Do you remember John Golling’s advertising campaign of the 1980s with the catchphrase, Great Keppel Island: It’s a great place to get wrecked? It was one of the most successful tourism and advertising campaigns. And I know some of you have been wrecked on Great Keppel Island!
But, since neither Robert nor I have ever been there, we had to visit. We took the ferry across, and it’s about 19km from the marina. But let’s address the ‘elephant in the room’…you’re probably wondering why take the ferry since we have our own boat. Good point!
Last year when we stayed at Keppel Bay, the weather wasn’t favourable for us, and this time it was shaping up to be similar, mainly very windy and rather swelly too. And I didn’t want to miss out again. Plus, why not sit back and let someone else do all the work! Kind of have a holiday, so to speak. The ticket price for a return trip was similar (actually cheaper) than what we’d spend on diesel to go there on Poseidon. Plus, we didn’t have to worry about the boat being on anchor and whether someone might take our little tender while it was on the beach. I’m sure that wouldn’t happen, but it’s something I do think about. So we took the ferry and we spent a worry-free day enjoying GKI – or more respectfully, Wop-pa Island.
“The trip over was bumpy (not so obvious in following the video) and shortly after I recorded it, people started vomiting and the crew were kept quite busy distributing seasick bags and cleaning up (no, I didn’t record this). While I often feel a bit seasick myself, I was unaffected by this trip.
“Our Woppaburra ancestors were the first nation Aboriginal inhabitants of what are now known as the Keppel Islands which lay off the Capricorn Coast, Central Queensland. Our ancestors were sea-faring saltwater people, island specialists living off the island environment and surrounding inshore reefs and ocean.”
First lookout
We decided that walking to the first lookout would provide a good vantage point for views, and I got a map at the resort, with some directions and advice that it’d take about 20 minutes. I’m thinking we must have walked very very slowly, or maybe the person hadn’t actually been there themself!
I’m going to say here that Wop-pa Island is not a national park. And maybe this goes part way to explaining the lack of maintenance being conducted on paths and signage, and you will notice this in some of the next photos. But the views didn’t disappoint.
Leeke's Beach
Instead of taking the same path back from the lookout, we decided to head to Leeke’s Beach. This is where we anchored when we made our way from Mackay to Keppel Bay. Like many of the beaches on the island, and there are at least 17 of them, it was in pristine condition.
Tropical Vibes Cafe
By the time we’d walked along Leeke’s Beach, we were both hungry. At the western end of the beach, there’s an access path via Putney Beach and the Hideaway resort to Tropical Vibes Cafe. It’s a bit steep at the start and someone has put a rope there to help people climb up. Mind you, when I saw some of the knots, I’m not sure I’d trust it for much longer!
I’d heard only good reports about the burgers at Tropical Vibe, and they certainly didn’t disappoint. We both chose the Hawaiian burger and a XXXX beer and I have to say, I can’t remember when I last had a burger this good.
Putney Beach
Being on a time limit for our return trip, we decided rather than walking a few more kms to Long and Monkey Beaches, it was time to relax and have a swim. We headed back to Putney Beach, found a spot in the shade, and kicked back. It was also the first time the water was actually refreshing, since the average water temperatures at Airlie Beach and Townsville hovered around 29-30°C. I reckon the water was closer to 26°C!
Great Keppel Island Resort
After our leisurely swim, we headed down to Fisherman’s Beach to wait for the ferry. Along the way, we saw the old runway and Great Keppel Island resort. The resort, spanning 160 hectares, was leased by Sydney-based developer Tower Holdings in 2006, but closed two years later. The company had a development masterplan approved to turn it into a $600 million development, complete with golf courses, shops, a casino and marina. But after stoushes with the State Government over casino licences, the land went up for lease in 2018. If you want to read more, check out this ABC-provided news article and some of the related links provided.
And did we get wrecked?
After walking over 10km on some quite treacherous tracks, eating a huge burger for lunch, and swimming, we certainly felt a bit wrecked! But probably not as illustrated in John Golling’s campaign!
And if you look at the map below, we only touched a very small part of the island, and there’s much more still to see, but we’ll have to save this for another visit.
2 Responses
Nice blog post – thank you. It’s a pity you had so little time on the island. I would have loved to hear what you thought of the rest of the tracks – but that will have to be another year. Thank you. I enjoyed reading your writing.
It’s a shame to see so many of these Queensland island resorts forced to close down. I thought the photo you took of the “trees providing shade” was really beautiful.