Year 2, Week 19 – From the Tropics to the City
Saturday morning we left Townsville after having a very enjoyable three weeks there. With just one week to get down to Brisbane for our next work stint, we had quite a few kilometres to cover — starting the trek back down south.
We made a few stops along the way at roadside farm stalls and, of course, another top-up of seafood at The Prawn Stop in Home Hill. A must-stop for Ryan was the Home Hill car wash — always great to find one big enough for the caravan!
It was a pretty uneventful drive overall — a big day on the road for us, covering 515km to Barracrab Caravan Park. We haven’t done kilometres like that in a long time! We arrived to find the wind absolutely pumping in. After some chill-out time, we headed to the pub for a couple of drinks. Right near the water, we watched the tide come in quickly, chatted with some fellow travellers, then headed back to the van for dinner and an early night.
The next day we continued the trek south, not quite sure where we’d stop. We pulled in at the North Calliope River near Gladstone, a very busy free camp, but decided we weren’t ready to stop yet. Good to check out for the future though!
We rolled into Yeppoon and booked into the Poinciana Tourist Park. After setting up, we chilled out and went for a short drive to the Yeppoon Lagoon for an afternoon swim, finishing the day with some gelato.
The next morning Rachael was up early(ish) and went for a walk along the waterfront. By the time she got back, Ryan was up and ready, so we headed into town for lunch at Spinnaker — prawn tacos and red emperor fish and chips were our picks.
We stopped by Shell World, a gold coin donation attraction located at the Tourist Information Centre — well worth it! So many shells from all over the world, and Rachael even found some cute shell earrings as a memento.
A quick stop at Auto One for new wipers (what a difference that made!) and then another refreshing dip at the Yeppoon Lagoon finished off the afternoon nicely. That night we had an epic thunderstorm, and Ryan opened up the roof hatch so we could watch the lightning as we drifted in and out of sleep.
We really enjoyed our time in Yeppoon — a lovely town, bigger than expected but still with that quaint charm about it.
The next day we packed up and headed for our next destination: Eureka Station near Childers. We had fellow travelling friends staying there, so we decided to join them for a few nights.
Eureka Station is absolutely beautiful, with the added bonus of a swimming pond complete with fish. The warm days were spent lazing around camp and cooling off in the water, while the evenings were filled with campfire chats. Ryan cooked a delicious curry over the fire, with Rachael providing the rice and homemade naan bread.
After one last dip in the pond, we said goodbye to our friends. We stopped in Childers for a wander down the main street — one of our favourite things to do! With three op shops all in a row, Rachael was in her element and found some absolutely amazing treasures.
We then headed to the Sunshine Coast, via Dan Murphys, KFC and 10 Toes Brewery, stopping overnight at Leafy Lane Lakes — a spot we’ve stayed at many times and always enjoy. We spent the night around what will probably be our last campfire for a while, before an early(ish) night.
With one more night before heading into Brisbane, we stopped in to visit our friends Greg and Tracie and Izzy the dog from Caravanning and Camping Oz. It was a great catch-up full of laughter, good food, and drinks.
We woke to a drizzly morning, cleaned the compost toilet, said goodbye to our friends, and rolled into North Brisbane. Staying in the city is quite a change for us — we’ve never been city people — but we’ll try to make the best of it.
Watch this space!
Hit the road 🎵 — we’ve got places to be. – R&R
