This morning I was looking over the local news for the Yeppoon area and saw this Morning Bulletin article about it.

The man has been the 3rd person to die in the Central Queensland area in the New Year period.

This new site includes a totally different structure, for example along the top just above the random header image display (which showcases panoramas around the Yeppoon region), there is a places menu listing all the localities in this area. Above that menu are the resource links, which currently include the Yeppoon Events, Yeppoon Photo Panoramas and Yeppoon Accommodation pages. Later on as soon as I can code it, I hope to add a Yeppoon News page which people can subscribe to via email or RSS.

If you have any other suggestions of what to add or what I can change, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

Looking out over the Five Rocks Headland & Beach

Recently my family and I did a drive up to the Byfield National Park area, which is located around Five Rocks, Stockyard Point, and Nine Mile Beach. Access is 4WD only, so we took along our new Nissan Patrol. This was the first time we’d ever done sand driving, or proper four wheel driving for that matter, so it was exciting to be testing out the 4WD.

Byfield National Park covers an area of around 15,000 hectares or 37,000 acres, so it’s a huge, fairly unspoilt area. Notable features include the huge sand dunes in the Nine Mile Beach area. For more information about camping spots and facilities in the area, please visit this page on the EPA’s website.

Most people visit the Five Rocks area to four wheel drive, fish, camp or explore. Some do a combination of all these things. One good piece of advice for anyone wishing to go and visit this area is to bring someone in separate vehicle along, as there are plenty of potential for getting bogged in soft sand and the like. Anyway, below are some photos of our day trip up there:

Our convoy on the road to Five Rocks, as you can see the whole track there is sand.

Driving down the hill to the Stockyard Point Lookout. From here you can look north to the Five Rocks Headland or south over Nine Miles Beach.

Our parked cars at the Stockyard Point lookout.

The view to the Five Rocks Headland from Stockyard Point.

Looking down to the start of Nine Mile Beach, jutting up to Stockyard Point.

I took this picture from the top of a small hill, overlooking the end of Nine Mile Beach. It was a beautiful place for swimming.

The Orange Bowl - or so it called by locals. This gigantic pile of orange sand is a great place to rev up the ‘ol 4WD and spin some wheels, but be wary of burning out your motor.

Last night we went to one of the performances in the Yeppoon Town Hall. Entry to the performance was totally free, unlike last year when it was $2. First off, they had a band of string musicians from 7:30PM to 8PM, when the main show started. The main show had lots of dancing, with a live band providing music for some of the acts. The show finished at 9:30PM, so in all there was 2 hours of performing.

There was a mixture of music and performances, ranging from traditional Singaporean music to 1970’s stuff.

One of my favourite acts was this man who was able to copy instruments like the drums and didgeridoo using only his voice. This sport is called beatboxing. In the video I’ve included below, you’ll be amazed at what he can do. There was no accompanying music however.

If you missed the performance at the Yeppoon Town Hall, fear not, there are quite a few more performances coming up this month around Rockhampton. See http://www.venuesandevents.com.au/whatsonNOV.html#MDC.

I managed to take lots of video of the event (1.2GB in all), so I’ve embedded some Youtube videos and photos below. The photos aren’t too good because of the low light. Remember that you can watch the high quality version of the videos by going to the YeppoonInfo Youtube account and selecting the video, then clicking the “high quality” link just underneath it. There are also some videos on that account that I haven’t embedded on this post.

Photo #1 from one of the traditional dances

Photo #2 from one of the traditional dances

Photo #3 from one of the traditional dances

The beatboxing guy who can imitate the didgeridoo and drums with his voice. No extra music added!

A Singaporean traditional song (I think).

One of the very last performances by the Music & Drama company. Costumes were from a ’70s themed part.

The Last act of the night

The owner then said that he had something very special to show us, something that most people will never see in their lifetimes. He then took us to a cage with two young Cassowary chicks inside. More information on Cassowarys can be found at the Queensland Government’s Enviromental Protection Agency website, as well as Wikipedia.

Cooberrie Park currently has more protected Cassowarys in captivity than any other park or zoo (besides Australia Zoo, which has 5 as well) in Australia. They currently have 3 adults and 2 chicks.

Below are the photos. Sorry for the blurry black lines on the pictures, they’re a result of the wire getting in the way.

The top part of the Cassowary Chick. The head looks a bit like a chook’s head but the obdy shape and colour is totally different.

A full view of the Cassowary. Notice the very distintive black markings running along the body.

The two chicks together in a corner.

Another view of the Cassowary chick.

Stony Creek is a large camping and picnic area, with the main feature being, of course, the creek that divided those two areas. To cross there is a concrete causeway which is covered by about 10cm of water in normal flow. After heavy rain the picnic area is sometimes cut off because the causeway is too deeply covered.

Stony Creek has many important facilities such as toilets, free gas barbeques, picnic tables, taps, and bushwalks. Because the Stony Creek area is protected, no domestic animals such as dogs or cats are allowed. There is one marked bushwalking track, which winds along beside the creek for kilometres. The main circuit is only about 1km long however.

Camping can be booked through the EPA website.

Below I’ve put in some photos of Stony Creek from the day:

The Stony Creek crossing, looking towards the entrance and camping area.

The Stony Creek swimming area. This is the main swimming area, looking from the road crossing.

Looking in the other direction from the above photo, Stony Creek merrily continuing on its way downstream.

This view shows the platform on the picnic side of Stony. This is where most people jump in the creek from. The drain in the middle helps keep the water level over the crossing down.

Water spilling over the other side of the road crossing.

Looking over the road crossing towards the day use area of Stony Creek.

A small bridge on the main walking track. The blurred corners are an added effect.

One of the many lovely plants growing along the walking track.

Rows of pine trees on either side of the road on the way out from Stony Creek. Again, I’ve added the blurred corners.

Last but not least, above are the two panoramas that I made from photos taken at Stony Creek. Click on the thumbnail images to see the full-size versions.

View of Stony Creek Crossing, Byfield, #1. Click photo for larger view.

View of Stony Creek Crossing, Byfield, #2. Click photo for larger view.

View of the Yeppoon Central & McDonalds Shopping Centre. Click photo for larger view.

Remember, you can see my full selection of photo panorama at the Yeppoon Photo Panoramas page.

Some of the very tropical looking trees right next to the creek. The two just in front are mango trees.

Waterpark Creek on an overcast day. As you can see its a bit bigger than your average creek!

Planting native shrubs and bushes along a small section of Waterpark Creek. Due to the flooding at the start of 2008, all the soil was sandy.

Hey all you Yeppoonites, this is where the town water supply comes from (until the Rocky to Yeppoon pipeline is finished anyway). These pipes are up on a high section of the bank, about 5-10 metres away from

Another view of the town water pipes.

These leaves are from the famous Byfield fern, which is native to the Byfield area where it grows prolifically.

Another view of the Byfield Fern.

My sisters having a swim in Waterpark Creek, along with a couple of stick-mad dogs.

Claudie pulling out the horse carriage. The horses are hitched up on either side of the wooden bar in front.

A row of very young tea-tree trees. Every few years or so a whole section is cut down, then processed to make tea-tree oil and mulch.

The facilities at Red Rock are pretty good. There are men’s and women’s toilets, taps (although you’re not supposed to drink the water), camping areas, picnic tables and a car track around the whole camping area. The road into Red Rock is all dirt, but it’s only a few kilometres long. There is also a self-registration booth at the entrance to camping area.

In summer Red Rock is known for its terrible swarms of mosquitoes, but in winter they’re all dead and we were only bothered by one or two single mosquitoes.

Below are some of the photos that I took while camping at Red Rock:

One of the many forestry tracks winding in and around the Red Rock area. They’re all dirt, but hardly anyone uses them and they’re really good for long walks or rides.

Some baby pine trees next to the road in to Red Rock. The forestry department log these trees once they grow big enough.

A few more pine trees, which appear to be leaning a lot but really aren’t. It’s just the camera angle.

The beautiful Stony Creek running just down from the camping area. This particular spot is about 800m downstream from the camping area.

Looking downstream in the other direction from the above photo. I reckon it looks like somewhere from the Northern Territory! But don’t worry about crocodiles too much, the water in the creek was much too cold for crocodiles to survive in it.