Day 7 of our road trip saw us completing the trip back to the east coast.
Morning in Emerald
We really felt the end of the ‘Outback’ part of our road trip ending when we woke up in Emerald on Day 7. We were back in an urban centre big enough to have many drive-through takeaway options again and, while this certainly added a different feel to the trip, it did make breakfast easy!
Did you know that the world’s biggest Van Gogh sunflower painting can be found in Emerald? It is located in Morton Park, which is where we stopped to have breakfast. The structure is 25 metres high! Another ‘big thing’ to add to the list of big things’ found in Australia!
We also visited the Emerald train station, which is an example of the beautiful architecture often seen in Queensland train stations.
Lunch in Rockhampton
We were headed for the Capricorn Caves after lunch, so we made our way from Emerald to Rockhampton for lunch beforehand. This was just a three-hour drive. It’s funny how we used to load up on activities to take our family on a two-hour drive to the beach, and now we are at a stage where three hours in the car seems short! Again, Rockhampton is a city large enough to have a good range of kid-friendly lunch options, so we made a stop at a familiar fast-food restaurant and re-fuelled for the afternoon.
Capricorn Caves
The Capricorn Caves are located in a rainforest setting, which seemed lush and beautiful to us, but which had apparently been decimated by a storm some months before our visit. It sounds like it would have been even more amazing before the storm. We took the Cathedral Cave Tour, which was advertised as being very family-friendly and accessible, and truly was so. There were a couple of other cave tours on offer, but these were riskier, longer and more expensive, so we thought the Cathedral Cave Tour sounded like the perfect option.
We loved this tour. Our tour group was not too big, so we got to have a lot of interaction with our highly-knowledgeable guide. We started by walking up to the caves and then standing among some huge walls of rock covered in vines. It reminded me a lot of the man-made environment at Pandora, World of Avatar, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park – except here, it was the real deal! It felt very surreal. Have a look at my comparison photos below!
The walk through the caves was an easy one. The guide turned on lights ahead of us as we entered new areas, so we had no trouble seeing inside the dark tunnels. We learned about the formation of the caves, the age of various parts of the caves and how recently some parts of the caves had changed (walls sliding down, rocks splitting off, etc.).
In the Cathedral Cave itself, we had the opportunity to sit in pews and experience the perfect acoustics of the space. Our daughters actually got up and sang a little piece for the group so we could hear the acoustics live, and then the guide played a beautiful song (from memory, ‘Hallelujah’), which just emphasised what an amazing space we were in. We then got to experience ‘cave black’ when the lights went out. In the total absence of light, we couldn’t even make out our hands in front of our faces. It was amazing.
A small colony of bats lives in the cave complex and we got to see, hear and smell them, but thankfully didn’t have to touch them!
To exit the caves, guests were given two options: an easy walking path back the way we had come in, or a bit of a squeeze around a ‘zigzag’ path and across a suspension bridge to the exit. Our group of intrepid travellers chose the latter option, and we were soon sliding and ducking along the narrow zigzag walkway. This option is not suitable for anyone who gets claustrophobic, as the guide left us and turned out the lights in the space behind us when we entered the walkway, because she had to take other members of the group back to the entrance using the other paths. This meant that there was nowhere to go except forward, and the path did start to feel smaller and tighter as we progressed. It was quite exhilarating to get to the suspension bridge and walk over it at the end of the tour.
We would highly recommend the Cathedral Cave tour for families, and the best way to book is via their website, because there is an online booking discount available.
Accommodation – Oshen Yeppoon
After our flat, dusty Outback adventure, it was a refreshing change to reach the ocean! Oshen Apartments at Yeppoon offers great accommodation options for larger families. Our friends (a 2 adult + 2 child family) were upgraded to a penthouse suite on a higher level, but we were placed in a three-bedroom apartment and it felt perfect to us. Here’s the amazing, sweeping ocean view from our apartment balcony.
The three-bedroom suite had a master with ensuite bathroom containing a spa bath. It would have been possible to leave the blinds open and enjoy water views from the bath or bed, although we opted for a bit more privacy. The children’s rooms consisted of one bedroom with two single beds, and another bedroom with a sliding door on to the living area, with a double or queen bed. The kitchen was large and offered everything needed to prepare meals, there was a dining table inside and another on the balcony, and the room contained a washing machine so we could take care of our laundry without leaving the apartment.
Oshen is perched up on a headland overlooking Yeppoon, with views out over the Keppels. It is just a short walk down a hill to the main street (one block to the start of the shopping area and only a couple of blocks to the water play area). The walk downhill is easy, but do be mindful of the fact that you will need to walk back UPhill at the end of any excursion. It was certainly less fun walking uphill with a tummy full of dinner than it was walking down in anticipation of our meal!
We got takeaway fish and chips and enjoyed it on our balcony on the first night in Yeppoon. It was fresh, prepared fairly quickly and offered a good range of family-friendly options.
After dinner, we headed down the hill for a walk along the waterfront at Yeppoon. This area is delightful at night. It is well-lit and feels welcoming, all the way down to the Yeppoon Lagoon. The Kraken water play area for children is great and there were plenty of people out and about, walking the boardwalk and eating at the various cafes and restaurants. We stopped for ice cream before heading back up the hill to our apartments for the night.
Day 7 Outback Queensland Family Road Trip Summary
Start:
Emerald
End:
Yeppoon
Driving:
4 hrs 10 mins (344 km)
Accommodation:
Oshen Apartments, Yeppoon
Notable Stops:
Largest Van Gogh Sunflowers painting, Emerald
Capricorn Caves, The Caves (Rockhampton)
Yeppoon waterfront
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