Capricorn
Coast Australia is on central Queensland coast.
North of Fraser
Coast and Bundaberg is Capricorn Coast, so
named because of its location on the Tropic of Capricorn.
Part of this
coast is off the access because of the Shoalwater Bay Military Training
Area, but there are still plenty of things to do: Outside Rockhampton
is Great Keppel Island, and off the coast are some of the best islands
of the Great Barrier Reef, like Lady Musgrave, Lady Elliott and Heron
Island. Inland are some great fossicking areas around Sapphire and
Rubyvale, and further inland is Carnarvon
National Park - one of the best national parks in Queensland.
Great Keppel sunset. Poster by AllPosters.
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Capricorn Coast Australia - Rockhampton
The largest town on the Capricorn Coast is Rockhampton,
the area’s
cattle farming centre. Rockhampton has got some beautiful
historical buildings from the times of gold rushes. Some excellent
examples are on Quai Street, right on the waterfront next to the
Fritzroy River.
Behind Quai Street is the central mall, and north of it
are the Rockhampton City Art Gallery and the Archer Park Station
&
Steam Tram Museum. North across the river is the Kershaw Gardens with
Australian native plants, and south of the city are Botanic Gardens
with plants from all over the world and a small zoo. A few kilometres
north of Rockhampton are the Dreamtime Cultural Centre and an
interesting living museum - Heritage Village.
Rockhampton. Poster by AllPosters.
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Places to stay in
Rockhampton
Places to stay in Rockhampton include apartments such as Alexandra
Executive Apartments, The
Edge Luxury Apartment Hotel; hotels such as Denison
Botique Hotel, Leichhardt
Hotel, Rockhampton
Plaza Hotel, Sundowner
Rockhampton, Travelodge
Rockhampton and Villa
Capri.
Motels include Ambassador
Motel, Best
Western Motor Inn, Citywalk
Motor Inn, Comfort
Inn, Fitzroy
Motor Inn, Glenmore
Palms Motel, Motel
98, Quality
Inn Centre Point, The
Bridge Motor Inn, True
Blue Motor Inn and a caravan park is Discovery
Holiday Park.
Rockhampton. Poster by AllPosters.
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Capricorn Coast Australia - Great Keppel Island
Off the coast of Rockhampton is the Great
Keppel
Island – a beautiful getaway with lots of
bushwalking
tracks,
budget
accommodation and great snorkelling – just be aware of sharks
and keep yourself in shallow waters. Great Keppel's accommodation
is on
the western coast along Fisherman’s Beach, and from here there are some
short bushwalks to the southern Monkey Beach and Long Beach.
Longer
bushwalks take you to central and eastern parts of the island, to
some great lookouts as well as Clam Bay, Wreck Beach
and Sandhills Beach. In the eastern point of the island there is a
lighthouse, and from the central lookout point there is a track to the
northern Leeke’s Beach.
Great Keppel Island. Poster by AllPosters.
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Capricorn Coast Australia - Emerald
Inland from Rockhampton, the Capricorn Hwy takes you past Blackdown
Tableland National Park to Emerald –
the centre of
Queensland’s
gemfields.
In the town there is the Emerald Pioneer Cottage and Museum, Kiely’s
Farm and Animal Sanctuary, and a huge replica of Vincent van Gogh’s
painting "Sunflowers". Places to stay include A&A
Lodge Motel, Emerald
Inn, Emerald
Maraboon Motor Inn, Emerald
Meteor Motel, Star
Hotel and Route
66 Motor Inn.
Near Emerald. Poster by AllPosters.
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Capricorn Coast Australia - Rubyvale, Sapphire and Anakie
Not far from Emerald are Rubyvale, Sapphire and Anakie - small
townships where you can
get a fossicking licence and try your luck finding gemstones.
In Rubyvale,
you can attend tours to the Miners
Heritage Walk-in Mine or Bobby Dazzler Mine.
Campervan
Hire - Compare the
Big Companies Here
Rubyvale Gem Gallery and
Miners Cottage sell the precious stones. In Sapphire, you can
‘do a
bucket’ with Pat’s Gems, and the
Forever Mine has gems for sale. There
is a caravan park in Rubyvale, or
you can stay at
the Ramboda Homestead, a working cattle farm.
Carnarvon National Park. By
AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to
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Capricorn Coast Australia - Carnarvon National Park
South of Emerald is the amazing Carnarvon
National Park with the 200m-deep Carnarvon Gorge carved into
the
sandstone.
There are about 20km of bushwalking tracks both up on the top
and down in the bottom of the gorge. Some go to some lovely
waterholes like Moss Gardens, and others to some of Australia’s best
sites of Aboriginal
rock painting in places like the Art
Gallery and Cathedral Cave. You can camp at the
camping sites in the bush, or stay at Carnarvon
Gorge Wilderness Lodge.
Carnarvon Gorge. Poster by AllPosters.
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Capricorn Coast Australia - Gladstone
Back on the coast, south of Rockhampton is
Gladstone
– the gateway to the stunning Heron Island on the Great
Barrier Reef, but there are a few things to
do in town. In the centre of Gladstone there is the Gladstone Art
Gallery & Museum, and south of the centre there is the Tondoon
Botanic Gardens, and the Gecko Valley Winery where you can sample their
products for free. There are some good views over the harbour from the
Auckland Point Lookout in town. Places to stay include Auckland
Hill B&B, Best
Western Camelot Motel, Big4
Barney Beach Holiday Park, Gladstone
City Central Apartment Hotel, Gladstone
Heights Executive Apartments, Glassford
Creek Station Guesthouse, Harbour
City Motel, Harbour
Sails Motor Inn, Metro
Hotel Apartments, Queens
Hotel, Quest
Apartments, Rydges
Gladstone, Toolooa
Gardens Motel and Apartments and Xenia
Central Studio Accommodation.
Gladstone. Poster by AllPosters.
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Capricorn Coast Australia - Heron
Island Heron
Island off the coast is a coral cay
with easily
accessible coral
reef all the way around it. And snorkelling and
diving are the main activities. There is also an old
shipwreck (as on many islands on this coast), and a pisonia tree
forest, which is full of birds called black noddies.
During the summer
months, large female turtles
come to lay their eggs on the beaches of
Heron Island. In the south-eastern corner of the island there is a
Marine Research Centre; and in the
north-eastern corner there is the Heron
Island Resort - the only place to stay as camping in the
bush is not permitted.
Heron Island. Poster by AllPosters.
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Capricorn Coast Australia - Lady Elliot Island
Other Great
Barrier Reef islands off the coast
are Lady Elliot, Lady Musgrave, Masthead, Tyron and North West Island.
Lady Elliot
is a coral cay like
Heron,
with excellent snorkelling and
diving, many shipwrecks, and the Lady
Elliot Island Resort – camping is not allowed in the bush.
Lady Musgrave
is an uninhabited
island which is a national park with some excellent snorkelling around
it.
Great Barrier reef. Poster by AllPosters.
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Here's a map of Capricorn Coast Australia,
where I
have tagged the places that I mentioned on this web page. You can click
on the tags to see what places they are, and double-click anywhere on
the map to zoom it in and see the places closer. Drag the map to move
around, and if you want to see the satellite image with Google Earth,
click on "Sat" in the top right hand corner.
Note:
This site uses
British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will
find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all
correct in the language used in Australia.
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