Lathams News: EXPLORING TANNUM SANDS....

Sunday saw us having a bit of an explore around Tannum Sands. The tides weren't right for us to be able to go out onto the water until at least mid afternoon, so with the morning to spare we decided to take a bit of a drive around Tannum and check it out... There had been a crocodile sighting at Canoe Point the previous week, so we were keen to find out just where Canoe point was.

We set out in search of it around mid morning and drove along the Millenium Esplanade. We thought it might have followed the coast all the way around, but it didn't and we had to back track back towards Coles and then pretty much take our previous route via Alison and Dave's place.

We went down a couple of no through road streets and came across a couple of interesting letterboxes on our drive. We then found a really lovely beach area further around which had some rocks which would have been great for the kids... We must remember this little beach for when we next have our grandchildren with us for a holiday. There were plenty of shady trees on the foreshore along this part of the coast also...

Lots of great little picnic sheltered tables along the Millennium Esplanade.

Some interesting letter boxes along our drive...

The other impressive thing around Tannum is their signs depicting a lot of the marine life and local history of the area. it has all been tastefully done...

Beautiful shady foreshore along this beach...

Wide open spaces

There were quite a few interesting trees and flowering shrubs along the track heading to the beach...

The beaches are well set up here, they even had a shower so that you could wash off before hopping in your car to go home, and your pets were catered for also, with a drinking bowl for them once you come back from walking or running them along the beach. All very impressive...

From here we took off in search of Canoe Point. We had no address but just thought we would follow our nose... after getting lost in a dead end street again, we then doubled up and found our way out and this road took us down past the beach we had just come off and further around to a beautiful wetlands area. There were quite a few families out enjoying the walk around the lagoon there...

Everything is so lush and green at the moment...

On the drive into Canoe Point, we came across this amenities block which had some lovely metal birdlife attached to some artwork on the front of the block. It just makes the whole area quite pretty. I love how Australia has been beautifying their foreshores around the county in the last few years.

I had read about a crocodile being sighted near Canoe Point the week previous to us going to Tannum Sands, so thought it would be good to check out this Canoe Point I was reading about. What a great spot. The Canoe Point Beach and Parklands is a very popular recreational area in Tannum Sands and it is adjacent to the Tannum Sands Main Beach. It is a beautiful nature area which showcases the unique natural environment with lots of walking and bike trails, lovely beachside natural timber board walks, bushland reserves and windswept sand dunes.

amazing woven vines in the nature reserve...

Great kids play areas...

This area is great to hold family events or get togethers with bbqs galore, lots of parking, plenty of walk paths, shady trees for a picnic and play areas for the kids, and most of all is right on the beach with views to Curtis island, back to Gladstone and the vessels on the horizon.

Lot of shaded picnic areas

Beautiful beaches with views to the islands

Awesome timber boardwalks around the coastline.

Beautiful beaches...

There are absolutely gorgeous clean spacious parkland looking over the stunning beach and it would be an ideal location to come and watch a sunset or sunrise.

There is plenty of room for large family gatherings, and there were a few families gathered here today celebrating birthdays. There are lots of wood burning bbq's around the parklands and they all looked pretty clean and there also appeared to be wood that was supplied.
There is access to the beach by stairs and also a ramp. Best of all the beach is dog friendly with heaps of room for pooches to run around and play in the water and river mouth

wonderful views of the beach..

Quite a few of the sheltered picnic areas overlooked the beach, so provided stunning views when all gathering together for that family picnic..

Remarkable artwork around the sheltered picnic areas...

Lovely well kept green grassed parkland...

Lots of great BBQ areas....

All ready for a family Birthday celebrations...

More amazing artwork within the picnic area

We did find out that there is a wonderful walk that travels all the way along the beach from the caravan park down past Millennium Parade around to Canoe Point. We chose to drive it rather than walk it though...

After our visit to Canoe Point we decided to head back to the SLSC at Tannum Sands on the Millennium Esplanade to check out the art work there also....

"Moonrise" as this mosaic work on the steps on the Esplanade at Tannum sands, is the work of Janie Petersen, and her inspiration for this piece, was turtles laying their eggs on the beach and making their way back into the oceans, with the moon representing new beginnings. Appartently turtles visit the beaches along Tannum at the Millennium Esplanade, Canoe Point and also Boyne Beach, it represented the area well

Beautifully carved natural timber totem poles in the parklands

The beach here is also very popular, with quite a few folk enjoying a swim during this lovely find weather...

The foreshore parklands of Tannum Sands, provides more than just undulating lawns, winding footpaths and pretty picnic shelters. We came across some really delightful art installations there as well.

The speed humps across the road are lumpy green turtles. There is a fabulous seahorse and crab constructed from metal spare parts by Christopher Trotter, a whimsical jellyfish family inside the roof of a picnic shelter and I’m quite sure that there is much more to see that we didn’t find.

The speed humps across the road are lumpy green turtles

There are also some lovely bright and colourful paintings along the side wall of the Surf Lifesaving Building, also showcasing some of the Indigenous art. Just adds to the this beautiful area of the coast.

Climb the stairs up to Peter's Park for some awesome views from the lookout.

If you're feeling energetic you can take a walk up the stairway from the Esplanade to Peter's Park where there is an awesome kids playground and you will be greeted with a spectacular view of the Esplanade, the Beach and the big ships out at sea that are lined up to come in to port in Gladstone. The climb is worth it as the views are awesome.

Entrance to Wild Cattle Creek at Tannum Sands...

This beach area at Tannum Sands really is quite stunning with a beautiful long beach with the inlet into Wild Cattle Creek. There is a flagged swimming area with life savers in attendance. There were lots of folk enjoying the inlet and we saw people fishing and pumping yabbies.... a real hive of activity...

There are lovely grass parkland & walkway along Esplanade with Tree shade & picnic shelters.Concrete Turtle sculptures & wood sculpture panels.

Whilst wandering through the park on the Esplanade at Tannum, I came across this amazing tree. The patterns on the trunk were amazing, so much so, that I just couldn't resist photographing different angles of it. There is such beauty in nature.

Amazing patterns in the bark of this tree...

We had spent most of the morning out exploring Tannum, so it was time to head home as we wanted to have a quick bit for lunch before getting ready to head out in the boat again this afternoon... There are some very interesting trees around this area of the coast... We came across this one right on our doorstep at the caravan park. It actually looks like someone wearing a pair of jeans...

It could be elephant legs or someone wearing a pair of jeans.....

The view from our caravan...

Home sweet home....

Beautiful camping grounds around us - doesn't feel like we are in a caravan park at all....

Pool area at the caravan park at Tannum Sands...

We've been coming here for Easter for almost 20 years now...

Once we had a bite to eat it was time to hitch up the boat and head down to the boat ramp. The tides haven't been the best this Easter and the high tide isn't until later in the afternoon. The early morning tide is too early as it is high tide around 5am which means we would have to be up around 3.30am if we wanted to go out on that early tide. There is no way we are doing that.

We were down at the boat ramp a little after 2.30pm. We were off to check out the crab pots and then do a spot of fishing....

Launching the boat...

Driving it off the trailer...

And we are off..

There is noting nicer than an afternoon on the water together. Conditions were just perfect.

Motoring up one of the creeks...

Lots of mangroves and sandflies...

Checking the pots...

Off to find a new spot...

Baiting up the crabpot..

No crabs but we got a cod... pity it was a little small and we had to throw it back...

Re baiting the pot...

Once keeper... Blue Swimmer, no mud crabs today...

Once the pots were all done, it was time to have some afternoon tea... Steve has just put a 35 litre fridge on the boat which has been great, because it means we can keep our smoko in there along with some cold drinks for when we are out on the water.... He is getting the boat ready for his big fishing trip up north later in the year.... It is a big year this year, with trips overseas, back down on the Sunny Coast, and then off to Weipa later in the year for a fishing trip with a mate and his brother...

Afternoon tea on the boat...

Once we had finished our afternoon tea, we took off to one of Steve's favourite fishing spots. He is loving having his fish finder on boat, and it really did work very well this afternoon and found the fish for us. We had an absolute ball fishing with the fish taking the bait as soon as we threw in the line. Normally we would fish with a couple of rods each but we couldn't do that this afternoon. Most of our fish weren't keepers but we sure did have a lot of fun reeling the fish in. No time to get bored at all this afternoon...

The interesting thing about fishing in this spot was the variety of fish we caught, we got Moses Perch, Brim, Butter brim, a zebra looking fish, gar fish, whiting and the list carries on. It is hard to beleive we got so many different species of fish.

First fish he caught was a Moses Perch.... too small had to throw this one back in...

Butter brim for crab pot bait...

This one well and truly swallowed the hook...

Had a lot of trouble getting the hook out...

Not sure what this fish was but he was pretty

My first fish was a gar fish. - good crab pot bait...

It really is a lovely time to be out on the water... there is no heat in the sun and you don't feel stinking hot... I could also tell we were going to be in for a beautiful sunset this afternoon. Feeling very thankful and blessed.

A good catch considering we had only been ou=t for an hour or so this afternoon.

I caught the biggest fish for the day even if it was only a brim...

My big brim...

More crab pot bait...

It was hard to pack the rods away, as we really were catching something every time we threw a line in, but it was just on 6pm, and we really needed to get back to the boat ramp as the tide had turned and was on the way out. With the tides the way there are here at the moment we only have an hour each side of the high tide to be able to get into the boat ramp, so it definitely was time to head back in...

We've had a really perfect afternoon and it was made even more perfect by the beautiful sunset we witnessed as we headed back to the boatramp...

The photos don't really do it justice... The evening sky was a splash of colour, of golds, oranges, purples, peach and apricot shades along with pinks and reds as well. It was just stunning... there is no other word for it...

The richness of the colour of the night sky..

It was pretty special to share these moments with Steve, We are surrounded by beauty and it is really wonderful to just be able to stop, watch and take it all in. There is nothing I love more than watching a beautiful sunset to end the day and today's certainly didn't disappoint....

Even the water turned gold... - truly spectaculer....

Absolutely stunning sunset. The water was all a glow...

I probably took way too many photos but I couldn't help it, the sky was changing every few minutes. Photos really don't do it justice, but at least by taking them, it keeps the memories of such a wonderful afternoon fresh in my mind...