It was another glorious day when we set out to explore the hinterland of the Rainbow Beach and Noosa areas. We turned south from the Gympie road toward Kin Kin. The road is in good condition with bitumen through the fertile valleys and gravel through the rolling hills. Rain forests adorn the hills and market gardeners are active in the valleys.

Rolling Hills

Gravel road mountain pass

Long road

Farm house in the green valley

We came across a quiet little valley where the forest had been cleared and a rest area had been developed. We walked into the rainforest for a few hundred meters along a track and took some pictures of the tree canopy. It felt like another world.

Rest area in them thar hills

Inside the rain forrest

Filtered light under the green canopy

We eventually came across Kin Kin which turned out to be a charming little old village where one could sense the history of the area.  This history started with timber cutting and eventually moved on to dairy and small produce farming.  A coffee and some cake later we continued through this historically rich area on to Pomona. Behind Pomona a ‘Volcanic Plug’ overlooks the town. Volcanic plugs were formed by volcanic events some 5 million years ago. They are literally ‘Magma pimples’ that have been squeezed onto the earth’s surface by pressure increases pushing on cooling lava.

For more information visit the following sites:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kin_Kin

http://www.inkinkin.net/

http://www.noosacountrydrive.com.au/country-drive-villages/kin-kin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomona,_Queensland

The ‘Country Life’ hotel at Kin Kin

Churches to be found at every place

The General store

A galery of historical pictures at the General Store

The Art school at Kin Kin

The products of the Art school (insect)

Along the way we drove through several other villages on our way home. We returned late in the day to our caravan park.

The plasma plug overlooking Pomona

…and the Locals are very friendly.

I had not been to this most beautiful part of Australia for 2 years now. The time has come to visit some good mates up there once more. It is generally accepted that Broome is the southern end of the Kimberley region in the north west of Australia. For my money the Kimberley region is the most magnificent region in Australia. It is one of the few regions in this country that is still largely untamed. It is stunningly beautiful. It has a great diversity of landscapes from 320 million year old coral reefs that stand as mountain ranges to billion year old, ochre colored mesas that are crumbling to dust and reflect mind blowing colors at sunrise and sunset.

This will be my fourth visit to this area. I look forward to time spent fishing, camping on the beach, boating, yarns around the camp fire and the odd beverage. Broome is the southern delimiter of the Dampier peninsula which sports a number of Aboriginal settlements and has the famous Cape Leveque as its westernmost tip. Broome itself owns the world famous and stunning Cable Beach. I cannot wait!

OK, I will confess. I am sitting at Perth airport waiting for my connecting flight to Broome. Look at my destination pic below; the magnificent Cable Beach, Broome

That’s a big ask! First we need to define what constitutes a beach that can be considered for this list. I am not talking about the longest or widest or most sandy etc, etc. By the way, the longest beach probably is the Coorong from Kingston to the Murray River mouth in SA. It is over 150km long. I did that with the boys some 15 years ago in my great GQ Nissan Patrol. That was a decent trip.

I would say that some of the defining criteria for the top 5 might be: (I would love to hear from readers what some of the other defining criteria might be).

• At least 1km long with a sandy beach of decent width at low-tide,
• Not dangerous to human life; ie no crocodiles, blue ring octopus, Box Jelly fish,
• Attractive natural setting ie defining natural beauty or pleasing features,
• Definitely not overdeveloped or overrun by human beings,

Top 5:

I cannot name all 5 beaches that deserve to be in this list. I have not seen 5 such beaches. However I have been on one beach that definitely fits the bill.

So my first beach would be Cable Beach in Broome WA. I have been there several times.

Then I have two more beaches that might make the list.

The first could be the beach at Woodgate Qld. between the Theodolite creek and the Barrum river. It is just sensational, stunning and has a chill factor when you are there.

The other beach is at Lammermoor on the Capricorn coast south of Yeppoon. I wonder what other readers may think.

So…….I  can propose only these:

1. Cable Beach, Broome, WA

2. Wood gate Beach Qld

3. Wineglass Beach Tasmania       https://www.google.com.au/search?q=wineglass+beach+tasmania&biw=1366&bih=639&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CEMQsARqFQoTCOK3hM–38gCFQblpgodRzMKdg

  Pic credit:  Touchdowndownunder.wordpress.com

4.  Whitehaven Beach Whitsundays

5.  I have not seen it yet.

If you were to draw a line from Rockhampton to Yeppoon and then to Emu Park (and Zielzie) and back to Rocky, you’d have put a border around some of the most scenic and interesting countryside in Queensland. There are a number of geological features called ‘plugs’ where rocky outcrops appear to have been forced out of the ground. They look almost like pimples on the landscape. These were created by volcanic activity millennia ago.

I am constantly amazed by the foliage. There are many spectacular species of old trees like the Fig tree below. The area is very easy on the eye. One bay follows the other as you head south from Yeppoon. There are at least 15 bays and headlands. One never tires of walking on the beach at any tide. As the bays are very shallow you can walk into the sea forever it seems. Every day we have 23 degrees C. Only a slight breeze…  Yeah I know, it is really tough to endure!!

  and another tree:

However, I am really surprised by the interesting history of the area as some of the links below might indicate:

The town of Rockhampton was created in 1853 by the Archer family. Soon gold was discovered and a 50 year gold boom endured. The largest mine was at Mount Morgan. Initially sheep were farmed and these were later replaced largely by cattle. This area still is a major cattle area. These industries attracted the populations in the early days. These days there is a substantial coal mining industry as well. In the process Rockhampton has become the capital of central Queensland.  The wealth from the gold boom resulted in riches that afforded the building of the many beautiful buildings that have been preserved and adorn the town and river frontage.

In the early days roads were constructed to Yeppoon and Emu Park. There was no road from Yeppon to Emu Park as the Causeway lake at Kinka beach presented an insurmountable barrier. A railroad was built to Emu Beach where the wellheeled had their coastal homes in this slice of paradise.

Some of the history at the link below:

http://library-resources.cqu.edu.au/cqcollection/manuscripts/short-manuscripts/rockhampton.pdf

This summarises some of the main industries of the early days like Beef, gold mining and natural wealth. Gold was found throughout the region and in places was very lucrative like at Mount Morgan.

Some old images showing early Rockhampton at:

http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/old-images-show-how-much-rockhampton-cbd-has-grown/1894214/

A summary of early development can be found at

http://ajthompson.com.au/capricorn-coast/history-rockhampton-environs-early-settlement.htm#.VcHpAfmqqkp

The history of Yeppoon is similarly interesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeppoon

A quick summary can be found here:

http://queenslandplaces.com.au/yeppoon

Further info includes Emu Park where we have been a few times now:

http://www.cqhistory.com/places/yeppoon.html

I have just had a look at a list of shipwrecks to be found off the Qld coast. There are literally hundreds of them. In some cases Queensland towns derived their names from the name of a shipwreck in their vicinity, for example: Coolangatta at the Gold Coast

http://oceans1.customer.netspace.net.au/qld-wrecks.html

Needless to say the above is just the tip of the iceberg.

I spent some time on top of Mount Archer. The hill overlooks the city from about 9 km  away. It shows off the big Fitzroy river snaking through then landscape. There are some stunning views for 360 degrees.

Locals call this town Rocky. As has been said earlier, Rocky has a population around 85,000.  It is a nice size town, but surprises in how neat it is being kept by the local council. It has a lot of ‘old world’ charm. The town center has a large shady main street that is wide and has many well maintained British colonial buildings. The old Post Office building looks almost new, but has been converted and sports a lovely coffee shop serving great coffee and good cakes. The town is about 40 kilometers from the coast

The ‘Oxford pub in the main street offers great pub meals and has all the local beers on offer. We had the Curry and rice meal. This was beautifully spicy and was a substantial meal. It cost only $8.00. Cannot believe how they can do it so cheaply.

http://stevesoutbackadventure.com/?p=497 Continue reading »]]> On the first of July we headed north once more to a lovely beach town by the name of Woodgate. It is located on the mainland just north of northern the tip of Fraser Island and just south of Bundaberg. It has a magnificent beach that 4x4s are allowed on and is many kilometers long and flat with hard sand to drive on. It makes the beach at Port Douglas look small by comparison. We will stay here for almost 2 weeks.

Woodgate beach at sunrise

Canoe, watermelon, just can’t find the darn paddles.

Good work, don’t you think???

We stayed at the Woodgate Beach caravan park, The first impression of the caravan park is of the plants/foliage. It is lush and green with many tropical plants abounding. The park is across the road from the beach and what a beach!

It must be one of the top beaches near a caravan park in this country. The park is dog friendly and that suits us as we travel with our dog Lexie. The owners are relaxed and leave visitors alone. The park is very organized and professional. It has many really attractive and clean cabins. The park is large, but visitors do not sit on top of each other as the sites are spacious.

After a few long walks on the beach we went to the mouth of the Theodelite  River which is just 2km north of Woodgate..  A number of people were fishing, but I did not see anyone catch a fish.T he beaches grow a coastal pine tree that offers shade and protection from the wind. So it is possible to soak up some sun in a quiet spot.

Just to the south of the village there is access to the beach. This is great as the beach is wide and flat with hard sand to drive on most of the time. This allows one to get away from the crowds and have some solitude. Above the high water mark is the Burrum Coast national park so there is no traffic from there. The area is dog friendly and it takes about 10km until one comes to Walkers point and the adjacent Burrum river. It is a tranquil large estuary with the village of Burrum Heads on the opposite side of the river. Tucked away behind the national park, in the estuary, is the sleepy village of Walker’s Point. As one gets out the car the peace just enfolds one… and you relax as you walk along on the sands at low tide.

As for looking after the body beautiful, there is a Hotel that serves a good fare and cold refreshments. I could not resist the hamburger and chips. The hotel includes a bottle shop so there is no excuse for running dry. Down the road is the local Bowls club. They are set up very well with superb greens and a very active membership. The facilities are well maintained and have a great restaurant that serves really great food. Needless to say the bar supports the food offering. We have been there a few times already.

The other day we came back from an excursion and nearly ran into a mob of kangaroos that were lounging around the neighborhood spilling onto the street from the nature strips. All this in the middle of Woodgate. We slowed down and stopped so as not to run over the little ones.

On Monday 13/July the trusty Navara is having its 40k service in Bundaberg;  gee its come around quick!

We decided to explore the Adelaide beaches as we had never been there on previous visits to Adelaide. We picked Brighton and Glenelg as they are beautiful sea-side suburbs. Brighton is really neat and green and has lovely homes with great gardens. The cafes are trendy and we sat down for a hot ‘flat white’. The beaches are well maintained with good infrastructure.

Where is the coffee?

Brighton Pier

Roses

Brighton beach looking onto the next suburb

Glenelg was the next place we stopped off at. Lots of Apartment buildings on the beach and a small boat marina made this place look very Yuppy. We returned back south to McLaren Vale via some beach suburbs and stopped off at Maslin Beach. Here we took the dogs for a swim and had a great walk along the beach. We thought we saw one guy frolicking in the surf without his swimming trunks. On our return to the caravan park we found out that Maslin beach is a known nudist beach; hahaha.

Glenelg Beach front

As we had a few hours left to the afternoon we went off to do some wine tasting. A friend had recommended some good wineries that we now looked up. At both the wines were excellent. In fact I tasted some of the best Shiraz I have ever tasted. As a bonus the area is spectacularly scenic; see pics of gardens at Corlio wines and Samuel Gorge wines.

Corlio’s gardens

The gardens and flowers here at the McLarenVale wineries are some of the best I have ever seen.