It was Steph’s turn to drive and my turn to navigate. I’d been doing lots of research whilst in the passenger seat and I kept reading about the Carlo Sand Blow, so I decided that this would be our next destination. Situated along the east coast of Australia, just a short distance from Rainbow Beach we found the Carlo Sand Blow.
Day 3 of our road trip was one of our most epic days in terms of spectacular views formed by nature doing its thing. The Carlo Sand Blow gets its name from an accumulation of sand blown over the Cooloola sand mass. From one side of the sand mass, you can view 180 degree of Rainbow Beach and even Fraser Island in the distance. From the other side of the sand blow, the view is one of magnificent rainforest.
From the moment we set eyes on it, until the very moment we left, we were astonished by the natural beauty of the place. The pictures below don’t really do it justice, but hopefully you’ll get the idea of just how incredibly beautiful the sand blow is. Unfortunately we have lost some of the images of us stood in the middle of the sand blow so the scale of the place isn’t really demonstrated.
We were also lucky enough to watch a few people paragliding over the landscape, right above us.
We drove for hours after visiting this wonderful place. Night 3 was spent at Calliope Rest Area which was free of charge but the toilets were locked up overnight. We had a few danger wees but after seeing one too many spiders, we held it all in until the next morning when we drove to a Puma Truck stop. Here we were able to get showers for 4 dollars per person (they hold your car key or drivers licence until you bring the shower key back). The facilities were lovely actually and cleaner than most of the hostels we have stayed in!
Day 4 was a bit of a right off. We drove to Rockhampton (there is nothing there) and after a trip to A&E it was too late to drive anywhere else so we spent the night free of charge at Yaamba Rest Area. We went to the pub and met some of the locals and a couple of friendly bikers.
On day 5 we were planning on going to Kepple Island, but for one reason or another we ended up missing the only boat out there for the day so we had to abandon that idea which I was absolutely gutted about. We ended up back on the road for another really long drive because there wasn’t an awful lot going on in the area. Night 5 was spent at Carmila Caravan Park.
For 30 dollars we had a lovely camping spot, electric hook up, great laundry facilities, a camp kitchen, BBQ, showers and toilets. We made use of the BBQ and had hot dogs for tea.
Steph was able to sleep in the tent for the first time. A very nice (strange) gentleman came over and offered Steph the use of his porch if it rained. Luckily, it didn’t rain.
Just winging it 