The park we stayed at in Rockhampton was a Big 4 Discovery Park on the north side of town; very close to the major shopping center (Canelands) and pretty much local to everything. We were quoted a big 4 rate ($27 per night) even though we were not big 4 members, this was most likely because of it being a quiet time of year. The sites were big with concrete sections for the van wheels and concrete tracks on the awning side for parking the car. We drove around to our site and was greeted by a member of their staff who asked if we would like the van parked on the site for us; great service and we are never ones to knock things like that back “go for your life”. The park was very clean and tidy with the amenities being very clean and tidy, the park has a pool and games room and is very quiet, it is on a main road but all the sites are well back and traffic noise was not a problem.
Our site shown above; plenty of room and very tidy.
We visited The Caves which are about a 30 minute drive north of Rockhampton; this place is quite spectacular and if you do spend tourist $ then this should be on your list. The cost is $22 per person and lasts an hour or so, each tour leaves on the hour commencing 9.00am and the last tour is 4.00pm.
Above shows the stalactites and stalagmites formed by water dripping of the limestone; these have been formed over quite some years.
The caves also houses a cathedral for weddings; without the lighting it is pitch black; we were told many opera singers perform here as the sound from the natural formation of the caves is equal to the Sydney Opera House. The tour guide put on a CD which was truly amazing; what Linda did not find amazing was how black it was when he turned the lights off for 30 seconds, also the words she said “shit, what's going on” seemed to be quite loud and echoed for quite some time.
Linda in the caves; don’t be fooled by the smile she was pooping bricks.
We went to the Rockhampton zoo and gardens; no charge for this but not too much to see. They had a few different types of lizards, a few roo's, a dopey looking emu and the usual koala, ducks and birds. It was a good couple of hours looking around and we worth the visit, good place for a picnic with plenty of places to set up and the gardens does have a kiosk.
One of the many residents of the zoo was the bloke shown above; he seemed to like sleeping a lot with his fingers up his nose and had about the same amount of hair on his back as Linda’s brother, Steve.
The water catchment or lake that is part of the gardens was abundant with turtles; all you needed was a few slices of bread and these little buggers came in by the hundreds.
We drove out to Yepoon for the day and the photo above was taken from one of the steep hills in the area, this shot overlooks part of the township. There is about 6 or so caravan parks here but we did not check any of them out. If you do the tourist drive Rockhampton to Yepoon it is about 90km and well worth the trip.
The above stands elevated close to the water at Yepoon and is called “The Singing Ship”; the mast is made up of various pipe lengths and diameters. When the winds hit the pipes they put out musical notes which is quite eerie; near this is a time capsule which was placed in May 1975 and is due to be opened in May 2070 (look out for Auntie May’s knickers).
The next post will have Mackay and how we faired in tropical cyclone Ului.
Keep well and stay safe
Love & regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig
