The camp is surprisingly quiet given the number of people here. Up and have breakfast, and we pack up slowly.
A guy came over yesterday to check out the solar panels we have out, he had a similar set, and said his were starting to scuff were they folded, but as this was the first time ours had actually been used, they were still in good nick. We meet him on the bridge later that afternoon and he assured us there were no crocs in the river, he was probably right, but I noticed he didn’t go for a swim either. Anyway he popped over this morning to ask if we where headed in the direction of Rockhampton, as a matter of fact we are. He told us about the free Rockhampton Zoo, and specifically how they have a Saltwater and Freshwater croc, side by side.
So without any specific plans for today we head towards Rockhampton. After some shopping and lunch we drive up to the zoo (there is meant to be parking for caravans, I couldn’t find it). The zoo was not too bad, especially since it’s free. They had the general array of Australian animals and lizards, plus some chimpanzees, including a very cute baby chimp, some macaques, otters, and lots of birds. The crocs were in pens side by side, and it was amazing to see the size difference between a freshy and a salty.
We didn’t have any particular place in mind to stay the night, we had 3-4 places shortlisted that looked ok. In the end we chose a home stay place near a town called Emu Park on the coast just south of Yeppoon. It’s called the Emu Park Observatory, it’s a flat, empty spot on top of a hill, about 2km away from the coast. Up here pretty much a 360 degree unobstructed view of the entire area. So we were looking out over the coast and Great Keppel Island.
We collected some firewood, cut it up with the chainsaw (thanks Harry!) and after dinner settled into our first campfire, complete with toasted marshmallows!