Exploring Keppel Bay and Surrounds

You can see from the accompanying photo that it was a bit windy while we were in Keppel Bay!

We spent 11 days there, due to excessive wind and swell. When the swell is more than about 1-1.5m and hits us directly from the east, the boat rocks side to side and makes travelling quite uncomfortable. This doesn’t mean we don’t travel, but if we’re not in any hurry, why go out in those conditions? However, a swell of 1-1.5m from other directions, e.g. when it’s behind us, is actually very pleasant and pushes us along too!

But it feels like we did and saw a lot in Keppel Bay! Despite that wind and swell, the days were generally warm and sunny probably because, as I explained in my previous blog, We’ve reached the Tropics!

Photo during our Bluff Point walk

Here are most of the places we visited and accompanying photos. If you’re only interested in a specific place, please use the links.

Rosslyn Bay and Yeppoon

Bluff Point walk

Emu Park

Rockhampton

St. Christopher’s Chapel

Capricorn Caves

Baga National Park

Emu Park

Emu Park was about a 25 minute bus trip from Rosslyn Bay and a bit of a gem. The Drake’s IGA had good quality, fresh food and lots of choices.

But most impressive was the ANZAC memorial walk. The Gatehouse contains floor-to-ceiling First World War storyboards including portraits of locals. Silhouetted figures of Australian soldiers are grouped together in twos and threes and ‘walking up the headland’. Unfortunately the museum was closed when we went there. 

The short video also gives you an idea of how windy it was. 

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Rockhampton

Rockhampton sits on the banks of the Fitzroy River and is known as the ‘beef capital’ of Australia. 

We enjoyed viewing the historic buildings along Quay Street, and also Stewart’s Department store, established in 1862 and still operating today.

After walking along Quay Street to view the historic buildings, we wandered back along the banks of the Fitzroy river and had lunch at one of the cafes overlooking the river.

Then it was off to the heritage-listed Botanic Gardens and adjacent zoo, which offers free entry. 

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St. Christopher's Chapel

Our drive to Rockhampton took us via St Christopher’s Chapel. This is a heritage-listed chapel built in 1943. It’s an open-air chapel reflecting the presence of American troops in Queensland during the Second World War, and stands as the only structure of its kind in Australia.

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Capricorn Caves

The Capricorn limestone caves are one of the largest privately owned cave systems in Australia. Unlike others we’ve visited in WA, these are above ground caves. 

The acoustics in the ‘Cathedral Chamber’ are said to be better than in the Sydney Opera House, and in fact, the best in Australia.

If you enjoy opera, then listen to this short video from ABC Capricornia.

Or maybe just have a look at this short video I took when we were in the Cathedral Chamber. It’s an extract of Pentatonix singing Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ that our tour guide played for us (in full) and invited us to video until he turned out the lights. It became pitch black and really was incredible. 

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Baga National Park

After our trip to the Capricorn Caves, we stopped at Baga National Park. Baga is the remnant of an extinct volcano and known as a trachyte plug

There were a number of warning signs along the walk and being later in the afternoon, we decided to only climb halfway up, therefore reducing the danger by 50%! 

As you can see from the photos, the views are amazing.

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Where to next?

We’re heading to Mackay.

6 Responses

  1. An excellent gallery of photos. I loved the sculptural pieces. Yes, you both look really relaxed and happy.

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