Days 20 – July 23rd Yeppoon. If memory serves me correctly... no it didn't.

After a couple of longer visits, we needed to pick up the pace to Cairns, so slotted in a couple of longer days on the bitumen. We did stay near Yeppoon on our last trip, but we didn’t like it, and had vowed never to grace its shores again. However, it was in the right spot to break up the drive, so we booked a different caravan park with the attitude that it is only one night and then we are off.

On my last entry I ranted about trying to re-create memories and that it is a folly to do so. The opposite is also true. This time we had a site with beach views, walkable to town, easy access to the beach and the weather had really turned it on. Walking along the beach to the waterfront area was a revelation. Besides kids water play areas, playgrounds and amphitheatre, they had a public pool set up right on the beach which was better than most hotel pools. They even had an infinity edge and friendly lifesavers who were so bored they were happy to act as tour guides as well.

I am learning to roll with things a bit more.

As part of that, the last two trips I was pretty focused when I was behind the wheel to get to the next place, set up and then stop. I was less keen for little stopovers and just wanted to knock down the K's. Today, we stopped for a break at Marlborough, which is such a forgettable town that we had forgotten we had stopped for a break here on the last trip. Some people in hi-vis walking past commented on the van and we had a chat. They asked us if we were heading over to the Campdraft for a look. Given that I thought the draft was before the season, I was a little confused....

The Campdraft is a $130,000 competition run over the weekend where real cowpeople .. let me rephrase that, people that work with cows and steers ... had to get on a horse, run a steer out of the gate, steer the steer around some poles and then through two big sticks like kicking a goal. Given that what they are steering has a brain of it's own, and what they are riding has a brain of its own, getting the three brains to do one thing at breakneck speed is a mighty feat. We felt that we were pretty lucky to catch the event and I was glad to slow down and catch some of the local action. It made us feel a bit like Lisa Miller or Heather Ewart on Backroads. Would have loved to had a chat to the person calling the action, head back to their place, find out he is the lord mayor of Bridgerton who had a tragic backstory which meant he had to leave Ferntree Gully 25 years ago, got here on his around Australia trip, loved the place and never left.

Beachside Caravan Park – Yeppoon Google review

This title matches the actuality; this caravan park IS beachside. You know how there are all these motels around the place called Oasis, and they are 60’s brick hot boxes with dodgy beds and no cooking facilities and no Oasis, this is not like that. It is really beachside, with only a wire fence to stop you further eroding the dunes to get down the beach. This provides an awesome setting for breakfast as you watch the sunrise from your own table and chairs. If, however, you have a site that is roadside at Beachside Caravan park, you have a nice view of the amenities block and the sound of constant traffic to help you lie awake at night and wonder what you did to get to this point of your life. Amenities and facilities look old, but are actually updated, clean and good to use. Lovely touch to have a glow in the dark keyring for the toilet key and the 2:00am visit. 4 stars.