Posted April 25, 2023
about September 2, 2022 – September 10, 2022
Waiting for the next round of cruiseable weather, we ended up spending eight days at the Keppel Bay Marina and were perfectly happy to do so. Below, some of the things we most enjoyed about this marina . . .
1. Rosslyn Bay Fishermans Market
Were we ever happy to find this! The short walk took us right past one of the hills of Double Heads, interesting for the striking columnar fan-like patterns embedded in the rock cliffs.
Available inside the market were bags of cooked prawns, chilled and ready to peel and eat along with jars of sauce for dipping. There were also cold platters featuring prawns, Moreton Bay bugs and oysters, plus all sorts of fresh and frozen seafood. Since the only other market was in a petrol station that sold only a few food items, having a quality seafood market nearby was a godsend.
Below, some photos of the market and the walk there (click any photo to enlarge in the galleries that follow).
2. The Local Birds
Like Gladstone, this marina had plenty of birds, especially around the restaurant. In our opinion there can’t be too many birds, but the restaurant may not share this opinion.
Below, some photos of our favorites, including the blue-eyed honeyeater, seeker of coffee drinks; a friendly butcher bird who would join us at our table; more gulls than we were used to seeing; and welcome swallows, a good name for these highly appreciated birds who dart about catching unwelcome insects.
3. The Waterline Restaurant
During our time in the marina we enjoyed several meals here. The food, featuring Asian dishes, was terrific every day, but our favorite meals were during the five days a week they served sushi rolls. While all our meals were enjoyable, a few in particular stand out in my memory:
I’ve already mentioned the wonderful meal we had after arriving, but our second night here we went for dinner and tried the eye fillet steak. It was so good, Rich stood up and gave a standing ovation to the chefs as we could see right into the kitchen from our table. (This turned out to be fortuitous as they managed to squeeze us in for breakfast the next morning, fully-booked as it was Father’s day—maybe our display of appreciation was a factor in our favor.)
My favorite meal happened after we took a hike up one of the hills of Double Heads. It had been a good hike, with enough exertion to be considered exercise but not so much that we were wiped out. Our climbing efforts had been rewarded with beautiful views from the lookouts and the hilltop.
Now, heading back to our boat after lunchtime, we noticed the restaurant was still open. Just sitting down for a spontaneous late lunch was too much to resist. We ordered a tempura prawn roll, prawn dumplings with ponzu sauce and chili oil, spring rolls, and this corn ball fritter dish that we never would have tried had our friends not raved about it, and it was delicious. Then, in the spirit of decadence, we ordered a bottle of Shiraz to accompany our lunch.
Having our feast on this quiet afternoon, I don’t think I could have been any happier. Sometimes spontaneous splurges have that extra something because they have no expectations to live up to. I can’t say this was an inexpensive lunch, but I will say it was worth every cent. Afterward, inspired to extend our happy-day vibe, we headed back to the boat with another bottle of red wine and watched one of our favorite movies, La La Land. What a great day.
Our final memorable meal was meeting up with our friends Jim and Joan for a farewell dinner as we all planned to head north the next day. Rich and I split the salmon filet with miso glaze and the steak, both incredible, and a bottle of that wonderful Shiraz. Below, photos of that dinner including the corn fritter appetizer thingy. What a nice way to top off our stay.
4. Beautiful Sunsets.
Having an easterly view from the marina didn’t stop the evenings and sunsets from being incredibly lovely, often golden before the pastel pinks and oranges tinged the sky around us. Below, a few photos from that time of day . . .
5. Hiking the Double Head Track (aka the Fan Rock Track or the Rosslyn Bay Track)
Going by several names and some conflicting information on Google Maps, it was a little hard to figure out if this was one track or two, and where it actually started. Once we found the entrance, I was glad to see this walk went to both lookouts I wanted to see. Rich asked me if it would be difficult, and I said we’d just have to find out for ourselves as online opinions varied. According to the information sign at the trail entrance, the walk actually wasn’t all that long.
The hike turned out to be a zig-zag trail going up through green bush vegetation. There were stair steps here and there, but overall this was not a steep trail. Our first stop exited through the trees to the top of a grassy headland where we had a view of the long and very wide Kemp Beach, its golden sand stretching down the coast to the south, with line after line of small waves which started very far out from shore.
We then walked to the Fan Rock Lookout, a platform overlooking a deep chasm going to the ocean below. Across the chasm were the fan-like rock columns created by the lava that once flowed through this volcanic plug, the core of an old volcano. It was a pretty amazing display of nature’s artistry.
Once back on the path we resumed our zig-zag course and managed to reach the top surprisingly quickly. Here, we were surrounded by tussock grasses in various shades of gold and what is called “stunted scrub”, but I’d prefer to call “attractive bushes” as they didn’t seem stunted at all. Some of these bushes had long stalks topped with flowers, really very striking. Above us, an osprey floated on the wind, hovering right over us. The scene actually felt quite magical.
Just a short walk away was the Rosslyn Bay Lookout, where we were treated to a view of the beach coastline stretching to the north and a birds-eye view of the marina below us. In the distance we could see some of the houses near the town of Yeppoon.
We were both feeling rather enchanted by this place and reluctantly headed back down the trail. I couldn’t believe we got to the bottom in probably less than 10 minutes. Below, a few photos from our hike . . .
6. Yeppoon
OK, this was not actually a favorite thing, but it was an interesting excursion. Yeppoon is a large town a few miles north of our marina. As it has a sizeable grocery store, this is where visiting yachties go to re-provision for their trips north or south. The marina supplies a complimentary car for 2 hours so people can do that easily. Our turn came to use the car and we headed to the town, not sure what to expect.
Driving up along the coast we started seeing the rather large and interesting assortment of homes across the street from the beach. The area was intriguing—many of the homes were sizeable, but the area lacked that well-tended look that neighborhoods with “associations” tend to have, even looking a bit scruffy. And I think this is exactly how the residents like it.
Across the street was an attractive parkway, strewn with palm trees, that ran along the bushy (not well-tended) area behind the beach. We stopped to look at an interesting sculpture featuring crabs being, well, crabs. Artwork like this is a sign that the area isn’t entirely under the radar, that it’s important to the community and the city.
Next we headed downtown to go grocery shopping and maybe find a place to grab lunch. This is where things went downhill–the town was not particularly nice, the grocery store had a small, busy parking lot and was inside a decidedly unattractive mall, and traffic did not flow smoothly here. By the time we finished our shopping trip, all we wanted to do was to get away from Yeppoon and back to the marina. So I guess I could say our favorite thing about Yeppoon was leaving it.
I will add here that our marina neighborhood had a few things I haven’t mentioned, such as the Rosslyn Bay Resort, Beaches restaurant, the Capricorn Cruising Yacht Club with a pub, and a ferry dock. Aside from looking inside the yacht club, we never checked out any of these places, happy with our little world in the marina. That said, when they day came to leave and head north, we were glad to get out again.
On a final note: One of the the distinctive bird songs of Australia is that of the Butcher bird. Below is a video of a serenade by one of the restaurant regulars. –Cyndi
