Petting Aussie Animals in Central Queensland, Australia

After all our fun in Airlie beach, we had to start working our way back south or else we would miss our flight to Africa in a couple weeks. Our first stopover was Mackay again. We just loved their free beach side camping area! It’s really just a parking lot at the beach without camping prohibited signs but there are beautiful views and we can wake up to a beautiful sunrise. It wasn’t a long drive from Airlie so we had the rest of the afternoon to relax and watch the tide fade into the horizon.

While I cooked dinner, Sara looked for our next destination. She found a rugged free camp area just a short drive south in the Yarrawonga Park Reserve. There was a stretch of dirt road but I hoped our RV could handle it! For dinner that night, I was making a stir fry with loads of veggies and chicken. We only have a small burner in our RV so it took awhile.

While waiting, Sara put on her new favorite show, Are You the One?. It is a Chinese dating show where male contestants come on and try to find a date from a pool of 24 girls in just a few minutes. At anytime the girls can reject the guy and there is a running tally of how many girls are still interested. If it weren’t for the subtitles, it would be incredibly confusing! On TV right after is the Australian version of Master Chef… We are too spoiled here!

Port of Hay Point

On the drive the next morning, we saw a point of interest not far off the main road so we checked it out. It was a lookout to view Port of Hay Point, one of the worlds largest coal export ports. It was impressive! There were huge piles of coal everywhere and a incredibly long loading dock jutting out to sea over four kilometers. Over 900 ships use the port each year and most head to China.

After continuing south and leaving the highway on the way to Yarrawonga Park Reserve, the paved road ended after Illbie. The dirt and sand track looked ok for our RV so we pressed on. Even though the road wasn’t too rough, I was a bit nervous since we were far from civilization if anything happened. Sara kept calling out the remaining distance to the camping area and as we got closer the road got worse and worse. What would have been cake for my jeep was almost impassable in the long and low RV. We were dodging sand traps as well as climbing over small rocks. Sara finally called out that we were at the camping area, but we were still in a forest, not what I was expecting. We pulled off the road as much as possible and explored further on by foot. The continuing road looked treacherous with big mud and sand pits we would have to wind through, but just beyond was a big open camping area right on the bay. It was so pretty I was determined to get us there.

The campsite was worth the slow difficult drive. We had a spot overlooking a huge bay with hardly anybody else around! The tide was far out so we couldn’t swim, but even if it was in, there were signs warning about crocodiles and sharks in the area (I was secretly hoping to see a croc)! Sara and I carefully explored the area on foot and only came across a few other campers in the large park area. Walking back to the car, we were surprised to find ourselves surrounded by cows – apparently this is part of their grazing land! The cows were quite brave, even wandering out into the tidal area for a bit of seaweed… Would be a great meal for the crocodiles! That evening we enjoyed sunset from the highest point on the cape. There is no better way to end a day.

The traveling never stops and the next morning we were making our way back to civilization. I was excited and relieved to be back on a sealed road again. We had a long day of driving with the destination being an animal sanctuary. By the time we arrived, it was too late to get our money’s worth so we decided to camp in the area and return when they open the next morning.

Sara found a nice simple camping area a few kilometers north near Byfield National Park. When we pulled into the driveway we were greeted with a hand drawn map on a large whiteboard. The map detailed how to get to the campground and where the toilets and kitchen were. After studying the map, we followed the narrow winding road which opened up into a beautiful grassy area. Unfortunately, just because it was beautiful didn’t mean there was much flat area. We ended up parking on quite a slope which made sleeping a bit uncomfortable that night.

Saltwater crocodile – so glad we didn’t see one in the wild!

In the morning, Sara woke up early excited to finally see koalas! We packed up our happy little camper and made out way back to Cooberrie Park. They sanctuary has many variety of Aussie animals and even takes in injured or neglected animals. We walked in the gate and were immediately greated by a peacock roaming free – surprise! Making our way through the zoo, we stumbled upon even more free roaming animals There were loads of ducks, funky looking chickens, an emu, and even some kangaroos. It was well worth the entrance fee. We spent the morning checking out and making friends with all kinds of Australian creatures.

The main attraction for us was the koalas. We apparently looped around backwards from most people and didn’t see them until last. They had a total of five koalas – even a mother and baby. Unfortunately we couldn’t see the baby because it was hiding in its mothers pouch. The park didn’t miss a chance to point out that we could hold a koala for only $20 extra – very tempting but we resisted the urge.

Satisfied after a successful morning learning about and seeing Austraian wildlife, we got back on the road for the journey south. Our next main destination was Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world – sounds exciting right? On the way, we stopped to stock up on food and find Internet to get a few posts out. As I turned off the main road to park, I realized that our vehicle was too tall for the entrance, but I was stuck in a one way road with cars pulling in behind me. After blocking traffic for a few moments, I was able to hop the curb and pull into an adjoining parking lot, phew! Luckily, we were successful finding both food and Internet and were soon on our way again. That night, we camped at a nice rest area in Gin Gin before continuing to the Fraser Cost.