On Friday morning as we packed up camp to leave Stanage Bay I decided to have a peek at the forecast and see what the weekend had in store for us. It turned out to be very lucky that I did as there were some pretty horrible storms lined up, I still can’t believe that even after living in Queensland for 4 years Matt and I forgot about the storm season. I got on the phone to Emma and asked if we could stay for another weekend, which she and Tom confirmed was fine. It worked out very well because it was also Tom’s Birthday so we’d all be able to celebrate together. Rather than head directly back to Yeppoon the way that we’d come we decided to go a little bit off course and visit a local crocodile farm. Koorana turned out to be a fascinating place to visit, we learnt about crocodile farming and the products that are made, but also about the way that the farm operates under the Australian Government’s strategic conservation program working to remove problematic and dangerous animals from the wild. Some of the crocodiles they had were absolutely enormous and even with the high fences between us they put me on edge. If I wasn’t concerned about crocodiles in waterways before we got there I sure as hell was when we left, although that didn’t stop me from holding one of their very cute baby crocs.
Back in Yeppoon we had a fabulous weekend hanging out on the beach, having birthday pizza and drinks, watching the track cycling world championships and doing some yard work. Unfortunately the weather outlook was much better by Tuesday and we’d run out of excuses to stay so we packed up and drove south with a plan to head towards Bundaberg. On our way down to our campsite for the night we stopped in Rockhampton to fill the van up with transmission fluid and then again in Gladstone to buy a new air compressor. No word of a lie it took an hour to pump the tyres up from 8psi to 40psi after we’d done Big Sandy and there was no way we were doing that again, what a waste of time. There was one more bit of drama before we got to Eurimbula in the form of a truck fire on the side of the road. Luckily we’d missed most of the traffic chaos but still slowed down to a creep under the direction of the SES as we drove past the gutted remains of the truck that had be laden with watermelons, of all things.
The next morning I woke up and walked along the beach while Matt made breakfast, I was stoked to see a group of dolphins playing in the calm water of the bay. We took our time packing up as we were just driving down the road to 1770 to spend the morning on the beach and the afternoon in the park next to it so Matt could get some work done. On our way out of town to the national park to camp we found the most amazing gelato store and grabbed a cone each, it would be rude not to! The next day we went on a morning hike up to an uninspiring lookout, drove back into town, returned to the beach, had another surf, met a great guy who also had a white Delica, ate yet another ice cream and then drove back into the national park to camp. On Friday we decided to mix things up a bit with a slightly different morning routine, while eating breakfast we watched a goanna and a brush turkey have a fight and then on the way out of the campground we were driving behind a little Suzuki that was clearly struggling in the soft sand. Unsurprisingly it got bogged so we jumped out to help the occupants, one of which was trying to get to a job interview. Despite being a 4WD no one in the car had any idea what they were doing, the tyre pressure was really high, and Matt had to teach them how to use the deflator. Unfortunately despite the lower air pressure in their tyres, the use of our recovery tracks, and a lot of digging in hot sand (entirely completed by Matt and I) we still couldn’t get them out. By this point we’d amassed quite an audience of other people that were waiting for the track to be cleared so that they could drive past. Matt went over to a likely group of lads and asked if they’d be able to tow the Suzuki out because our Delica hasn’t got any recovery points, it turned out that all of the people watching had thought that it was our car that was bogged and they were all very entertained that it wasn’t, one bloke asked Matt “why isn’t that bloke *gestures at guy that was driving the car* digging himself out?”. The guys did agree to help us tow out the 4WD which lead me to my proudest moment of the trip, I got to use my skills acquired at the 4WDing course we did in February and taught a guy how to use a snatch strap to recover a car. It was great.
Finally with the Suzuki turned around and heading back to the much harder but longer gravel road out of the national park we were all able to get on our way and enjoy our day. Matt and I decided that since we’d had a very lazy couple of ice cream days that we’d do the most popular hike in the area known as The Red Rock Trail. The track followed the edge of the coast up and then along several beautiful beaches. Walking on sand made the going quite challenging but on the way back we stripped into our undies and swam in the sea before drying off under the shade of palm trees. Back in the town and having worked up quite an appetite we grabbed some fish and chips for lunch, while we were waiting the owner came out and gave us some calamari for free which was so good! Because the fish and chip shop was in a little retail area we went and bought Matt another hat, for those of you counting at home this is his 3rd hat purchase for the trip. Hat number 1 flew off into an old railway tank, hat number 2 is still going strong but doesn’t have a wide brim for our resident ginger, hat number 3 has somehow disintegrated into thousands of straw pieces that are now all through the bed. Here’s hoping hat 4 will do the trick!
On Saturday morning we packed up our things to leave 1770/Agnes Waters and continue south to Bundaberg, on the way out we popped into the paperbark forest and walked through the trees. It was a lovely way to end a fantastic few days in a beautiful place.
Campsite Reviews
Eurimbula Creek – We were pleasantly surprised by this campsite as I thought we’d be eaten by mozzies due to the location near the mangroves. The sunset was beautiful, and there were plenty of spacious campsites in a bush setting. $6.75pp/pn – 7/10.
Middle Rock – We loved this campsite, it had great tables, fire rings, and heaps of birds and goannas. We rated it higher than Wreck Rock even though that is the spot that is reviewed as the best campground in Deepwater National Park. There is a great Little Rock pool if you walk down to the beach and head right until you reach the rocks. $6.75pp/pn – 8/10.
Wreck Rock – Unfortunately there weren’t many spots available when we pulled into stay here so we didn’t have a table or any other amenities near us. It was quite nice but not as good as Middle. $6.75pp/pn – 7/10.
Matt and Annie's Adventure 