Yeppoon travel guide

do you like Yeppoon?

Blessed by a cooling breeze and a string of pretty beaches, the small seaside settlements of Yeppoon, Rosslyn Bay and Emu Park are the main focus of the Capricorn Coast and the region’s principal coastal holiday resorts. Yeppoon – the largest – offers a wealth of affordable accommodation and safe swimming, while 7 km south, Rosslyn Bay provides the gateway to Great Keppel Island. One of the highlights of the area is the vast coastal wilderness of the Byfield National Park – a sanctuary a rich variety of water birds and venue for some fine 4WD adventures.

Although most non-natives stop only briefly on their way to Great Keppel Island, the surrounding coastline offers plenty to see and do. There are beaches and headlands dotted all along the 16-km stretch of road between Yeppoon and Emu Park. South of Yeppoon the small national parks of Double Head, above Rosslyn Harbour, and Bluff Point, at the southern end of Kemp Beach, provide short walks and viewpoints across to Great Keppel Island. South of the Bluff, Mulambin Beach stretches south to Pinnacle Point and the entrance to Causeway Lake, a popular spot for fishing and boating. From there the road skirts Shoal Bay and Kinka Beach, considered by many as the best in the region, before arriving in Emu Park.

West of Yeppoon, just off the main highway, is the knobbly volcanic peak known as Mount Jim Crow (221 m). Who Mr Crow was exactly remains a mystery, but the peak was steeped in Aboriginal legend well before his arrival and can be climbed, with a bit of scrambling, from the old quarry.

To the north of Yeppoon, the seemingly boundless Byfield Coastal Area is one of the largest undeveloped regions on the east coast of Australia and, although the vast majority of it is taken up by the inaccessible Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area, the biodiversity of Byfield National Park, on its southern fringe, offers plenty of opportunity for camping, walking, boating, fishing, birdwatching and 4WDs. The heart of the park is reached via the Byfield Road and Byfield State Forest, but you’ll need a 4WD, especially if you want to reach Nine Mile Beach. This is perhaps what makes the park so special. If such luxuries are beyond your budget then you can still get a feel for the place from the ‘wetlands’ west of the Rydges Capricorn Resort, or the Sandy Point Section of the park, to the north. Although the road is unsealed it is easily negotiable by 2WD and offers numerous access points to Farnborough Beach where you can have a stretch of pristine sand almost entirely to yourself. Rydges Capricorn Resort itself is also well worth a look....