A lot of the experience of Australian East Coast is to visit beaches, go out and go surfing, but by doing only that you would miss out the most important part about traveling, which is to experience the culture of the country you are traveling to. I had booked an overnight trip to a cattle station hoping to also get to see what life on the countryside of Australia was like.
When arriving at the cattle station in Yeppoon we were served some beef stew, and had some late night conversations around the bonfire before getting into our swags (a mix of a tent and a sleeping bag) for the night. The sunrise woke us all up early the next morning and we got to join the farmers feeding the animals in the morning and then went on a walk around the big land owned by the farmers. In the evening the owner of Emu Park resort where we were staying celebrated his 51 year birthday and invited us over for some food and drinks in the early evening and at night we went out on a rodeo show in Rockhampton. It was the first time I had ever been to a a city that seemed to have been taken out of a movie from Texas. Almost everyone were wearing jeans and flannel shirts and lots og guys were also walking around in their cowboy hats and spurry cowboy boots. The rodeo show that night was just crazy. People were riding wild horses and bulls throwing them up in the air or down in the sand, usually within the first few seconds. I had been looking forward to the rodeo show a lot as I was told that you could try to ride a proper beast of a bull yourself for just 15 dollars, but since it was a Friday night meaning there was a competition with a money price, that would not be possible. The show was great anyway, but I really wish I would have been there on a Wednesday night when they have training sessions and it would have been possible for amateurs to ride.
For anyone looking for something to do on the East Coast of Australia other than parting, beachlife or surfing I would highly recommend getting on a tour to fully experience the farm life.
