Let’s Get Some Sun | Great Keppel Island
After 2 snorkeling tours got canceled, I decided to go to Great Keppel Island regardless. I was on a mission! Instead of taking a tour, I bought a round trip ferry ticket and my own snorkel and mask. Woke up around 7am…had to be at the ferry by 8:45am. Grabbed some towels at reception and I was out!
Caught the ferry without incident. It’s about 12 minutes away from the apartment. There were a lot of people waiting! Had no trouble getting a seat though. When we landed at the island after a 30 minute cruise, I went to the shack that rented snorkeling equipment I needed fins and they recommended a stinger suit to protect against the jellyfish. I started to try on the stinger suit and damn it’s tight. Felt like a sausage. I was already a little sandy so it was a challenge getting it on. Plus my bathing suit was bulky. It was like a wetsuit but lighter material. It had stirrups for the feet, built in gloves and a hood. I asked about good places to snorkel and they recommended 2 beaches. One was about a 30 minute walk with steep stairs down to the beach. The other was a 45-60 minute walk. It was already very hot and my bag was kinda heavy. Plus now I’m carrying the suit and fins. I gave up and plopped down on the same beach we landed on. It was relatively close to the equipment rental shack and the place I planned on going for lunch. There were no facilities whatsoever by the other 2 beaches and I knew I would need more water at some point. So I took the easy route and stayed local. The beach was very wide with not a lot of people on it so I had plenty of space to lay out. I went into the water waist deep to cool off. The water was a little chilly but refreshing. I played out for a couple of hours and headed to lunch + water at about 12:30. The lunch place had a bar, live music and a decent menu. I had a fried chicken sandwich with fries. It was decent. Even better were the water jugs that I used to fill my yeti. I was parched! I had gotten an email saying there would be a 2:30pm ferry in addition to the 3:45pm option that I had booked. Well I went to the bathroom after lunch, saw my face beginning to burn and made the executive decision to leave on the 2:30 ferry. There wasn’t a lot of shade options and after laying out for another hour and dipping in the water, I was ready. I even snoozed a bit on the ferry ride back. I considered going to the Yeppoon lagoon which is a big public pool by the ocean but I had too much sun and needed to go indoors.
I went back to the apartment and showered. Made a dinner reservation at a pub nearby for 7pm. Threw some laundry in. The walk to the pub was nice and relaxing. The weather was perfect and there weren’t a crazy amount of people out. I arrived at the pub 15 minutes later and they had a great table for me outside as I requested. It was a beer garden. Lucky for the parents, there was a playground for their kids. It must have been a good playground because the kids were LOUD! And I sat at the table for 15 minutes and was getting annoyed that they hadn’t taken my order yet. Well on the other side of the napkin holder was a QR code and instructions on how to order. 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ duh. I ordered the chicken schnitzel plate and it was pretty good! Plus I paid for it when I ordered so I could take off as soon as I was done. I wanted to get back to the apartment to finish packing. I stopped for a scoop of ice cream which was conveniently located just by the apartment elevator. Finished packing and was watching Netflix. I was super tired and thought I could finish the episode but next thing I knew it was 3am and I had passed out on the couch just like home. I had the AC set to 16 degrees so it was freezing! Went to bed so I could get up for another long drive tomorrow to Airlie Beach!
Chicken schnitzel dinner
Site Title 