Location: Yeppoon, Queensland

Weather: Light winds, scattered white clouds, warm ocean. As we finished the fishing trip the storm clouds gathered and the heavens opened! Rain at last! 32ºc

GREAT KEPPEL ISLAND HOLIDAY VILLAGE

“I’ve no idea what you’re going to do on Keppel Island – it closed down about three years ago” somebody told me on Moreton Island a few days before I arrived in Yepoon, the stepping off point for the Keppel Group of islands. So what on earth were Tourism Queensland doing sending me somewhere like this on my final Island Caretaker adventure?!

As I left the marina at Rosslyn Bay onboard the Freedom Fast Cats the distant outline of the island on the horizon beckoned and as we neared the coast the buildings high on the hill became more obvious – this must be the deserted resort I’d been told about. We pulled up onto the white sandy beach, stepped into the crystal clear water and approached the figure walking down the beach – Geoff Mercer from Great Keppel Island Holiday Village, a classic old-time surf dude, was here to meet us.

The wicked little battered Daihatsu powered up the beach across the soft sand and up the only road on the island – all 50 metres of it, to the back door of the camp. Laid out on a field full of sand were a number of safari-style tents, chalets and in the centre a communal toilet/shower block and kitchen. This was more like an African-esque backpackers than anything I’d witnessed here in Australia yet – and I loved it straight away!

I checked into my tent and sat out in the sunshine enjoying the comfort of one of the hammocks hanging in the garden (sand garden of course), this pretty much seems to be the pace of life around here – it’s pretty much the place to be doing very little apart from relaxing, socialising and catching up on oneself – and that’s it.

Since the main Keppel island resort closed down the other businesses on the island have suffered, negative press reports claiming ‘Keppel Island is dead’ have meant that the outside world has virtually forgotten about this once ‘Great’ destination but all the while the other smaller operators are still here seeking out a living on this little piece of paradise.

There’s plenty to do here still, Geoff the owner and Fergie, a friend of his, decided to buy the watersports centre on the main beach and try to make a go of it so there’s loads to do including waterskiing, wakeboarding, tubing, kayaking and snorkelling. The bay provides a safe sheltered environment and the beach hut makes the perfect place to watch the sunset.

Bre and I decide we’ll head off on a little mission as one of the islanders, Roger, has very kindly offered us the use of his ATV bike – there are 17 beaches on the island, 15 of which are easily accessible and we’re going to try and make it to as many as we can!

The broken sealed road heads out of the eastern end of the old resort and winds up the hill as it does the surface just disappears and becomes dust and dirt. Perfect for an off-road bike such as this. The next five hours of adventure take us over the island hitting all sides of it, going to the top of Mt Wyndham out to the lighthouse and to eight of the beaches. There’s noone else about for the entire duration of our mission, we’ve probably travelled 30kms along the sandy beaches, through the bush and up the hills.

The solitude of Wreck Beach at the far end of the island is amazing. There were huge shoals of baitfish in the shore break and as we walked out to them twelve little reef sharks darted amongst them scattering the black cloud in all directions as they hunted out their next meal. As we approached the high-tide line we spotted turtle tracks heading up the beach and went closer to investigate, unlike the one we had to relocate at Mon Repos, this turtle had climbed right up the sand dunes to lay it eggs and the only evidence was the scattered sand she had left behind. In a few weeks time the newly hatched baby turtles will make their break for freedom down the beach and into the water.

Our mission was to reach the lighthouse at the far end of the island, an automated unit perched high on the rocks offering great views back over the island. The track along the ridge was narrow and overgrown but we were on a real adventure here and nothing was going to stop us getting to our goal now. What a sight once we got there, a helipad marked the end of the trail and the views were superb looking back west over the island and onto the mainland in the distance.

As the sun dropped over the horizon signalling the end of another day Bre and I turned into the sandy entrance to the resort. We’d gone as far as was possible to discover the hidden Great Keppel that only a few people are lucky enough to get to see. As we returned the ATV to its rightful owner I told Roger what an incredible island he lives on and his return comment was “I know, now you write a blog but…shhhh don’t tell everyone about it!”

Mum and dad had been exploring too and as we told them all about our adventure the smell of the barbeque told us it was time to pack our stomachs full once more – Geoff had prepared a feast and we eagerly tucked in. Sleep was well overdue and after a quick burst on the blog I retired…exhausted. Now it’s not good protocol to feed the wild birds and animals but when there’s a one legged Curlew hopping around the rules can be bent a little…here’s the amusing sign from the communal eating area:

Staying in a tent doesn’t allow you to rest in bed when the sun starts to shine and it was a pretty good thing really as the next part of the Keppel adventure was about to commence – deep sea fishing!

KEPPEL BAY ESCAPES FISHING TRIP

Geoff grabbed the last of our baggage and us, bundled it all into his truck and drove us down to the beach where our new means of transport awaited – Keppel Bay Escapes had brought along two 11m Voyager Catamarans called Konomie Spirit and Konomie Dreaming. Identical in their appearance, one would be for Bre, Mum, Dad and I and the other for the Beyond TV crew who were travelling with us filming the final installment for the National Geographic program ‘Best Job in the World’ to be screened worldwide next year.

Now in the past few months I’ve had little tasters of what fishing in Australia is really like, but they have only been a few minutes here and there and so far I haven’t landed anything that’s been of legal size. This was my chance to catch something ready for the Christmas dinner table surely!

Graham the owner of the company had brought with him the ‘experts’, Lyle, Ralph and Fraser knew how to fish and with their help hopefully we’d have tight lines by the the end of the day and a cooler box with at least some fishy friends resting in it. Graham’s a bit of a legend when it comes to fishing and if there’s anything to know about the sport, the area and how to catch them – he’s the man.

We’re out for a couple of days and start the journey north towards his favoured hunting grounds, the weather is perfect with a light northerly wind giving a little respite from the humid Queensland day and we’re full of expectation. The area to the north of our starting point very quickly becomes military training grounds limiting the access from the mainland and, together with the distance we’re covering on the water, restricts the fishing to only the larger boats too = end result of waters which haven’t been plundered!

Two hours later we’ve arrived at our first spot, big fat X’s mark Graham’s secret fishing places on his GPS and as we arrive the fish finder indicates a good sized group of our potential friends sitting around the bottom. Lyle and Fraser have already rigged up our tackle, it’s just a case of putting a squid and pilchard on the hooks and away we go.

The reels whirr as we drop the lines over the sides of the boat, 35 metres of twine feed into the great nothingness below until eventually they hit bottom and slacken the tension on the rod tip. We’re in the spot, all we have to do is just wait…for nearly 20 seconds as suddenly the rod tip is twitching again, but this time the fish are biting!

Bre’s the first to strike home, battling with the unseen monster under the water, Graham cries out “it’s a Red Dew!”. How on earth somebody knows that from just seeing the rod tip move I don’t know it must be the years of experience he’s had out here on the ocean doing exactly this.

With the rod end dug into her waist, Bre cranks the rod up and down constantly taking line in so as not to let it go slack and loose her prize. Shoulders working hard, wrists working harder until finally we catch a glimpse of the red monster she’s been hauling in for the last few minutes. It’s a good size too, roughly 20kgs and definitely the biggest fish she’s ever caught. The joy in her face says it all – suddenly we have a new recruit to the very popular ‘Australian Sea Fishing Club’.

An hour later and we’ve all added to the esky, filling it with substantial Red Dew and Estuary Cod (the biggest of which Bre catches and weighs in at 25kgs) but only a few of each type. There are other operators out here who really plunder the shoals when they find them taking 200 fish at a time which leaves nothing on these hyper-sensitive areas of the reef. The fish we pull up are around 15 years old and are crucial at this age as they start to spawn producing future generations – to remove more than a few has a serious impact on the area and effects fish stocks along the coastline. It’s good to learn from the locals you know…

We continue our cruise up the coast until eventually we’re near the Warginburra Peninsula and in the sheltered waters around Dome Island. The landscape and the environment are stunning, the islands look somewhere between tropical and north American; the hoop pines mingle with palm trees, the rolling ocean surf crashes into the rocks adding white foam to the picture and we’re in the middle of it all. The photos hopefully do it some justice.

Graham sets us a challenge – to catch some smaller tastier fish ready for tonight’s barbeque. Again the game is on! Using the reef on the echo sounder brings up a whole new variety of fish, not so many of the big type instead more colourful and tasty specimens like Hussar, Sweetlip and even a Coral Trout. Perfect for our evening meal.

We anchor in the sheltered waters of Pearl Bay and watch another perfect sunset as the crew prepare the feast for the evening. Nothing too complicated here just well bread-crumbed pieces of gorgeous white fish lightly fried served with a dipping sauce and salad. What a feeling to have the fish we’d caught only a few hours previous served up for dinner!

The gentle rocking of the ocean sent me to sleep…

Day break is easy to achieve when you’re onboard, the boat sends me to sleep particularly well but also means I sleep lightly and as the first light of the day enters the bedroom I’m up and about – the smell of bacon cooking helps of course!

As we make our way back down the coast towards Yeppoon where we’re to be dropped off, we hit some more spots to try and catch a few more tasty morsels that we can take home to Hamilton Island ready for Christmas Day. You see, the traditional Queensland lunch on December 25^th is always seafood and fresh fruit – can you imagine slaving over a hot stove when the temperature is over 30 degrees outside. Exactly.

We try a couple of different locations but struggle to replicate the immediate success of the day before until suddenly my rod tip starts quivering, it’s a good size fish and puts up a huge fight and as I bring it towards the net realise it’s a different sort to that we’d been landing yesterday – this one’s a Trevally or a salt n pepper due to the distinctive black and white speckles along its side.

It’s also perfect for some fresh sashimi! Brilliant, so Graham gets out his sharpest knife and delicately slices a fillet from it, skins it and prepares some bite-sized pieces for us to try with some soy sauce and wasabi mustard. No more than half an hour after catching it – we’re eating it!

On the horizon the weather is starting to change with black clouds looming large over the interior of the mainland, so as a precaution we decide to head for the marina. We have a cooler box full of fish, our shoulders are aching after hauling in monsters from the deep and our bait supplies are low – I think we can call the entire trip a roaring success. Bre has pulled in more than everyone else and now can’t wait to go out again sometime soon.

It’s been a brilliant adventure and one we’ve been looking forward to for a long time but as with all these incredible experiences it has to come to an end. As we arrive back at the entrance to the marina the wind is picking up and the heavens are about to open…the timing couldn’t have been better!

We head back north to Airlie Beach early the next morning.

End of day location: Yeppoon, Queensland

Distance travelled: 545kms by road, 197kms by sea

GREAT KEPPEL ISLAND PICTURES

FISHING TRIP WITH KEPPEL BAY ESCAPES