Outback Queensland Road Trip for Families –Yeppoon to Hervey Bay (Day 9/12)
A final word about Oshen Apartments…
Three-bedroom apartments are harder to come by than other types of rooms, so we are used to settling for a compromise between space and other features to accommodate our family of six. Having said that, we didn’t feel like there was any compromise at all at Oshen. It was the complete package. We had a really lovely room with all the features we needed – including a full kitchen and laundry facilities – with great views and a convenient location.
Waking up at Oshen Apartments on Day 9 was glorious. We just kept appreciating and commenting to each other about the spectacular views out over the water. We would highly recommend this accommodation option for larger families and it’s a place we would happily book for a week-long trip if ever in Yeppoon again.
Last sightseeing in Yeppoon
As well as being happy to stay at Oshen again, Yeppoon is a place we would happily re-visit, either as a destination or as part of another road trip. We didn’t get to visit Rockhampton on this trip, so we have added Rockhampton and Yeppoon to our future travel list. The two destinations are an easy drive from one another. The staff at Oshen gave us a long list of activities to enjoy in the region and, while we had a very busy few days, there were many activities left on the list that would form the basis of a great family holiday. There would definitely be reasons to make another trip to this area.
The Yeppoon Lagoon is a worthwhile stop and a great spot for a coffee. If we hadn’t been under time pressure to hit the road, we would have let the kids have a swim as well. The lagoon’s infinity edge and location beside the beach combine to make it appear as if the water is continuous, all the way out to the Keppels. This makes this lagoon feel extra large and luxurious. Cairns has a lagoon beside the water as well, but the ‘water’ is often mud flats, and it just doesn’t have the same effect as Yeppoon’s stunning continuous water visual effect. We stopped at the lagoon for morning tea and enjoyed our last bit of the relaxed Yeppoon atmosphere before heading south again.
We were facing a five-and-a-half hour drive on Day 9, and we planned to break up this longer drive with lunch in Gladstone. This original plan took us on major highways all the way to Hervey Bay and would have been quite a manageable driving day, but, as you’ll read below, we ended up taking a ‘scenic route’! Would we recommend it? The short answer is ‘yes’, the sights we saw were worth it. Having said that, this leg of the journey is one where we would recommend an extra overnight stop. After all of these daily summaries have been published, I’ll add some more detailed recommendations about the things we’d recommend and the things we’d change. But, I digress… Back to Day 9!
Gladstone
Our drive took us through the city of Gladstone at around lunchtime, as planned. We took a detour off our navigation route to go out to the port for a quick look around, but couldn’t find anything quick and easy for lunch in that vicinity. It was a Sunday, and the Gladstone port area is obviously very popular with locals for Sunday lunchtime picnics! The area looked very welcoming and family-friendly, and we would have considered stopped for more exploration if we hadn’t been on a mission to find food. We ended up just finding a suburban shopping centre and getting some take-away Subway and sushi to keep us going on the road. This isn’t a very fair representation of Gladstone, which is a city we visited pre-kids (while pregnant with Miss Organised). On our previous visit, we enjoyed visiting the port for a meal and we also drove to some areas surrounding Gladstone, such as Tannum Sands, which are quite scenic. It’s a city with an industrial vibe (there are coal chutes and conveyors all around the harbour, which make for a pretty unique view). It’s not necessarily a destination to visit for its own sake for a family holiday, but Gladstone could certainly make a nice overnight stop on a longer road trip. Note: This is NOT the place we’d add to the current road trip itinerary. If we were to add one night to our 12-day itinerary, it would be staying at the next location we visited on Day 9…
The towns of Agnes Water and 1770
We had read about the Paperbark Trail and thought this might be a nice little detour for the kids to enjoy on our journey. This detour took us off the main highway and into the areas around the towns of Agnes Water and 1770.
This little hamlet has a very laid-back feel and is immediately attractive as a holiday destination. We hadn’t planned to explore any part of the area beyond the Paperbark Trail, but we just couldn’t resist parking and getting out once we drove into the area.
We grabbed coffee at a bakery and then found a parkland area where we could enjoy some time out of the vehicles down near the water at 1770, around the mangroves and mudflats. The kids wished they were in their swimming gear, and it was very difficult to keep them from getting too wet! This waterfront area was extremely busy with families paddling, watercraft out on the water and many groups relaxing under shade covers along the ‘beach’. It’s not a white-sand surf beach, which is why I use the inverted commas there, but it was being used very much like the still coastal beaches we are familiar with around the Sunshine Coast.
The town of 1770 is named after the date of the second landing in Australia of Captain Cook’s Endeavour. There are historical markers and walking trails in the area that we would have really enjoyed exploring, but time was not on our side.
After enjoying the mudflats for a little while, we found another area where we could access a beach at Agnes Water. We LOVED the quiet, relaxed feel of the beach and we noticed that a lot of the accommodation in this area is within walking distance of the beachfront. We have made a note to ourselves that this is one area we definitely want to re-visit, because it has all the makings of a relaxed beach holiday with a little bit of nature and history thrown in. Had we had time for one extra stop on our road trip, this area would have been it. It would be easy to fill a day with fun and sightseeing around Agnes Water and 1770 and there is plenty of accommodation available.
Paperbark Trail
The Paperbark Trail itself is a highly-Instagrammable spot near Agnes Water. We found it quite easily, even though it’s only marked by a small sign and only has a small gravel parking area off to the side of the road. Light was beginning to fade when we pulled in. Some of the documentation about the trail that can be found online is misleading – suggesting that it might take an hour to walk it. We didn’t want to be stuck in a forest after dusk and this worry about it getting dark made us walk very quicky!
As it turned out, we walked the trail in about 15 minutes, round trip. It was a simple little walking path marked out by gravel and rock in places, timber bridges and the iconic walkway of paperbark tree stumps which give the trail its name. It was a bit of fun for the kids and an easy walk for all ages. Certainly a nice little stop, but perhaps not a destination in itself. We were relieved that it took such a short time to complete the trail and it led us to enjoy an area that previously hadn’t been part of our plan, so all in all, it was a worthwhile detour.
Drive to Hervey Bay
We left the Agnes Water area around dusk to make our way to Hervey Bay. Our detours had pushed our expected arrival time out. We were able to call ahead to our next accommodation at Sunseeker Motel in Hervey Bay to organise late check-in, even though it was a Sunday. This level of customer service allowed us to stress a little less as we covered the final stretch of the Day 9 drive.
We drove through Bundaberg just as the sun was setting. We had no plans to stop in this city, but the sight of the sun going down over the river just as we drove over a bridge was breathtaking. We stopped very briefly to refill water bottles at a park and the adults from both vehicles independently made the comment that Bundaberg was much prettier than we had imagined. It was a shame that we really couldn’t take any more detours on this day.
We drove the final leg into Hervey Bay in the dark, travelling through the pretty town of Childers, which was lit up with fairy lights in the trees lining the main street. After our previous night-time driving experience from Winton to Longreach, we were very edgy about driving after dark, but we only saw one kangaroo on the road during this leg of night driving (much to everyone’s relief!). Our travel buddies had their closest call with a kangaroo on this night, though. We will certainly be attempting to keep our future night-time driving to a minimum, and would suggest this to other families considering an Australian road trip. While the idea of driving while the kids are asleep does sound appealing, the risk of kangaroos on the road is very high. They have no road sense and will jump TOWARDS the vehicle (we have had friends with windscreens smashed by jumping kangaroos while their vehicles were stationary!). This unpredictability makes it much scarier, because it’s hard to know how to respond if a kangaroo enters your path!
After a big day, we were pleased to find that Hervey Bay has all the common fast-food chains. We were all able to find something to grab for dinner at a drive-through before arriving at our accommodation, the Sunseeker Motel.
Sunseeker Motel
We heard about the Sunseeker Motel from friends, who are themselves friends of the owners. The motel is fairly dated in design and the room décor is clearly in the process of being updated, but there were some amazing features of this accommodation:
· Our two families had family suites beside each other on one end of the upper level, with little balconies at the front of them. This meant we had our own little space to socialise (ie. Knock on each other’s doors with coffee or food deliveries!).
· The family suites were very spacious. They felt like small apartments.
· The parking is easy to access from the rooms.
· The location is perfect – right on the Esplanade, across the road from beaches and parks.
· The staff is very friendly and accommodating, with Lisa even making some calls to check tentative bookings that had been made in case upgrades could be offered to us. We couldn’t have asked for better customer service.
· Both the tours we had planned for our stay in Hervey Bay offered bus pick up, and for both, the Sunseeker Motel was one of their pre-determined bus stops. This meant that we didn’t need to drive on either of our tour days!
· There are multiple dining options within easy walking distance. It would be entirely possible to park the car outside your motel room at Sunseeker and not touch it for a whole trip, while still enjoying a huge variety of activities.
· The rates are really affordable!
This place is an absolute gem. It was the perfect base for our Hervey Bay activities and we’d highly recommend it. I think the word may be out – every time I’ve checked, they’ve been booked! It was wonderful to finish our trip in accommodation which allowed us to relax, spread out and get some great sleep, ready for a couple of big days to finish our road trip!
Day 9 Outback Queensland Family Road Trip Summary
Start:
Yeppoon
End:
Hervey Bay
Driving:
Planned: 5 hrs (420 km)
Actual: 9.5 hours’ travel (multiple detours)
Accommodation:
Sunseeker Motel, Hervey Bay
Notable Stops:
Yeppoon Lagoon
Agnes Water beach
1770 waterfront
Paperbark Trail
Notable pitstops:
Gladstone
Bundaberg
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