A hippy, his rainforest haven and the elusive platypus

(4-6 July 2010)

Just before hitting Mackay, we travel inland towards Eungella NP past endless fields of cane. Driving through Mirani, there is the heavy scent of molasses that permeates the air creating a sickly sweet sensation – though probably not as heavy as trying to breathe with your head in a vat of honey.

Our destination is the Platypus Bush camp in the Finch Hatton Gorge section of the park. All I know is that there is the promise of the tribe sighting a platypus sometime over the next few days so this is a kind of special diversion from the beaches and the coastline as we end up some 70km inland from Mackay.

Wazza is the owner of the Platypus Bush Camp, and he is one of those characters who make the trip worthwhile. A former surfie/hippy drop out, he skipped Sydney (or more precisely, West Pymble) at the age of 15 and headed to Brunswick Heads. Now, an aging hippy in his early 60s, with salt water in his veins, he still tries to get to the sea for a bit of sailing, however, the Playtpus Bush Camp is his pet eco-venture.


It is quite simply the best unadulterated bush retreat with no mod-cons – you can either camp or rent one of his log cabins (ie cabin on stilts, with no door and tarp as window covers – very rustic). And the best part is the bush showers – a wonderful stone shelter with three sides, the fourth open onto the rainforest gardens, with the water heated by woodfire. And then even better is that you are surrounded by the rainforest – and serenaded by the gurgling creek with crystal clear fresh drinking water.

Oh, and did I mention there is a platypus pond down a short track from the back of the campsite? So there we went on our first evening, with most of our fellow campers to espy the elusive platypus.

Did we see one? Well I think I saw one flit through the water – and photographed it – an indistinguishable blur in the fading light.

Well there’s always tomorrow morning . . . although we lucked out again – we think the platypus here are early risers.

We spend a day up in the upland rainforest at Broken River, just past Eungella town that is reached after a winding and steep drive (12º ascent!); but the views from the road are breathtaking – as would be stepping off the side of the road!


Broken River actually offers another platypus spotting opportunity – one that is almost guaranteed – and I did see one from the path, half way to the viewing platform where the tribe were already waiting patiently and quietly, however, the angle of the sun, combined with the shade from the trees prevented their view. We wait for some awhile longer, but keeping the tribe engaged to spot a creature that could appear anywhere and anytime is a challenge beyond their level of patience, which is perfectly reasonable.

The forest walks at Broken River are well signposted and also provide plenty of information with many signs along the tracks describing the rainforest, its ecosystem, as well as identifying key flora.

We tried spotting the platypus again at the bush camp, both on the final evening and on the morning we reluctantly leave, vowing to return.

As Wazza said, if he can impart just some of his philosophy on campers, then it’s all worthwhile – ‘tread softly’ folks!

Dude, the tide is out, like way out

(3 July 2010)

Ahh, another beach for the tribe to attack with their shovels, spades and other sandcastle building gear – well not this time. This time round, it was a walk on the beach that went forever: not in the north-south sense, just the east-west sense. And this was Carmila Beach, some 70km south of Mackay.

You see, when the tide is out, it’s really out.

However, we did spot some little crabs that did a fine job of popping out of the sand from all directions like in those arcade games – they also frightened Soraya as she feared being nipped by one (or ten).

The place itself was stunning and provided a great subject as a photographic backdrop.

Kinka Beach and the Singing Ship

(30 June – 3 July 2010)

Now officially in the tropics as we pass the Tropic Marker (23º 26’ 30”), we flit through Rockhampton en route to the coast – our destination for the next few days.

Kinka Beach is one of the many beaches to the south of Yeppoon, with Zilzie Bay the south-most – all just a leisurely 45-60min drive from Rockhampton. The coastline is picturesque with the Keppel Islands and others offshore. The holiday park we stay at is like God’s waiting room as we must be just one of two or three families here – all other residents are retired, mostly from the south (NSW, Victoria, SA) escaping the colder winter for 2-3months in their superannuated 4WDs and flash caravans with all mod-cons (Foxtel anyone?).

We venture north into Byfield with the state forest on the left and the national park on the right – a superb place for forest walks and bush camping – alas for us, it’s just a leisurely afternoon drive. On return we stop in Yeppoon for a sugar refuel – ice cream for the tribe and coffee and cake for M and me.

The Singing Ship sculpture-tribute-monument to Captain James Cook is an interesting piece of work – iron pipes, musically tuned play wistful tunes as the seabreeze breathes through – unfortunately, in filming the sculpture, I had no windsock to make a clean recording of the music so all I got was the hiss of the wind on the mike.

My birthday – and nothing better than a birthday on holiday. We celebrate with a damn fine cooked brekkie, adorned with candles. The cake comes later. We spend a leisurely day pottering about in overcast conditions – Saffiya wants to buy me a hat as a pressie so we head to the shops. We find a hat that Saffiya approves of and I like, but alas they do not have my size. The promise that there will be a hat bought in another town.

Heading off from the Cap Coast, we stop at the Capricorn Caves – and discover that while impressive as a ‘dry-cave’ system, it pales in comparison with the likes of Jenolan, Buchan or Yarrangobilly Caves – all southern ‘wet-cave’ systems. One of the fascinating things about the Capricorn Caves is the apparent amount of guano that had been excavated from the caves and estimated amount left (something like 30 metres deep!) – which make the floor upon we walk.

1770 and all that

(28-30 June 2010)

So, onto 1770, or officially, The Town of 1770 or The Town of Seventeen Seventy.

Unlike the town in far north Queensland named Cooktown, the bright sparks here decided to name the place after the year Captain Cook landed nearby – the first place he set foot in Queensland.

Imagine every place he landed was named after the year – there would be many 1770s doted along the coastline. Or conversely, many Cooktowns for that matter.

I suppose, you need to use the longer version of the place name so as not to confuse Australia Post with 1770 and postcode placed side by side.

Enough of this quibble as it is a very picturesque place.

We walk the track through the bush from back of the campgrounds to the surf beach to find a beach festooned with shells, the sand gritty with the fragments of broken shell. But as usual, nothing deters the tribe from the beach, as water and sand are plentiful. As usual, there is the sandcastle building and shell collecting, plus the added bonus of attempting to bury M in sand as she read.

Driving around the inland bay, looking west from the point and savour the view, deciding that in another life, we will have to return to places like this with boat and fishing rods and join others on the water – it must be a good thing as there are many boat trailers left in the carpark.

No Gin at Gin Gin

(27 June 2010)

We leave Hervey Bay with heavy hearts as we leave Gen, Ash, Max and Bella (plus the chooks) – the tribe enjoyed playing with Max and Bella, and feeding the chooks, as well as checking how many eggs were laid each day.

Zak had a perpetual smile fixed to his face the whole time – it was such a special time for him, being able to spend these days with Gen, his fairy godmother. This is not to say, the other tribal rugrats were ignored – they all enjoyed the attention from both Gen and Ash.

I believe Zak was on the verge of calling Boutique Bush ‘home’ he liked it so much. We will have to return.

Our aim for the drive today was to reach 1770, however due to our late start, and the need to stock up on provisions before leaving the Bay, we get as far as Gin Gin and spend the night at the Gin Gin rest area, joining countless other caravaners, motorhomers, backpackers and the like.

As we didn’t visit the local, we never did discover how good the Gin was – after all, if you use the NY/NY excuse, the locals must have liked the Gin so much they named it twice.

Hanging out at Boutique Bush

(24-26 June 2010)

Princess Gen and Prince Ash offer a corner of their 5 acre block for us to set up camp – actually it’s a corner close to their home rather than far flung part of their nature haven – a forest of naturally regenerated melaleuca plus a large dam with lilies surrounded by reeds. It is a little peace of heaven away from the tourist town that is Hervey Bay.


We meet up with Gen walking Bella and Max on the beach near the Urangan Fisheries – a wonderful backdrop with the tide being out, Fraser Island in the background, a dark cloud looming towards us across the strait and a double rainbow.

The tribe quickly befriends Bella and Max – and conversely, Bella and Max quickly befriend the tribe. Cousins in the making!

By quirk of coincidence, another friend, Charley is visiting her parents in nearby Maryborough* as she takes a break between jobs in Singapore, so we have a BBQ dinner party to celebrate our reunion. Dare I say we had a damn great BBQ-ed snapper!

Earlier, we ventured down to The Pines overlooking Hervey Bay and picnic, followed by beachcombing for shells and tramping over the rockpools, until Soraya unfortunately cut her foot – so we make good use of our first aid kit. After a clean-up, antiseptic swab and bandage, Soraya is right as rain.

On Saturday, after a wander around the property, we head to the water park where the tribe has ridiculous fun in the plethora of fountains shooting jets of water every which way. It was better than the beach!

(* trivia for those not in the know – the originator of Mary Poppins comes from Maryborough and named Mary Poppins after the Mary River!)

A bit less rain in ‘rainbow’ please

(21-24 June 2010)

Rainbow Beach . . . the name conjures images of a beautiful beach, great surf, exotic palms, sunrises and sunsets to die for . . . if only! Isolated showers are the name of the game during our stay so on our first day, we take a walk about town with the tribe donning their raincoats and boots, attacking every puddle we walk past . . . oops, make that, walk through.

Carlo (the) Sand blow remained unvisited throughout our stay due to the weather and when it didn’t rain, we ventured to the beach so the tribe could get their fill of sand and water – building sandcastles, collecting shells and pebbles.


The water was a comfortable 18C despite the weather, and our girls enjoyed playing in the gentle surf. The boys kept to their cycle of building and destroying their sandcastles – discovering their latest joy of jumping on any sand creation.