Days 53-55 - Hervey Bay - Yepoon

Trip Start Nov 29, 2007
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43
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Trip End Mar 27, 2008


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Flag of Australia  ,
Sunday, January 20, 2008

From looking at the map, Rockhampton is the next major town/place on the map travelling North. We thought we would mix things up a bit by picking a place name on the map to aim for on the basis that we like the name. We can only have an idea of how far up we would get as we don't know the road, volume of traffic or what speed restrictions there are going through towns and villages etc. Rockhampton looks viable in a day so I picked a place called Port Alma which is just outside of "Rocky" as the Aussie's affectionately call it.
I had made us a packed lunch from the leftover roast beef which we were glad of when we eventually stopped after four hours travelling. Along the main highway there are plenty of rest areas complete with undercover picnic benches and toilets. The main highway is not like the M1 in the UK, and these places make very nice "chill out" zones if you are bothered to make your own picnic. There are trees and lizards, it's relaxing and nice - everybody enjoys a picnic. Also along the highway are countless KFC's, McDonalds, fish n chips, Pie shops and fried chicked drive-ins, it is easy to get hungry and be tempted by fast food. It is so much more rewarding to bring your own, and much healthier too. I expect a lot of these long distance lorry drivers live on fast food.
We found the turn off for Port Alma and headed off to find it, it doesn't look too far on the map. We were on a totally deserted road with wetlands and salt marshes surrounding us. It was so spooky, the water is level with the road which is a bit scary and we wondered if it was tidal and if there were any croc's in there. We went past a salt factory and that is it, completely desolate surrounded by wetland, no cars or anything that we can see in the distance. We were both spooked and it was getting late, we have no idea how far Port Alma is or if there will be anything there when we reach it. We made the decision to turn around and go back to the highway, away from this eerie road. This is definitely not the sort of place you would want to break down.
We eventually ended up in a little seaside town called Yeppoon after about another hour and a half driving time, we didn't have too much trouble finding a motel. Later, over a few drinks we were talking about that spooky road and what it might have been like at Port Alma. We agreed that on the way back we will have to try and leave a spare hour to find out, or spend the rest of our lives wondering.
Yeppoon is a quiet little seaside resort with a nice beach. We spent the next day at the beach and the sea is very calm, shallow and warm here. I must admit though that after seeing that shark and stingray, I am even more nervous of the sea, more to the point - what is in it and I jump everytime I get seaweed around my feet.
The only bad thing I can say about Yeppoon is that at night there seems to be a lot of noisy teenagers roaming the streets, shouting and screaming, most likely up to no good. It didn't stop us sleeping or anything like that but I wouldn't have liked to wander around the streets here late at night, even as a couple.
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