Travelling through inland Australia: Day 39 Rockhampton

We discovered that there is not a great deal to see in Rockhampton. The main attractions seem to be the Botanic Gardens and Zoo and the livestock salesyards. So we elected to join our friends Leonie and Alan Hills in a trip to Yeppoon and Rosslyn Bay about 25 kms from Rockhampton.

Yeppoon is a somewhat small but very attractive beach resort with a broad beach (at least at low tide) and view across to North and Great Keppel Islands.

After a coffee and a walk up and down the beachfront, we drove across to Rosslyn Bay, the jumping off point for the ferry across to Great Keppel Island. There is not much there except a very nice marina and the Rosslyn Bay Resort and bistro across the road from the beach.

We then drove back to Rockhampton, bent on finding the information centre and the Tropic of Capricorn marker. We had a lot of trouble finding it but after resorting to the GPS finally found it. Naturally, it was on the Bruce Highway, the main street in and out of Rockhampton and easily found. We took the obligatory photographs with each of us standing on either side of the Tropic. Tomorrow we cross the Tropic and this will mark our departure from tropical Queensland and our inevitable return home. Our next stop will be Bargara Beach near Bundaberg. We have been hearing some really scary stories about the Drop Bears in this part of the world!

This evening we all went out for dinner at the North Rockhampton Bowling Club which is not too far from where we are staying. This has to be Rockhampton's best kept secrets. The food was delicious, the surroundings very pleasant and relaxing and there was not a great crowd of people there. We were able to order without standing for ages in a long queue of people and the meal was delivered quickly. We were the last people out of the club and were safe at home by 8.30pm.

I have to make a couple of observations about the caravan park. I went for my shower this morning and discovered that even though only two other shower stalls were occupied there was literally no water pressure. Last night, while we sitting outside, the local rainbow lorikeet population returned to roost in the trees in the caravan park. The noise was incredible and went on for an hour or more. I was expecting the worst this morning. While I was awakened at 5.30 am, the noise was not as loud as last night and soon abated.

Here are today's photos.