Today we were wondering how to break up the final 500km of driving over the next 24 hours, so we headed down the Roslyn Bay marina and booked ourselves a day tour with Freedom Fast Cats to Great Keppel Island. They did not disappoint. We took a 30 minute ferry to the island. We didn’t know what to expect of the day and were pleasantly surprised when we started off with a glass bottom boat ride and witnessed a fish feeding just off the shore, the cod were massive and the spotted coral trout were really amazing. After exploring the island, we had a bbq lunch on the boat, and ate enough food to the point where we were concerned we were going to sink to the bottom while snorkelling.
We snorkelled for close to an hour around Monkey beach and saw all different types of fish and heaps of sting rays. We were finally able to build up enough courage to put our waterproof camera underwater, and take some awesome pictures. On the return trip to the beach, the guys put a net in the water behind the boat that you could ride. You had to jump off the back of the boat and then grab onto the rope to pull yourself ontop of it, however, the strong pull of the water in the boats wake made it rather difficult to keep two hands on the net while trying to keep your bathing suit bottoms on.
After a full day in the sun, and turning a few more shades browner, it was time to leave the island, and head up the coast. We were told there was absolutely nothing to see between Rockhampton and Airlie beach – and it was no lie. Highlights on the road were multiple signs attempting to keep drivers awake such as “Rest or RIP”, “Stay awake or Die”, “Stop, revive, survive” and “Trivia helps you stay awake” with a series of signs with trivia questions and answers. We drove for almost 4 hours straight before reaching a campsite in Sarina close to the beach (just South of Mackay).
We snorkelled for close to an hour around Monkey beach and saw all different types of fish and heaps of sting rays. We were finally able to build up enough courage to put our waterproof camera underwater, and take some awesome pictures. On the return trip to the beach, the guys put a net in the water behind the boat that you could ride. You had to jump off the back of the boat and then grab onto the rope to pull yourself ontop of it, however, the strong pull of the water in the boats wake made it rather difficult to keep two hands on the net while trying to keep your bathing suit bottoms on.
After a full day in the sun, and turning a few more shades browner, it was time to leave the island, and head up the coast. We were told there was absolutely nothing to see between Rockhampton and Airlie beach – and it was no lie. Highlights on the road were multiple signs attempting to keep drivers awake such as “Rest or RIP”, “Stay awake or Die”, “Stop, revive, survive” and “Trivia helps you stay awake” with a series of signs with trivia questions and answers. We drove for almost 4 hours straight before reaching a campsite in Sarina close to the beach (just South of Mackay).
