Turtle hatchling
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland

Highlights

Mon Repos turtle rookery

Mon Repos Conservation Park, 15 km north-east of Bundaberg, is one of Australia’s most important turtle rookeries. Sea turtles lay eggs in the sand from November to January, and the young emerge and make for the sea from mid-January to March. In season there is an on-site interpretative centre and guided night tours.

Carnarvon National Park

Carnarvon Gorge, the signature attraction of Carnarvon National Park, bends and twists its way around 30 km of semi-arid terrain. Within its sandstone walls exists a cool, green world of delicate ferns and mosses fed by Carnarvon Creek. The 298 000 ha park, 250 km south of Emerald, also contains some magnificent Aboriginal rock-art sites. You can camp near the gorge during most school holidays, but accommodation is available year-round at two nearby lodges.

Australia’s beef capital

Over two million cattle graze in the Fitzroy River valley and surrounding countryside, west of Rockhampton. The town has many heritage buildings – particularly grand are the buildings in Quay Street. There is also an excellent discovery centre at the Customs House, and the historic botanic gardens are worth a look. Try your luck in the Fitzroy River, especially in the section close to town, to snag a barramundi.

Capricorn Coast

Thirteen beaches stretch out along Keppel Bay, taking in Yeppoon, Emu Park and Keppel Sands. Picturesque bays are framed by rocky headlands, pockets of rainforest, peaceful estuarine waters and wetlands – some of the natural features that have helped make the sunny Capricorn Coast a popular resort area.

The gemfields

Some of the world’s richest sapphire fields are found around the tiny, ramshackle settlements of Anakie, Sapphire, Rubyvale and Willows Gemfields, some 50 km west of Emerald. The same area yields zircons, amethysts, rubies and topaz. Fossicking licences can be bought on the gemfields for a small fee. But if you don’t find what you’re after on the gemfields, you may have better luck in one of the area’s many gemstone retail outlets.

Rum town

On the southern coast of the Capricorn region is Bundaberg, home of ‘Bundy’ rum. This is an area of major sugar production – see the spectacular cane fires during harvest season (July–November). Bundaberg is also renowned for its parks and gardens, in particular the Botanical Gardens, with the excellent Hinkler House Memorial Museum and steam-train rides that operate every Sunday.

Mount Morgan

This goldmining town south of Rockhampton has hardly changed in a century, except for the mountain of the town’s name, which is now a large crater. Take a tour to the Southern Hemisphere’s largest excavation, or see the ancient dinosaur footprints in nearby caves. Other highlights include the heritage railway station, the museum and the cemetery, containing graves of Chinese workers and other nationals.

Focus On: Discovery Coast

Seventeen Seventy, a small town on a narrow, hilly peninsula above an estuary, was named to mark Captain Cook’s landing at Bustard Bay on 24 May 1770. The main access is from Miriam Vale on the Bruce Highway (a 60-kilometre journey on a partly sealed road). Today’s visitors come for the views from the headland north across the bay, and for fishing, mudcrabbing and boating. Agnes Water, a few kilometres south, has Queensland’s northernmost surfing beach; rolling surf and a balmy climate attract visitors all year round. Eurimbula National Park, just across Round Hill Inlet from Seventeen Seventy, has dunes, mangroves, salt marshes and eucalypt forests. From Agnes Water, an 8-kilometre track south to Deepwater National Park is suitable for four-wheel drives only. The long beaches of this park, broken by the estuaries of freshwater creeks, form a breeding ground for loggerhead turtles.