Having “sold” the previous drive to the boys as being the longest of the trip, we were almost forced to eat our words and to supply copious ice cream bribes when today’s journey looked to tally 5 and a half hours of driving. I was nervous. A little traffic, a wrong turn, a misplaced cassowary and we might be looking at some seriously put out passengers hungry for some “mint-chip” blood!
In spite of these concerns we rolled out of Airlie beach full of gas, the liquid type, heading back to the A-1 in search of the endless white beaches of Yeppoon. The countryside offered more of the spectacular same - constant mountain ranges, sprawling cattle stations, signs warning of imminent death unless we were to stop and rest every 2 hours, and always and forever big trucks roaring past or up our backsides. I was getting used to them actually and had taken to throwing on the hazards every convenient moment, slowing down, pulling over and letting the big boys pass for which we would often get a friendly toot of their horn. In addition, I was also getting nervy enough to pass the odd doddler in front of us, which were the few times I saw Linton grip her door handle a little tighter.
Once again the journey was divided into stages – settling on stops that had an information kiosk, gas, or a picturesque place to have some lunch. The beauty of the camper-life can also be realized in the fact that it is a rolling canteen and so appointed we had several nice languorous lunches parked in the cosy confines of a fairly deserted tourist kiosk parking lot.
It was after one such stop on this day’s travels that I made my first blunder in terms of the right or wrong or left side of the road. In a half-hearted and admittedly lame attempt at pulling into a gas station I managed to get us lined up on the right side of the road – nowhere near anything but the imminent threat of oncoming traffic. Three three-point turns later we were safely in front of the diesel fuel pump around the corner, on the correct side of the road and with only 3-4 harsh words spoken between driver and navigator. I was amazed and shocked at how logical this little brain fart had seemed at the time and the shot of adrenaline (or was it the scream in my left ear?) I received when I suddenly realized my mistake would be enough to keep me wide awake well into the following day’s drive. Thankfully, no harm, no foul and with a $100 more gas in our tank we we’re off again. The boys quietly convinced that our arrival was imminent and Linton and I plotting how we were going to sell the next three hours of driving to our restless, rolling natives!
It must have been around 4:30 when we finally began negotiating our way through the many roundabouts of Yeppoon. We must have been tired because our normal witty banter and surgical decision-making became decidedly short, to the point, and...less than surgical. Finally, after cresting a hill and seeing one of the most beautiful vistas of beach I have ever seen anywhere, we stumbled into the Big 4 Caravan Park in Yeppon intriguingly named Capricorn Palms. We learned later that we were on the section of Queensland coast called the Capricorn coast because we would soon be driving across the Tropic of Capricorn – hence the name. Again, despite some early trepidation upon first appearance (think trailer park at the end of undeveloped subdivision) this park would prove to be a good follow-up to the paradise that was Airlie Beach as it had a lot of the same things (though thankfully the boys never discovered the games room!) There was a jumping pillow, movie nights, and pedal carts all of which we made good use of including Alex’s small accident in a pedal cart which we didn’t see but about which he claimed to have “gone the wrong way and hit something”.
Unfortunately, perhaps the worst thing that happened on the entire trip was the attack of the no-see-ums, particularly for Colin and Linton. Thankfully, I don’t have the sweet blood that they do and was relatively immune to the bugs but Linton especially got as much as she could handle. She was a total trooper throughout, with nary a complaint, but we did need to hit the chemist in Yeppon for some drugs and cream to try to relieve the itch. When all you really want on your skin is some warmth and some colour and instead you are putting on anti-itch cream and bandages, it can really take the wind out of your holiday sails but thankfully after a day or so the medication started to work and Lint could spend less time scratching her countless bites.
We often spend time recounting our favourite parts of the trip and our day on the beach at Yeppoon ranks right up there for me. Warm water and gentle surf allowed for endless play and the fact that we were able to park the camper right beside the beach made the convenience of lunch, changing, and bathroom breaks all the sweeter. Colin, Alex, and Linton all managed to ride the tube and boogie board with great success whereas I managed to merely drown it. I like to think that it was a surf thing versus a weight thing but somewhere in the middle of it all was a buoyancy issue. Between dips we strolled the strip topping up our beer supplies, groceries, sunshirts for Colin and dad, and negotiating the correct word search book to buy with Alex. I still don't think he knows what "conglomerate" means! No matter, the best highlight of this day might have been the fact that it was Saturday and the day of the Aussie Rules Grand Final with Geelong facing Hawthorn at the MCG. Knowing this we managed to find a pub and a big screen tv mere seconds away from the beach! So, while Alex did a word search, we ate chips from a machine and drank glasses of Sprite and small “pots” of 4X Gold cheering on our mates Buddy Franklin, Luke Hodge, and Cyril Rioli to a well deserved championship. Tonnes of fun and a great memory!
In spite of the fun, grandparents will be pleased to note that we were a bit hesitant about exposing the kids to a full two hours of life at the local tavern so we bailed out at half time content to let the Footy gods have their way with our Hawks. Soon we were back down on the beach for more of the sun and boogie board beaching. We finally pulled back into the Capricorn Palms in the late afternoon, only to see that the movie that night would be Ice Age 2 (one of Allie’s faves) and thus a really great day ended triumphantly on one, even slightly higher, more glorious note.
In spite of these concerns we rolled out of Airlie beach full of gas, the liquid type, heading back to the A-1 in search of the endless white beaches of Yeppoon. The countryside offered more of the spectacular same - constant mountain ranges, sprawling cattle stations, signs warning of imminent death unless we were to stop and rest every 2 hours, and always and forever big trucks roaring past or up our backsides. I was getting used to them actually and had taken to throwing on the hazards every convenient moment, slowing down, pulling over and letting the big boys pass for which we would often get a friendly toot of their horn. In addition, I was also getting nervy enough to pass the odd doddler in front of us, which were the few times I saw Linton grip her door handle a little tighter.
Once again the journey was divided into stages – settling on stops that had an information kiosk, gas, or a picturesque place to have some lunch. The beauty of the camper-life can also be realized in the fact that it is a rolling canteen and so appointed we had several nice languorous lunches parked in the cosy confines of a fairly deserted tourist kiosk parking lot.
It was after one such stop on this day’s travels that I made my first blunder in terms of the right or wrong or left side of the road. In a half-hearted and admittedly lame attempt at pulling into a gas station I managed to get us lined up on the right side of the road – nowhere near anything but the imminent threat of oncoming traffic. Three three-point turns later we were safely in front of the diesel fuel pump around the corner, on the correct side of the road and with only 3-4 harsh words spoken between driver and navigator. I was amazed and shocked at how logical this little brain fart had seemed at the time and the shot of adrenaline (or was it the scream in my left ear?) I received when I suddenly realized my mistake would be enough to keep me wide awake well into the following day’s drive. Thankfully, no harm, no foul and with a $100 more gas in our tank we we’re off again. The boys quietly convinced that our arrival was imminent and Linton and I plotting how we were going to sell the next three hours of driving to our restless, rolling natives!
It must have been around 4:30 when we finally began negotiating our way through the many roundabouts of Yeppoon. We must have been tired because our normal witty banter and surgical decision-making became decidedly short, to the point, and...less than surgical. Finally, after cresting a hill and seeing one of the most beautiful vistas of beach I have ever seen anywhere, we stumbled into the Big 4 Caravan Park in Yeppon intriguingly named Capricorn Palms. We learned later that we were on the section of Queensland coast called the Capricorn coast because we would soon be driving across the Tropic of Capricorn – hence the name. Again, despite some early trepidation upon first appearance (think trailer park at the end of undeveloped subdivision) this park would prove to be a good follow-up to the paradise that was Airlie Beach as it had a lot of the same things (though thankfully the boys never discovered the games room!) There was a jumping pillow, movie nights, and pedal carts all of which we made good use of including Alex’s small accident in a pedal cart which we didn’t see but about which he claimed to have “gone the wrong way and hit something”.
Unfortunately, perhaps the worst thing that happened on the entire trip was the attack of the no-see-ums, particularly for Colin and Linton. Thankfully, I don’t have the sweet blood that they do and was relatively immune to the bugs but Linton especially got as much as she could handle. She was a total trooper throughout, with nary a complaint, but we did need to hit the chemist in Yeppon for some drugs and cream to try to relieve the itch. When all you really want on your skin is some warmth and some colour and instead you are putting on anti-itch cream and bandages, it can really take the wind out of your holiday sails but thankfully after a day or so the medication started to work and Lint could spend less time scratching her countless bites.
We often spend time recounting our favourite parts of the trip and our day on the beach at Yeppoon ranks right up there for me. Warm water and gentle surf allowed for endless play and the fact that we were able to park the camper right beside the beach made the convenience of lunch, changing, and bathroom breaks all the sweeter. Colin, Alex, and Linton all managed to ride the tube and boogie board with great success whereas I managed to merely drown it. I like to think that it was a surf thing versus a weight thing but somewhere in the middle of it all was a buoyancy issue. Between dips we strolled the strip topping up our beer supplies, groceries, sunshirts for Colin and dad, and negotiating the correct word search book to buy with Alex. I still don't think he knows what "conglomerate" means! No matter, the best highlight of this day might have been the fact that it was Saturday and the day of the Aussie Rules Grand Final with Geelong facing Hawthorn at the MCG. Knowing this we managed to find a pub and a big screen tv mere seconds away from the beach! So, while Alex did a word search, we ate chips from a machine and drank glasses of Sprite and small “pots” of 4X Gold cheering on our mates Buddy Franklin, Luke Hodge, and Cyril Rioli to a well deserved championship. Tonnes of fun and a great memory!
In spite of the fun, grandparents will be pleased to note that we were a bit hesitant about exposing the kids to a full two hours of life at the local tavern so we bailed out at half time content to let the Footy gods have their way with our Hawks. Soon we were back down on the beach for more of the sun and boogie board beaching. We finally pulled back into the Capricorn Palms in the late afternoon, only to see that the movie that night would be Ice Age 2 (one of Allie’s faves) and thus a really great day ended triumphantly on one, even slightly higher, more glorious note.
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