Kinka Beach – 488 km

It was cool last night. The heater was on all night and the external temperature was 7.5 degrees when we got going. It quickly warmed up and ended up being a very nice warm and sunny day. We did see the first clouds we have seen in days as we got closer to the coast.

Our first significant road scenery was the Drummond Mountains, a whopping 535 metres above sea level. In this fairly flat state that is high.

In all the driving we did on the corrugated, rocky, dirt roads we did not have a single encounter with a rock and the windshield. On these paved (sealed, bitumen) roads we now have three or four chips to show for our week plus travels.

Our travels today started in the wooded/grassland terrain, through cattle ranges and eventually to a coal mining area. We saw many long electric coal trains that required an engine in the middle as well as at the back. At one point we saw what looked like a nuclear power plant. I guess with all the electricity needs for all the coal trains they need to produce the power somehow. Although the irony is definitely there.

We had set our sights on coastal Yepoon for tonight which required us to drive through our first city in a while: Rockhampton. Doug plaintively suggested he wanted to go back to Alpha, the small town we spent last night in. We were anxiously driving hoping we were early enough to get a site. We did manage to get the last site at the Island View Caravan Park in Kinka Beach. The young girl working reception initially said they were fully booked but called her father and they got us in. It is a nicely grassed site with lots of trees and a close walk to the beach. Having said that we are still finding the campgrounds in the smaller, out of the way places are the nicest and the quietest.

We went for a walk along the beach and again are struck with how no one is in the water, perhaps due to the presence of venomous jellyfish (although they are out of season). We have continued to be amazed with how people are so concerned with going into the woods in our country where all you have to worry about is the bears, while here if it isn’t crocodiles or sharks it is stinging jellyfish, venomous cone shells and poisonous snakes (we did see a road killed snake today, by the way). Guess it is all what you get used to. 

Walk to the beach

 

 

Anyway we enjoyed a pleasant walk on the beach, avoiding picking up shells or going into the water. There are some very interesting designs on the sand, we think made by mini-crabs digging their way in, throwing the sand out in a circular fashion as they bury themselves until the tide comes in.

The wild fire reports from home seem a little more under control so hopefully we will both sleep better tonight. It is pretty unsettling being so far away and completely helpless, though who knows what we would have been able to do if we were at home anyway. Thankfully we have some very dear friends who are looking out for our place and have removed a few valuables just in case. It is hard to even think of what should be put into safekeeping.