gin. Looking forward to getting home and sipping it on our Veranda.
Check out the range at https://saleyardsdistillery.com.
Mount Morgan
Mount Morgan was founded on Kangulu tribal lands as a gold mining town in 1882, and over time the Mount Morgan Mine has produced gold, silver and copper. Among those making a fortune from this mine was William Knox D’Arcy. D’Arcy used his fortune to finance oil exploration in Iran, which led to the formation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company which is now BP
Originally, the Mount was simply just a rocky hill that was transformed into one of the world’s most successful gold mines. Commencing operation in 1882, the Mount Morgan Mine became one of the richest gold mines in Australia, and for a period of time, the world. In fact, in the mine’s early years, it paid off the country’s national debt of approximately $4 million and financed the Aussie involvement in WW1.
Mined for 99 years, Mount Morgan yielded a total of 225,000 kg of gold (at today’s prices worth nearly $11 billion), 50,000 kg of silver and 360,000 tonnes of copper; Ironstone Mountain became a very large hole — 1066 feet (325 metres) deep from the original mountain top.
The gold mine tour is currently closed but there is a very interesting town museum and a railway museum.
The town is a bit rundown these days as with no mine there is little reason to invest in it, but there is a chance that mining my resume in the near future. I hope so, it is sad to see a once prosperous town so rundown.
