Yeppoon

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Wednesday 2 December

We had a lovely cooked breakfast at the motel this morning.

Because we woke early, we were packed and ready to move by 8 am. I had paid for the room and dinner, while we were at breakfast AUS$133. So, I dropped the key at reception and we were off.

We had a few things we needed and almost as soon as we joined the A1 Bruce Highway spotted a big Woolworths on a retail park, so a quick lane change and we were at the car park.

We found all of the things we wanted, including some in the attached chemist, so all was good. Then back off again at 8.40 am.

Yesterday, when we looked at the map for our journey, Pat had spotted a slightly inland route. The Bruce highway is pretty busy and a lot of it is big lorries. We tend to travel below the speed limit of 100 kms, so we get in their way and most of the roads are single carraigeway with passing places.

Our journey was about 400 kms today and we had plenty of time so decided to take the back route. When a place called Sarina came along we headed off the main highway.

The road was a lot quieter and this was most of our journey today. We saw sugar cane initially but it petered out, to mainly cattle grazing. There were lots of horses too.

We arrived at Marlborough and rejoined the Bruce highway. We turned off before Rockhampton to our destination Yeppoon.

We had alternated the driving with Pat doing the final directions into the town and straight to the surfside motel arriving at 2 pm. 400 kilometers.

One of the strangest things we saw today was a lorry that somehow runs on railtracks. Neither of us have seen that before.

We settled into the room and went for a recce about 3.30 pm. Pat bought a dress in a lovely little shop for AUS $25 and we were back at 4.30 pm. A delightful town.

We took a walk at 6.30 pm to find some food. I had suggested Chinese but a nice looking Thai place crossed our path, so Thai for tea. Thai Tanee Yeppoon

Pat ordered a chicken pad thai noodle and I had a sweet and sour pork with steam jasmine rice, with drinks AUS$48.00 and all very delicious.

An amble back to the room by 8.00 pm.

We watched television and went to sleep 11 pm.

Thursday 3 December

A surpsingly undisturbed nights sleep. We are right on the coast and the edge of the CBD (Central Business District), and there was various background noises through the evening, then it all quietened down and we never heard a thing in the night.

Even the lorries parked just by us were gone this morning and we never heard them go. Mind you the fact that we have both had some busy days might have something to do with a sleep of the dead.

The plan for today is a quieter day. We have booked for two nights and part of the reason is to catch up on some laundry.

There are things to do in and around Yeppoon, but nothing we absolutely have to do, so we will just see how it goes.

We woke about 8 am and lazed for a while. Pat started processing laundry and about 10 am before we showered we took the car to a nearby DIY car wash. You put money in the machine and get various options on the high pressure jet.

The reason for washing the car was because yesterday, I had driven over a dead kangoroo in the road, but had forgotten that the ground clearance in the little Toyota Corolla isn't the same as the RAV4 I normally drive. There was some bumping under the car and the dreadful smell of dead kangaroo has been with us ever since. So the car washing included plenty of under the car spraying, we weren't out for long.

Just in case you think less of me for driving over the roadkill, I didn't have much choice at the time and sadly we have seen more dead kangoroos than alive; you also become very familiar with the smell. A significant number of cars have bull bars because of the high chance of running into wildlife, including cattle straying on to the road, which we have seen.

At 11.20 am we took a walk around the corner for some breakfast at The Coffee club. Pat ordered a salmon and avocado with poached eggs on ciabatta with cottage cheese and I had a bacon, cheese and eggs in a roll with onion relish on the side, with teas and a frappe cost was AUS$ 40.20. Mine was delicious. We took a little walk towards the beach and dipped our toes in the sea.

The beach is wide and the water therefore shallow over the sand, which also means that the sun warms it. So when I dipped my toes in the water there was an audible, wow......

Then back to motel, time 12.30 pm. We talked with the Manager for a while. Pat continued with the laundry. The weather is stinking hot and warnings about UV levels come up on my local weather for Yeppoon.

About 3.30 pm all the washing was on the line and we took a drive out. We visited Emu Park 20 kilometers away, stopping for petrol on the way.

The weather had a definite change by now and lightening was flashing across the sky.

We pootled around and took some pictures but decided to return and get some shopping. We had seen a Foodworks supermarket and popped in for supplies.

Then as it still looked like the heavens may open we opted for something from the fish & chip shop next door. Time 5.30 pm.

Pat had fish & chips which she said tasted like haddock and I had hamburger and chips. It did rain as we left the chippy, but not the torrential type downpour I was expecting, just a fine shower.

That was us for the night.

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