Well, after the brilliant Fraser Island (which somebody will be doing a post on very soon), we decided to head up to a town slightly inland called Rockhampton with a population around 60000. It’s one of the few large towns before we hit Cairnes and so we decided to stop off there. Rockhampton proudly calls itself ‘the beef capital of Australia’ and with good reason; it’s full of cows and cowboys. It’s a large town but curiously it always feels empty, and the nightlife consisted of a bar with $10 steaks for dinner and Karaoke (honestly, we don’t deliberately seek out Karaoke bars, they just seem to find us!).
Anyhow, the main reason we stopped off in Rockhampton was so that we could us it as a base to get to ‘Great Keppel Island’. Keppel is one of the largest of a number of small islands about 15km off the coast. So, we drove to the ferry terminal in Yeppoon (about 30km from Rockhampton) and boarded the boat, not really knowing what to expect. As soon as we reached Keppel, we decided that we liked it. The ferry pulled up directly on to the beach and we were met by a 4×4 which took all our bags to where we were staying – Great Keppel Island Holiday Village. When we arrived at the holiday village (which is actually a YHA Hostel) we were checked in and told all about the place. They had a ‘no noise’ policy after 9:30 and the power was cut in the middle of the night to save on costs, noise and pollution – they run off diesel generators you see. We were also informed that they recycled their own water (as do most places on the island) and although it was safe to shower with, it probably wasn’t a good idea to drink it as it tasted awful.
Anyhow, we dropped off our bags and headed straight to the beach with our snorkels. It was awesome – the water was warm and crystal clear and the rocks at the side off the beach were surrounded by reef and it teemed with marine life. Millions of fish in all shapes, sizes and impossibly bright colours, as well as turtles, stingrays and pretty much everything else you could think of. Thankfully, the Tiger Sharks that surround the area didn’t come in this far to the shore, so we were quite safe (although safety in Australian waters is a relative concept!). After a thoroughly satisfying day looking at all the beautiful fish, we headed back to our hostel to take a shower and head out for some food and drink. We found one of the two bars on the island and ordered some food and beers. Since everything has to be shipped in fresh from the mainland, food was more expensive here than elsewhere, but by UK standards it was still pretty cheap….oh, and it was delicious as well! We walked back to our room and by this time, I most confess that we had forgotten the “shut-up-after-9:30-rule” and were making a little too much noise. We were told to be quiet and I think we may have slightly annoyed the manager, Jeff.
Anyhow, the next morning we tried to find him to apologise for being so loud, but he was nowhere to be found. So, we did the logical thing. We headed down to the beach to do more snorkeling! This was another fine day of swimming, sunbathing and just being the sort of layed-back, lazy people that a gap year allows us to be. In the evening we ate at the same place as the night previous, but headed down to the bigger of the two bars – the Wreck Bar. This was a fine place with live music, but unfortunately there was only about 5 people in there….maybe it would pick up at the weekend we thought. So, we headed off for an early night.
Eventually, in the following days Jeff was found on reception and received his apology, which he took very well. We decided that we liked Jeff and he received ‘top bloke’ status. We asked about his ‘motorised canoe adventure’ and he jumped at the chance to take us out (it means he gets to play on the water for two hours, so he’s always keen to take people out!). What this adventure consists of is going out on a large canoe that has floats on the side and being dragged along by the canoe over the reef whilst snorkeling. You also get to see all the smaller islands surrounding Keppel. Honestly it was the best $30 we have ever spent. We saw thousands of fish, a couple of stingrays, some turtels….in fact we saw everything but Tiger Sharks (frankly, I can live without seeing them whilst I’m being dragged along, unamred and helpless behind a canoe). If you ever do get a chance to visit Keppel (and you should, since not many backpackers seem to know about the tropical paradise it offers), then Jeff’s canoe adventure is a must.
We were originally booked in to Keppel for three nights, but we liked it so much that we wanted to stay longer. Unfortunately, the holiday village was full, but Keppel Haven next door were able to offer us our own cabin with bathroom for just a little more money. So, we booked into Keppel Haven for the next two nights. There was a wedding on the island this weekend, so the luxury resort on the island was fully booked out. The advantage of this was that the nightlife was bound to pick up a little bit. The Wreck Bar had more live music (the same blokes as before playing the same songs – we learnt from our new friend Jeff that they were on a six week contract to play every day!). But, in their defence they were pretty good. The wedding had finished and so everyone was in party spirit – we bought Jeff beer and had a fantastic night partying and getting to know people. We retuned to our room at around 2:30am (again, I fear we may have made a little too much noise) and promptly fell straight asleep. The next day was our last night on the island, but we decided to take it easy as we were still dead from the night before, and we were low on funds. We retired to bed at around 9:00 and read our books (hardcore, aren’t we?). Jack and Dave fell asleep pretty quickly, but about an hour later I was being savaged by giant ants that were coming in under the door and using my bed as a sort of meeting place to plan their next attack. Having defended my bed for over an hour and killing many of their number, I turned on the light to find about 10 ants on my bed and just as many on the floors and walls. I could take it no longer and fled to the beach and slept in a hammock. A worker looked at me as if I were a hopeless drunk and said ‘hard night eh?’, to which I replied that I was sober and had been attacked by giant killer ants. He gave me a funny look and then we parted company. I awoke about 6:00am and watched the sun rise….which was nice. As I sit here typing, my ant bites have reached really quite respectable levels of itchiness and annoyance…but it was worth it as Keppel is such an awesome place and should be an essential stop off on anyone’s trip.
-Mark-
