Emu Park/ Yeppoon

In-keeping with our intention to stay at different places this time (from our trip to Cairns last year), we stayed at Mulambin -which is on a long loop road along the coast off Rockhampton. The loop encompasses several other beach towns, including Emu Park, Kinka Beach and Yeppoon.

We loved our park, which had a huge water slide, massive playground, meals available some nights (excellent fish and chips!), nightly kids movies and a lot of resident wildlife.

The surrounding beaches were gorgeous, and we particularly enjoyed the foreshore area at Yeppoon which had a fantastic water park right on the foreshore.

There was also a gorgeous set of yarn bombing, with labels inviting everyone to 'come for a yarn' at the local library.

We visited the singing ship statue (not singing when we were there), and explored the very extensive war memorial along the foreshore at Emu Park.

This is yet another area we would like to spend more time exploring!

Sarina

We had a short stop in Sarina, just south of Mackay, because I had heard we could tour a sugar mill there. Turns out it was just a 'mini mill' that explained how the larger sugar mill just behind it worked.

It was a great tour though and we really enjoyed it, and learned a lot about the sugar industry.

Ben particularly enjoyed the fairy floss, while we had fun with the liqueur tastings.

There is a full scale mill that still runs tours, on the other side of Mackay - but we didn't have time to back track to see it.

The big surprise about Sarina for me was the lovely coast line, with several pretty beach areas and an absolutely massive coal port.

I have to say, I really couldn't see any sign of the coal contaminating the pristine waters nearby despite my expectations.

Apparently it has very strict environmental controls which are closely monitored.

A very pretty area, worthy of further exploration!

Midge Point

Where, I hear you ask, is Midge Point, and why would you go where there are clearly Midges?  Well, there aren't really any more midges there than anywhere else along the Queensland coast, and it has a lovely peaceful caravan park.  And not much else.

Midge Point is close to Airlie Beach, but it has escaped the rampant development and is more of a fishing village. There is a vast sand flat before you reach the ocean, and most locals seem to have a tractor to tow their boats down to the water.

The area was very badly hit by cyclone Debbie, and the caravan park had only reopened in July, having had over 200 trees knocked over, and all the leaves stripped from the remaining ones.  It had recovered surprisingly well by the time we got there.

We explored the neighbouring villages and felt so sorry for the people whose lovely towns had been so decimated by the cyclone.

We also went in to Airlie Beach and were shocked by how much more developed and touristy it was since our last visit about eight years ago.  We were quite glad we had decided not to stay there! We drove out to Shute Harbour, which was just starting to reopen. The marina there was still badly damaged but it still looks glorious from the lookout.