28th July 2011 til 14th August 2011
While staying at Capricorn Caves, we took the Cathedral Caves tour. This cave is magnificent, even more so, when you hear the history. We now have the benefit of lights and walkways, but the founder of the cave only had a single candle light to find his way through. This was a huge feat back in the day, and would have been particularly scary. The Cathedral cave itself is really stunning and has the most magnificent acoustics. They have regular operetta performances in the cave as well as about 30 weddings a year. It is a really special site for a wedding.
After we left Capricorn Caves and as reported last time, we then we camped on a private property on Hedlow Creek which runs out of Lake Mary, behind Mt Hedlow. This spot is 20 km’s north of Rockhampton and 15 km’s east of Yeppoon. It really was a perfect spot to get away from it all and listen only to the sounds of the great outdoors. Magnificently private, with no power lines, houses, traffic or people in sight, we camped right on the creek. It is hard to explain how beautifully peaceful it was. The creek was perfect for kayaking, which I did every day until I learned there had been crocodile sightings in this creek after the floods. As we had only one more day there, I decided not to tempt fate and so put the kayak away.
We put yabby pots in the creek every day and were rewarded with lots of Red Claw to feast on. Yum, they were delicious, particularly when combined with a roaring open fire, beautiful starry nights and a drink in hand. Our five days here were extremely relaxing, with beautiful weather and a glorious setting. Because we were so far from everything, we were able to run the generator every night and aided by a flood light, we played cards, listened to our music, which we could have as loud as we wanted, while we sat by the fire. It doesn’t get much better than that!
Our intention was then to head for Mackay, but instead we decided on one more stop over at a place called Carmila Beach, which is 100 kms south of Mackay. Here we camped right on the beach which is on the Coral Sea, part of the Great Barrier Reef. This area is really lovely and the waters are very tidal, with the low tide extremely low. So low in fact, that when it is out you can walk out about 1km. We stayed here for 3 nights and spent our time walking along the beach and soaking up the beautiful surrounds and sunshine.
On Friday 5th August we packed up and finally headed to Mackay. As were driving we realised that it had taken us 2 months to get from the Gold Coast to Mackay. Now that’s taking our time. We are currently still in Mackay and it has been great to catch up with Tracy.
Tracy and her fiancé, Darren have, very hospitably, let us camp on their property which is in Hampden, about 20 kms west of Mackay. They both work in the mines and had this weekend off, so it was great to spend some time with them. On Sunday they took us for a drive to the Dolphin Heads, which will be the venue for their wedding next September; it is truly stunning. They then drove us to a camping area at Kinchant Dam, which is 40 kms west of Mackay. This spot is magnificent, and will be perfect for kayaking and fishing and pretty much just relaxing. So after staying in Mackay for another week, we have booked a campsite at Kinchant Dam for a week from 22nd August. Tracy and Darren are going to joins us for a few nights when their next weekend off comes around. I won’t tell you more about this spot until after we have been there; except to say we are really looking forward to it.
Cheers til next time.
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| Hedlow Creek |
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| Our surrounds at Hedlow Creek |
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| Reflections on Hedlow Creek |
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| Sunset at Hedlow Creek |
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| Half an hour after Sunset at Hedlow Creek |
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| Carmila Beach. Our camp taken from the high tide mark. |
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| Carmila beach. Greg walking out during the outgoing tide. This photos was taken about 800 metres from shore. |
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| Carmila Beach. Our camp from almost the low tide mark. |
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| Carmila Beach. This photo was taken about 800 metres from shore. Same spot as Greg was in the previous photo, 2 minutes late.r .That's me and my shadow. |
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| The view from our campsite. |
