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Published: July 21st 2017
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This was my first week of unemployment - I am now officially 'between jobs'. This first week we headed up the north coast towards Mackay, taking our time to stop at some beach locations along the way. Beach therapy is just what the Doctor ordered and an awesome way to unwind from the daily work routine. We have often driven past the turn-offs for Seventeen Seventy and Yeppoon and thought about going in - this time we would.
We headed out on Monday morning stopping at the Gold Coast to pick up a winch and recovery kit ordered online, and visiting family closer to Brisbane. Our first overnight stop was planned for somewhere between the Sunshine Coast and Seventeen Seventy. We used Wikicamps to find a spot when we were ready to stop for the night, and decided on Petrie Park campground at Tiaro. When we drove in to the campsite though it was already very full and there were no spaces left, so we headed back into town to stay at Memorial Park - behind the pub. Got there just in time too as this rest area was also filling up rapidly. There are a lot of free-campers on
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Leaving home the East Coast and these spots seem to fill early and it was just after 4pm. The camper set up very quickly and we received a 99% rating (there's always room for improvement) from the 'happy hour' onlookers - for working together and setting up so quickly, with no arguments 😊 Not bad for the first night setup...
Tuesday morning we headed to Agnes Water hoping to arrive by midday to get a spot at Workman Beach Campground. We managed to get a spot just as someone was leaving (very well timed) and set up camp before heading to the beach - Workman Beach was a very short walk from our campsite. We stayed here for two nights to allow time to explore Seventeen Seventy. The Joseph Banks Park walks from Captain Cook Cairn to the headland was very nice, with lots of water views and butterflies. This was followed by a late afternoon stroll from our campsite to Chinaman's Beach.
Kinka Beach (near Yeppoon) was the next stop as I wanted to do a day trip across to Great Keppel Island. With no campgrounds nearby we opted for a caravan park. It's never as social in a
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First setup - Tiaro Qld caravan park as it is at rest areas or campgrounds, but we went along to the bush poetry at the park campfire for a while that night.
It was drizzling rain when we bought our tickets for the Ferry across to GKI the next morning, but that didn't spoil the day and it cleared up in the afternoon. The ferry (cat) dropped us on Fisherman's beach at about 10am and we had to be back to depart at 2pm, so we were limited on how far we could go. The walking tracks around GKI haven't been maintained since the resort closed and it is a shame to see the resort closed and going to ruins - such as waste. We quickly discovered that the tracks were also not marked very well, but we managed to find our way to Monkey Beach (my favourite) and Longbeach - it was a bit of a scramble through the bush, but the lovely views and white sandy beaches made it worthwhile. There are quite a few goats on the island but not much else in the way of wildlife.
Leaving Kinka Beach we headed to Mackay for some family time, staying at
Andergrove Caravan Park.
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