Originally, we had planned to stay in Rockhampton, and I was going to do some work as a Midwife with the agency I had joined. I called the agency to set up some dates for Mackay and Rockhampton. Both these maternity services have been investigated so I was a bit reluctant to work there, however I wanted to see what it’s like to work in Queensland. This proved to be harder than you think – the agency required that I show my original certificates of qualification, (I’m traveling in a caravan, and I don’t carry certs with me) despite being currently registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA). I thought the point of having National Registration meant that you could work anywhere in Australia, without this kind of hassle. The agency also required that I have a 100-point Id certification by a Justice of the Peace before I could work in Queensland. Needless to say, I decided not to work clinically here.

Yeppoon Main Beach

Our first stop was to look around Yeppoon – we enjoyed a foreshore walk at the Yeppoon Lagoon precinct. There was Keppel Kraken a water playground with a mythical sea creature, looked great fun for kids. As we walked the Esplanade of boutiques, surf shops and coffee shops, I spotted my favourite New Zealand ice-cream shop, I had Hokey Pokey and Mr C had peppermint chip in a waffle cone, just delish. The walls of the public amenities block were covered in murals of beautiful native birds, just beautiful artwork. I finished off with a walk on the beach, (one of many to come) and Mr C sat on the foreshore looking over Keppel Bay- a perfect day.

Emu Park Beach

A day out at Emu Park Main Beach, it’s about 15 minutes from where we were staying along the Scenic Highway. Again, we had a fabulous day of just sitting on the beach just chilling all day. It’s a beautiful calm beach with surf lifesavers present. Nice grassy picnic areas if you get tired of sitting on the sand. Mr C sat watching as I swam, walked, swam, walked and sat on the sand and finally on the grass – Fat Cat enjoyed the day as well, he kept Mr C company when I was swimming and walking – as the tide went out, I collected some fantastic sand grit, tiny little shells for craft work, they were amazing.

Mulambin Beach

Our caravan was parked up at the NRMA Capricorn Yeppoon Holiday Park, one of the best parks we have stayed at to date (apart from Streaky Bay SA). We booked for three weeks; Mr C had 4 days with me before he went back to Perth to see his brother for 2 weeks. I had 2 weeks of marking to complete whilst he was away. The Mulambin Beach was a 15-minute walk from the caravan park. I walked almost every day. On the first morning, I awoke and said to Mr C I’m off to the beach for a walk – he rolled over and went back to sleep. I walked down to the beach, the tide was out, I noted these mounds of sand. I stopped to talk to another walker and was told that they are soldier crab holes- they come out when the tided is low. I walked as far as the eye could see and still didn’t get to the end. When I looked at my phone, I was surprised that several hours had passed and thought, oh! I better get back. On my return Mr C had been worried, “where were you” he said – me: sorry honey I lost track of the time“. I had done 10,000 steps. Each day walking on this beach, I checked out the tide to try and catch the soldier crabs, but only managed to see about 6 – some people see thousands at a time.

COVID

I got the lovely gift of COVID 2 days after Mr C left, it started with a sore throat and body aches and thought I just had a cold until I lost my taste and multiple fevers. For the first two days, I did not get out of bed apart from going to the toilet. The lady next door knocked on my window to see if I was ok because I was coughing so much, almost like pneumonia. On day 3, (after calling a few GP’s, it turns out you can’t see a GP if you think you have COVID) I was advised to go to the Yeppoon Hospital and be treated with Antivirals. I eventually saw the doctor, had another RAT test (which was positive), a blood test, was given a prescription for antivirals and a N95 mask and sent on my way. I was very grateful for the daily calls from my daughter, friends and messages to check I was ok. I was particularly surprised when a girlfriend offered to order pizza and send it to me – in my deluded condition I thought, how can you do that from WA? of course it’s just a phone call and an address……… silly me. The worst thing about this bout of COVID was the loss of taste and the metallic taste of the antivirals. Another dear friend gave me the tip of salt and vinegar chips, that worked a charm, well almost. I really did miss Mr C.

I felt better after about day 5 – this is where I drove into Yeppoon and to the foreshore and had breakfast on the beach and went for a short walk.

Rockhampton

I was confined locally for about 8 days. After the first 5 days, I was able to continue my marking however, took regular breaks. At my first opportunity I went to Rockhampton which was a 30-minute drive. There is one of my happy place shops – yes Spotlight, I don’t have to buy anything. I am happy just browsing at the materials / wools /yarns and imagining all the things I’d like to make – I feel like a kid in a candy shop, I just let my imagination run free nothing else matters.

We found an amazing pie shop, it’s called Mchughs Pies, a family-owned business – they serve the pies with mushy peas under the lid of the pie, unusual but nice. The family pies were only $9.95, we bought one for dinner – delish and economical.

Zoo

The Rockhampton Zoo is nestled within the Botanic Gardens. We went to the Zoo with some family friends, it was a great day out. I am not a fan of Zoo’s, however, do still go because the kids love them. The zoo is free, which was a bonus. The Chimpanzees were fabulous to watch and noisy, there are two chimp babies. The zoo is also home to problematic crocodiles, that would otherwise be euthanised. The Colonel was huge, old and grumpy wouldn’t want to meet up with him in the river. The Meerkats were cute, the Dingoes were asleep.

Mount Archer (Nurim) National Park

Mr C waited in the car, as his feet were sore after walking around the Zoo. Mount Archer was amazing, the views were expansive and spectacular. I did the short 500-meter treetop boardwalk circuit walk – it was a great way to end our sightseeing day. We then went and had a beautifully home cooked dinner by Shilo (who is a chef), we bought desert, and I played games with Qash who is 8 – reminded me of being home.

Beaches of Yeppoon.

I have had a great time in Yeppoon, the weather has been ideal, sun shining and not too humid. I’ve walking on the beaches almost every day. I can boast that I’ve walked on every beach in this area and collected some amazing shells. Capricorn Coast Beaches included: Kinka, Causeway, Mulambin, Kemp. Lammermoor and Cooee Bay.

I’ve also had quiet time when recovering from COVID – I discovered that I could watch free movies on YouTube. One movie I watched that really resonated with me was one of Wayne Dyer The Shift Its mainly about letting go of the ‘ego’ which I could relate to, also he describes the life cycle as the morning of your life and the evening of your life – I like this, I connected with being in the evening of my life – sounds much better than getting older or semi-retired.

I was very pleased when Mr C came back from Perth, I was a bit of a green-eyed monster that I had not seen any of the family. Now we won’t be home for Christmas. We spent the last few days getting ready to travel again – it’s amazing if you’re not careful when you stop somewhere for a few weeks you magically collect stuff – I now have two boxes of shells.

We are heading down the coast towards Agnes Water, Seventeen Seventy and Hervey Bay. There is still lots for us to do and see – we are getter closer to the boarder. See you at the next blog.