It was a bit of a lazy day today. A day for recharging our batteries.
Despite the fact that the journey east from Winton is part of “heading home”, I refuse to acknowledge that we are heading home until we travel south.
Tomorrow we start travelling south 🙁
I came to Emu Park probably more than 5 years ago when I was with Ergon Energy. One of my my stakeholders (actually, he was my manager) was based in Yeppoon/Rockhampton and I had come up to see him.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), there was a beef expo – or some such thing – on in Rockhampton at the time and there was no accommodation available.
Well, nothing within my price range.
So they put me at Emu Park. I thought that it was the end of the earth – about a 40 minute drive from Rockhampton.
I thought that if I went any further I’d be at risk of dropping off the edge of the world.
But rather than being a liability, it was a blessing in disguise.
Paradise found!
I’ve always wanted to come back here but figured that it was too far away. Fortunately we have been able to get here for a couple of nights on our outback adventure and recharge, before heading back to reality.
We weren’t able to get into the caravan park at Emu Park, but we got a spot at Kinka Beach – 5 minutes up the road towards Yeppoon.
I’ve even included a map for those of you who are geographically challenged.
So recharge we did.
We started the day with a long walk on the beach. Stunning!
Crisp clear morning, soft smooth sand, and an impossibly blue sky.
And these tiny little shells on the beach.
We came back from our walk and noticed the sound of a motor, and then we smelled it … John’s septic pumping service was pumping out the dump point.
That explained the fruity smell in the morning air. Lucky for us we are not camped near a dump point!
Back at the van, washed the sand off our feet and started getting breakfast ready … to hear and see John’s truck move around to the amenities block just across from us, and John start unrolling the hoses …
So it turns out there IS a dump point nearby.
Anyhow, we closed all of the van windows, turned on the A/C and had breakfast inside.
Last night I texted my old boss – let’s just call him “Richard”. Actually his name really is Richard, so that works well.
Richard recently left Ergon after 40-odd years and has taken on the status of “semi-retired”. He’s 2 months younger than I am, lives in Yeppoon and is now living the dream.
So I texted him last night to say hi and he suggested coffee.
So we started the day with a trip to Yeppoon – about 20 minutes up the road – and Kerri went for a browse around the shops while I had coffee and catch-up with Richard.
It was really good to see him. It’s been over 5 years.
Kerri even bought me a present that tells the story of my life in 4 words:
Yeppoon is such a pretty place and the weather was absolutely stunning!
From Yeppoon we headed up to Byfield for a drive on Richard’s recommendation … a pretty drive but a bit early for lunch.
I can’t say that we saw many people at Byfield, but we did see emus …
… and lots of letterboxes.
I’m not sure if there is a collective noun for letterboxes? Maybe a forest of letterboxes?
From Byfield we drove down to Rockhampton to see the sights. On the way I had a call from another ex-colleague from Ergon – let’s call him “Glen”. Another semi-retiree.
Glen and I had hoped to catch-up on this trip but unfortunately the planets didn’t line up so it didn’t happen 🙁
Glen and I did a “National Lampoon’s Western Queensland Substation Tour/Adventure” back in Ergon days … I could probably write a whole blog on that trip!
Rockhampton is a pretty town, very rural and lots of closed shops no doubt due to COVID.
From Rockhampton we headed back to the van for a bite of lunch and I managed a nap.
Tonight we had hoped to go to the Pine Beach Pub at Emu Park for dinner, but unfortunately they were booked out, so we went to Emu Park Pizza instead for … pizza …
… and we watched the sunset.
Dinner and a free light show with my favourite person in the whole world! What more could I ask for?
So this is what today looks like – just some buzzing around Emu Park, Byfield, Rockhampton, Kinka Beach, back to Emu Park for dinner and now back at the van.
Coffee and chocolate. What better way to end the day?
But I think we need to buy some more soap 🙁
Ciao