Day 82 – Saturday 9^th October 2021 –  ? Km

First stop this morning is the Keppel Bay Marina where we have a look at the Double Head, a pair of extinct volcanic cones that provide shelter for the boat harbour. It is amazing the number of people fishing around these rocky outcrops, they are fishing all around it. The basalt columns are tilted and look amazing with their geometric regularity. There is a big fishing charter mother boat in at dock being cleaned, it must have just come into dock this morning. With this Covid in the other states tourist aren’t coming so they are finding it hard to keep going.

We drive around the shoreline to Yeppoon, then drive around a fair bit looking for a parking spot that is not too much of a walk to the beachfront. The Yeppoon Pine Fest is on today with markets, music & entertainment at the seaside stage. We walk through the markets (disappointing compared to a few we have seen since we are travelling) then sit & watch the kids performing in front of the stage with the magnificent backdrop of the ocean & Keppel Island group in the background. We get hungry & get a couple of steak burgers from the Lions stall, then a Tater stick to share  (we see other people eating them, now that we tried it we decided that we won’t need to have one again) as we watch.

Next is a walk along the foreshore past the Keppel Kraken, a magnificent children’s waterpark on the foreshore for any child to play in, it is very well designed. Further on is the Keppel Bay Sailing club with an old Lightweight Sharpie out the front on display. I have a chat to a few sailors there, some sharpie sailors & ask if they are heading to the National Championships in Canberra. They have been busy finishing the parade float for the street parade later today down the main street of Yeppoon.

We wander back to the stage & listen to some live music with the highlight being the Yeppoon State High School Brass Band, they are very good. While sitting there we see a couple of hang gliders taking advantage of the breeze & flying overhead before landing on the beach. The music stops & we walk to the street parade nearby, Tereza finds a friend on a park bench.

The street parade is full of people having fun, there are some great floats & displays, with the end of the parade marked by some trucks full of pineapples being handed out to anybody standing on the street that wants one. Tereza got lucky with a nice pineapple. We decided that we had enough, the fire spectacular is not until 7pm so back to our caravan park.

On our drive back we again followed the ocean & stopped at the Wreck Point lookout. Here there is another great sculpture & a story of the shipwreck the point was named for. The views are fantastic looking out to the Keppel group of islands, the view is very clear today & we can see a long way. We continue following the ocean back to Kinka Beach & our Karavan. Another great day.